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kyij · 2014-10-26, 05:20

Please note that I have it working without a problem. This means that there is no video lag nor a problem with sound.

My desktop has 6 monitors so sometimes it is nice to run more than one instance of videos.

All of the other threads I read make it sound like this is impossible to to do this, so I just wanted to make this thread.

Desktop: W8.1, 16GB RAM, A8 APU, 2* R9-270s, 2 Drives in Raid0 for VMs, 1 SSD for OS.
Server: Debian 7.6, 32GB ECC RAM, Xeon E3 CPU, 8 Drives in Raidz2, etc..

Anyhow, I have one instance running on my desktop, and another on my virtual machine (VM). Right now the VM runs off the desktop using 4 cores, has 4GB Ram, and the network is bridged so I can access the server. But the VM is only using ~6-10% of the available CPU and 20% of the 4GB of RAM - so I can probably scale this to save resources.

I mention the server as that is where I keep my video collection and stream videos on all of my computers.

Obviously it would be cheaper to just run RPi's or an Odroid machine, but the whole point was to have this run on one desktop (I already had the resources anyway).

**lrusak** · 2014-10-26, 05:51

So what's your point here?

You can always run multiple installs of XBMC by installing them into separate folders and running them in portable mode.

kyij · 2014-10-26, 05:57

(2014-10-26, 05:51)lrusak Wrote: So what's your point here?

You can always run multiple installs of XBMC by installing them into separate folders and running them in portable mode.

From my understanding, it seemed that everyone had issues trying to run 2 instances of XBMC in any-mode..

I very well might not have a point, but I just wanted to post this for evidence. I still don't understand why xbmc can not run in several instances via the stand-alone version like vlc.

**lrusak** · 2014-10-26, 06:19

Why would you want to?

~~Ned Scott~~ · 2014-10-26, 07:29

I guess this is actually possible on Windows without the use of VMs by changing something in the code. Probably not recommended for a number of reasons, but it can be done.

I'm not sure what the technical reasons are, probably because I don't normally use Windows. For one, I'm guessing it's not good for the settings and database files to be used my multiple instances at once, so you'd want to have separate settings folders. There's probably issues with audio settings if you try to do anything "fancy" like passthrough. These are just guesses on my part, though.

xveg · 2014-10-29, 00:37

I am interested in trying to do this on my linux server. I would like to stream content from my profile while my kids watch TV on their profile. However, I can only stream media from the profile that is active.

If I could run two distinct copies of XBMC on the same machine, I could set the web interface to a different port, and stream the media on from one instance, and the kids could watch the other instance.

fire77 · 2015-08-14, 02:54

I am new here so if I make an error plz forgive.
i want to run 2 instances of kodi so i can stream 2 different shows at same time
portable mode as indicated, does not work

1.6 Portable mode
If you wish, you may run Kodi in portable mode by adding the -p switch (in the Target field after the closing quotation mark) to the shortcut's properties used to launch Kodi. This will then use the Kodi folder itself as the Home folder, which means scripts, plugins, skins and userdata will be located in the 'portable_data' folder within the Kodi folder. This is useful for running Kodi for Windows off a USB stick for portability.
You'll have to put the Kodi folder in a place where standard users have write permission (e.g. not under Program Files) or run the shortcut as admin (even though you're logged in with an admin account). Otherwise you'll get the error message "ERROR: Unable to create application. Exiting."
You will, however, have to be careful when upgrading to make sure that the userdata folder you use is not overwritten.

So how can i run 2 instances? even tried an isengard and a separate helix....helix in admin portable wont run at all

system is 17 8 gb of ram 8 tb of storage gtx970 ftw + i hope that is enough to run 2

Bullsboy · 2015-08-14, 15:03

I have isengard working in portable mode on my laptop (i don't have admin rights), so I can't see why you couldn't just copy that folder into another location and have 2 portable mode installs

**Martijn** · (This post was last modified: 2015-08-14, 15:05 by Martijn.)

you can't run them simultaneous unless you change some code and recompile.

if not at the same time you can as many versions as you want in portable mode

Crashinc25 · 2015-10-05, 03:04

I'll give you my reasoning behind wanting to run multiple instances and gladly welcome better suggestions! I want picture in picture. I want to watch football on 1 instance, full screen, with a sending instance running recorded cartoons for my kids in a 1/4 size window.

untscrub · 2015-10-11, 04:11

I have 2 instances running on my current setup and I'll explain why. I have a media room with a projector connected to my media PC that has 3 x 4TB drives in a raid 0 with all my movies on there (bluray/3D/DVD's) I'm just using my integrated graphics right now and it's doing great. I have 2 HDMI outs on the back of the PC, one goes to my 4K TV in the living room, the other goes to my AV receiver that sends the output to my projector as well as a long HDMI run through the attic into my bedroom. With 2 instances running I can watch any of my media or streamed content on my movie room projector and the other instance runs fullscreen on my living room tv where my kids can watch any movie or media they wish. The only issues I have is with live TV, I can only watch live TV in one room at a time, but if I need to watch different shows that are on live TV my wife just switches the living room input to the antenna and her only con is she can't pause and rewind. There is an error message that usually appears at when the 2nd instance opens about common cache...but it doesn't seem to affect anything. For those of you that are going to ask how, I download the current version of Kodi from the kodi developers, then I download the bundle version from TVMC and install it as my second version. I also run the fusion.xbmchub add so that both versions get the quick treatment. Set them to different ports and you can control either one with your phone/tablet regardless of which one is actually priority in windows.

Quad Core i5, NmediaPC case, 16gb ram, Windows 10 on SSD, 3 x 4tb HDD's in raid 0 for movies, 1 x 2tb HD for TV recordings/DVR, Hauppage TV Tuner, Windows Media Center hack for Windows 10, Media Center remote w/ flirc ir receiver.