--- title: Opening up multiple instances of Acctivate. description: Use a Map Drive or the subst command to have multiple instances of Acctivate. --- [Skip to content](https://hub.acctivate.com/articles/how-to-open-multiple-instances-of-acctivate#main-content) [Go to Customer Portal](https://hub.acctivate.com/tickets?hsLang=en) ![Acctivate - A CAI Solution](https://hub.acctivate.com/hubfs/Images/Logos/acctivate-cai-logo-svg.svg) - [Knowledge Base](https://hub.acctivate.com/articles) Open main navigation Close main navigation - [Knowledge Base](https://hub.acctivate.com/articles) - [Go to Customer Portal](https://hub.acctivate.com/tickets) - [Support Resources / Create Ticket](https://acctivate.com/support) [Support Resources / Create Ticket](https://acctivate.com/support) Hello. How can we help you? - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. 1. [Knowledge Base](https://hub.acctivate.com/articles?hsLang=en) 2. [Getting Started](https://hub.acctivate.com/articles/getting-started?hsLang=en) 3. [Basics](https://hub.acctivate.com/articles/getting-started?hsLang=en#basics) April 14, 2025 # Opening up multiple instances of Acctivate. ## Use a Map Drive or the subst command to have multiple instances of Acctivate. While Acctivate does not natively allow for multiple instances of Acctivate, many users ask for this ability. However, if you do need to run multiple instances of Acctivate at once, you can add several different .exe files for Acctivate, which will allow you to open multiple instances of Acctivate at once, for the same Acctivate license. Follow the steps below to set this up. Please note that you will need Windows Admin permissions to attempt this. If you have questions, please contact your company's IT department. Please be aware that **doing this will use a user license per Acctivate instance you are logged into**. So if you only have 3 user licenses, and Acctivate is opened on one workstation twice, using this method, you will use 2 licenses leaving 1 other user license available. Please contact us if you need to increase your user license or if you have any further questions. **Please Note:** Although the copies of Acctivate are on different "drives," they still will both be pointing to the same database. A good use case is if you run two Acctivate company files and need to switch between the two quickly for taking orders.  You can create as many of these as desired but bear in mind that each login will consume a user license. ### Running multiple instances of Acctivate: 1. Open Command Prompt (Search 'CMD' in the Windows search bar and click on the command prompt.) **Please Note:** Do **NOT** run CMD as an admin. For some reason this makes the drive not findable. 2. In Command Prompt, use the ***subst*** command to create a "virtual" copy of the 'C' drive. The command would be ***subst m: c:\\*** 1. The 'm' would be the virtual drive letter and can be replaced with any letter. 2. ![CMD](https://hub.acctivate.com/hs-fs/hubfs/CMD.jpg?width=688&name=CMD.jpg) 3. Open "File Explorer" and navigate to the Acctivate program file directory for this new drive. By default this would be m:\\Program Files (x86)\\Acctivate (where the 'm' is the letter of the drive you created in step 2.) 4. Right click the "Acctivate.exe" and click "Create Shortcut" and place the shortcut on the desktop. If desired, rename the shortcut to differentiate between the two. 5. You can now run two versions of Acctivate at the time. NOTE: If the above fails to open multiple instances of the Acctivate go to This PC in File Explorer, right-click the mapped drive created above, and create a shortcut. A prompt to create the shortcut on the desktop should appear; select Yes. 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