Multiple instances: Getting already running; must close error with one, problem profile

AucMGris
I feel that I must be missing something obvious here, but I can't figure out what that is.

Here's the situation:

I'm running Windows 10 as up to date as now possible.

I have a Windows shortcut set up with this target:
"C:\Program Files\Zotero\zotero.exe" -P "Profile2" -no-remote

Clicking it while Zotero is running under Profile1 gets me this error:
Zotero is already running, but is not responding. The old Zotero process must be closed to open a new window.

I have the same problem if I create a shortcut with this target and pick Profile 2 when the profile picker appears:
"C:\Program Files\Zotero\zotero.exe" -P -no-remote

Profile2 is the only profile that causes me this problem. I can run simultaneous instances of Zotero with Profile3 and other local profiles.

Profile2 is a member a group library with five members. Maybe this has something to do with the problem. But I can also run simultaneous instances of Zotero with Profile4, which is also a member of a group library, this time with two members. Profile2 and Profile4's group libraries are accessed with different email addresses and there is no overlap of membership.

I really need to be able to run Zotero under Profile2 simultaneously with Profile1, so I'd be very grateful for any thoughts.
  • adamsmith
    You're positive you have all profiles pointed to different data directories?
    It's technically possible to point multiple profiles to the same database and I believe that would throw am error like this
  • AucMGris
    Just checked. Data Directory Location paths are definitely different. Clicking Show Data Directory opens a different folder for each profile.
  • dstillman
    edited yesterday at 4:07pm
    This is just the Firefox profile system, and we can't provide support for it. You can debug it as if this were Firefox, or you can try just creating a new profile and pointing it at the same data directory.
  • AucMGris
    The latter seems the easiest at the moment. I'll give it a try. Tks.
  • AucMGris
    edited yesterday at 4:48pm
    Actually, the easiest right now is working with the profiles that do work. Apologies, but it's not clear to me how to get Zotero to look at the right profile.

    The way that I've set things up now is that I have one instance of Firefox running with the incremented conector.url value. I have two instances of Zotero running, the -no-remote instance with extensions.zotero.httpServer.port incremented and the non -no-remote instance with extensions.zotero.httpServer.port not incremented. e. But when trying to save a webpage to Zotero,

    Doing this, I get:
    Is Zotero running? The Zotero Connector was unable to communicate with the Zotero desktop application. The Connector can save some pages directly to your zotero.org account, but for best results you should make sure Zotero is open before attempting to save.

    This makes me wonder if I should be running not just another instance of Zotero with the incremented extensions.zotero.httpServer.port value but also another instance of Firefox for which the connector has the incremented connector.url value. The instance of FF that's not running with the -no-remote switch would use the original connector.url value, presumably allowing it to communicate with the non -no-remote instance of Zotero if that Zotero instance had the original extensions.zotero.httpServer.port value.

    Or am I missing something?
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