How to open two / multiple instances of Visual Studio for MAC?

Question

I wish to open multiple instances of VS for Mac. I used to be able to do this with Xamarin studio using the Xamarin launcher.

How to do this with VS for Mac?

The guy who created the Xamarin Launcher has made his application compatible for Visual Studio for Mac, you can get it [here](https://github.com/Redth/MSSolutionLauncher). I've not tried it yet but I've been using his Xamarin Launcher and it works pretty well so this should be what you're looking for :-) — Matthew Blott, Jan 31 '17 at 10:24
3 years later, Microsoft has done something about this: https://stackoverflow.com/a/55015832/544947 (no need for external hackery anymore) — knocte, Mar 06 '19 at 09:17

score 112 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 07 '19 at 02:48

112

Open a terminal window, and then issue the following command:

open -n -a "Visual Studio"

edited Mar 07 '19 at 02:48

knocte

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answered May 17 '17 at 02:30

moke

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Downvoting just because @knocte's solution is more current and easier. – Ryan B Jan 15 '21 at 18:45

knocte · Answer 2 · 2019-04-03T02:28:49.643

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Alright, at last!, Microsoft has just implemented the simplest solution of all in Visual Studio 2019: just right click on its icon on the launch bottom bar, and choose "New instance":

See the details of the feature in the release notes of VS2019 for Mac Preview.

edited Apr 03 '19 at 02:28

answered Mar 06 '19 at 04:55

knocte

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Isaack Rasmussen · Answer 3 · 2017-10-16T14:26:18.370

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There is also the option of opening multiple solutions in the same Visual Studio instance.

From Recent list: Hold Ctrl while clicking the solution name
From File -> Open: Single click the .sln file, click Options and uncheck Close Current Workspace.

Credit: https://www.jimbobbennett.io/opening-multiple-solutions-in-visual-studio-for-mac/

Note. the active project(For run/debug) changes depending on which file you have marked/selected/editing.

edited Oct 16 '17 at 14:26

answered Oct 16 '17 at 14:20

Isaack Rasmussen

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Can't believe this hasn't gotten any upvotes. Amazing trick - I didn't know it was possible to have multiple solutions open at the same time in the same Solution explorer pane! – HenningK Feb 09 '18 at 08:11
Upvoting this as it was exactly what I needed – Mick Walker Mar 05 '18 at 20:09
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Probably a reason for no upvote is, from what I can tell, by doing this action it adds the solution to the current workspace not open a new instance of visual studio. – koderiter Aug 02 '18 at 00:00

score 6 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 29 '17 at 07:35

6

If you don't want to daily search for this specific terminal command, create a script as below:

Open "Script Editor" in Mac
Paste: do shell script "open -n -a 'Visual Studio'"
Save this file somewhere (On Desktop)
Whenever need to launch another instance, simply open this file and click on "Run the Script" button

Screenshot Here

answered Sep 29 '17 at 07:35

MilanG

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Easy, helpful! showed me new trick of using MAC script editor. Thanks! – chris hu Oct 06 '17 at 17:53

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 31 '19 at 02:31

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Visual Studio Code
Version: 1.39.2

answered Oct 31 '19 at 02:31

Giang

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the question is about VS4Mac – knocte Feb 20 '20 at 04:25

zwcloud · Answer 6 · 2018-11-26T06:19:29.827

Official documentation: How do I open multiple solutions or instances of Visual Studio for Mac?

Open a second solution inside a single instance

To open a second solution alongside your first solution, use the following steps:

With your first solution already open, select File > Open.
Select the solution and press the Options button.
Uncheck the Close Current Workspace button:
Press the Open button to open the second solution in the Solution Pad.

Alternatively, if you have recently opened the solution, you can do the following:

Go to the File > Recent Solutions menu item:
Hold down the Ctrl key and select the solution. This combination opens the second Solution in the Solution Pad

Open a second instance

To open a second instance of Visual Studio for Mac, open the Terminal application and enter

open -n "/Applications/Visual Studio.app"

Paramjit · Answer 7 · 2019-03-06T04:51:03.263

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I am using MSSolutionLauncher for opening multiple instances of Visual studio for Mac. The github page of the project is Here. Download latest release and double click to unzip. Now keep the app in desktop and click on it to open new instance of the Visual studio for mac as many times as you want.

EDIT

Starting from Visual Studio for Mac 2019, MSSolutionLauncher is not required. Keep the VSMac Shortcut in Dock. Right Click the Dock Icon and select New Instance.

edited Mar 06 '19 at 04:51

answered Dec 09 '17 at 15:53

Paramjit

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it stopped working with the latest VS for Mac release, unable to open any project withing a solution. – Mando Jun 12 '18 at 23:17
I am using the latest version of VS for Mac and the MSSolutionLauncher is working fine. Never invoke the IDE directly. double click the solutionLauncher for opening new instance. – Paramjit Jun 14 '18 at 05:13

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Apr 30 '18 at 08:53

Based on @moke and @MilanG answers, I created a bash file on my desktop with this content:

#!/bin/bash

open -n -a "Visual Studio"

osascript -e 'tell application "Terminal" to close first window' & exit

I named this file "Visual Studio". Then I made the file executable on double-click by following this procedure https://stackoverflow.com/a/5126052/3819725

As a last step, I re-used the Visual Studio icon for the bash file on my desktop so that I instantly know what to click on. I did this:

Right click on the bash file you just created and select "Get Info". An information panel opens with an icon in the top-left corner.
Open a new Finder window and position it next to the "Get Info" panel you just opened
In the Finder window, navigate to "Applications" and select "Visual Studio" from the list of applications.
Right click on the "Visual Studio" application icon and select: "Show Package Contents".
Navigate to "Contents" -> "Resources" and select the "VisualStudio.icns" file.
Drag this file to the icon in the top-left corner of the "Get Info" window you opened in step (1)

Voila - you now have a clickable desktop icon with the visual studio icon that opens a new instance of Visual Studio for Mac and does not leave a Terminal window open.

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 14 '19 at 03:58

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Clone the Application!

Open Finder
Navigate To Applications
Select Visual Studio
Edit > Copy
Edit > Paste
Open the copy

answered Aug 14 '19 at 03:58

Ryan Williams

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score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Jul 10 '20 at 09:50

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Posted my solution here:

https://stackoverflow.com/a/62831584/2621976

just do

open -a "Visual Studio" \
"path to first sln" \ 
"path to second sln" \
...

answered Jul 10 '20 at 09:50

quAnton

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Kevin Danikowski · Answer 11 · 2023-02-15T16:53:43.050

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This is VS code (not VS4Mac as per comment below). But found this forum in my own search so might be useful.

open -n -a "Visual Studio" gave error "Can't Find Application Visual Studio", so I just did:

Open a visual studio project
To get another, right click (two finger press) on visual studio docked icon
Click "New Window", and now you have two instances

edited Feb 15 '23 at 16:53

answered May 01 '18 at 19:10

Kevin Danikowski

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"New Window" is not in that menu, is the option gone? – knocte Sep 12 '18 at 10:06
@knocte it is still there for macs. I just downloaded it again to install last week and the new window option is still present – Kevin Danikowski Sep 12 '18 at 18:42
I don't understand why I don't see it on my mac – knocte Sep 13 '18 at 04:53
@knocte perhaps you have an older mac? i'm using a 2017. It also works on the 2015 I used to have. – Kevin Danikowski Sep 13 '18 at 18:30
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that screenshot is VSCode, not VS4Mac – user1623521 Mar 06 '19 at 15:36
@user1623521 good point i didn't know there was a difference. Perhaps others who don't know the difference would find benefit. I'll put a comment above the image – Kevin Danikowski Mar 06 '19 at 19:10

score -1 · Answer 12 · answered Oct 16 '18 at 19:49

Just hit Shift+Command+N (Or go to "File > New Window" and it will open a new window. You can then drag files from one to the other.

I was trying to do the same thing which led me here. I didn't have luck with the highest-rated solution and then the above occurred to me. Unless I'm missing something more to the original request? Seems like the most obvious solution.

How to open two / multiple instances of Visual Studio for MAC?

12 Answers12

Open a second solution inside a single instance

Alternatively, if you have recently opened the solution, you can do the following:

Open a second instance