The Windows Registry is a database found in every version of the operating system. It stores all configuration information about your programs, hardware, and operating system.
Regedit, or Registry Editor in full, is a handy tool for navigating the registry from which you can do lots of fun things. However, a significant issue with Regedit is that it doesn’t allow you to run multiple instances—at least not without some tweaks.
We’ll show you how to run multiple Regedit instances in Windows 10 if you need that for some reason.
How to Run Multiple Instances of Regedit
One of the quickest ways to enable multiple instance support for Regedit is by using the /m or -m command. Here are two different ways of allowing Regedit to run multiple instances in Windows 10.
1. Using the Run Dialog Box
In case you need to run multiple instances as quickly as possible, use this method.
- Open the Run dialog box by pressing Windows Key + R.
- Paste Regedit /m or Regedit -m in the input bar and click OK to run. This will only open one instance.
- Repeat these steps to run multiple instances.
If you want to run multiple instances of Regedit in the future, repeat these steps. However, there’s a more permanent way of doing this in Windows 10–by changing the target URI for Regedit in the registry editor property settings.
2. Permanently Changing the Registry Editor Target Property URI
With this method, you only need to configure the Registry Editor once. Once set, you can run multiple instances of Regedit in Windows 10 permanently. Instead of adding /m or -m in the Run dialog box, we add either in the target URI.
- Search for Regedit in the Start menu search bar.
- When Registry Editor appears, select Open file location. Windows 10 will take you directly to the Windows Administrative Tools folder.
- Right-click on the Registry Editor shortcut, then select Properties from the dialog box.
- Under the shortcut tab in the dialog box, change the Target from %windir%regedit.exe to %windir%regedit.exe /m or %windir%regedit.exe -m
- Click Apply > OK.
- With the /m or -m command added to the target, Regedit will always support running multiple instances.
Of course, if you don’t want multiple instance capabilities in the future, you can always go back and remove the additional /m or -m.
Open Multiple Instances of Registry Editor in Windows
The registry editor always opens in single instances, but you can run multiple instances with some tweaks. The run dialog box method is a quick fix, while the second method will get you set for good–you won’t need to tweak anything else in the future.