How to make a Start Screen icon for Notepad that will always open a new Notepad when clicked in Windows 8?

Question

Just installed Windows 8, pinned Notepad to the start screen. When I press the Windows key and use the Notepad tile to run Notepad, it will focus on the currently open Notepad window. I'd like it to start a new instance of Notepad. Is this possible?

score 17 · Answer 1 · edited Sep 11 '15 at 01:14

17

Use the Shift key to start a new instance of any application. Either Shift+Enter or Shift-Click, or else middle click.

Source: http://codeyarns.com/2012/10/22/start-multiple-instances-of-an-application-in-windows-8/

Other taskbar modifiers include:

Shift+Click         Open a new instance of the program
Ctrl+Click          Cycle between windows in a group
Middle Click        Open a new instance of the program
Ctrl+Shift+Click    Open a new instance of the program as Administrator
Shift+Right-Click   Show window menu

edited Sep 11 '15 at 01:14

Ashwin Nanjappa

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answered Oct 27 '12 at 05:27

ronalchn

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Came here to say this, I always use Middle-Click to open a new instance, it works in Windows 7 too. – Mark Allen Oct 27 '12 at 06:33
Ctrl-click is the greatest thing ever! Thank you! – Caleb Jares Nov 07 '12 at 18:39
Microsoft should've made this more visible. I've searched for standard windows hotkeys and never found these earlier. Will use these a lot from now on. – Henrik Karlsson Feb 03 '13 at 14:40

score 13 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 12 '20 at 13:48

13

To make it always open a new window with a normal left click, change the shortcut target of the tile:

Right click on the tile
Open file location. A File Explorer window should open, with a Notepad shortcut in it
Right click on the Notepad shortcut
Click properties
Change the target to %windir%\system32\cmd.exe /c start %windir%\system32\notepad.exe

edited Jun 12 '20 at 13:48

Community

1

answered Oct 27 '12 at 05:32

Bob

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This works for programs that have no spaces in the path but not for something like Wordpad.exe. For that I use `%windir%\system32\cmd.exe /c start /d "%ProgramFiles%\Windows NT\Accessories" wordpad.exe`. Because the path has spaces it needs quoted, but if `start` sees quotes in the first argument it treats it as the title of the new window. Here I use the `/d` switch to specify the (quoted) path for the executable separately from the executable name. This works better for me than shift-clicking which can put new windows behind everything else--so far all new windows are on top. – User5910 Mar 02 '13 at 17:14
@User5910 You could (should) just put a set of empty quotes for the title - the `/d` method will fail if the executable name itself has spaces. I've actually answered a question [addressing that very issue](http://superuser.com/a/413966/117590). – Bob Mar 02 '13 at 17:20

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 07 '13 at 22:33

6

It actually is possible with a reg key to do this. it only works for desktop apps (not full screen win8 apps) though i imagine this is exactly what everyone is looking to do.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell\Launcher]
"DesktopAppsAlwaysLaunchNewInstance"=dword:00000001

Source here.

edited Jul 07 '13 at 22:33

Karan

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answered May 08 '13 at 21:56

andocromn

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Hmmpf, seems that it dosent work for me. Too bad. – Ivan Viktorovic Jan 26 '15 at 07:57
My searches indicate that this does not work in 8,1. The middle click suggested by ronalchn does. – TecBrat Aug 13 '15 at 08:48
Doesn't work in Server 2012 – BurnsBA Jan 17 '19 at 19:51

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 27 '12 at 05:29

3

Another rather tedious way to go about it is to right click on the tile & select "Open in New Window"

answered Oct 27 '12 at 05:29

Sathyajith Bhat

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In fact, this is usually the quickest way (for me) to make a new instance of an already running app. Opening the Start Screen, finding the app (however conveniently placed it may be) and Shift-Clicking it seems needlessly complicated (though I'm glad I've learned of it) compared to right-clicking the taskbar and clicking on "New whatever". – Vincent Vancalbergh Aug 26 '13 at 07:46

How to make a Start Screen icon for Notepad that will always open a new Notepad when clicked in Windows 8?

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