claude-desktop-clone

Run multiple isolated instances of the Claude Desktop app on Windows — one per account (e.g. Work and Personal) — side by side, each with its own login, history, and settings.

The official Claude Desktop app (installed from the Microsoft Store / claude.ai) only supports one account at a time and refuses to open a second window. This repo works around that with a tiny, dependency-free launcher.

🇻🇳 Bản tóm tắt tiếng Việt ở cuối README.

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How it works

The Claude Desktop app is an Electron / Chromium application. Chromium accepts the standard --user-data-dir flag, and it keys its single-instance lock on that directory. So:

Different --user-data-dir → different lock → a second instance runs, signed into a different account.

The only Windows-specific wrinkle is that the app is shipped as an MSIX package, so its executable lives under a versioned, permission-restricted path:

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Claude_<version>_x64__<hash>\app\Claude.exe

The launcher resolves that path at runtime via Get-AppxPackage (so it survives app updates) and starts it with a chosen data directory:

Claude.exe --user-data-dir="C:\Users\<you>\ClaudeProfiles\personal"

That's the whole trick. No patching, no copying the app, no admin rights.

Credit: the --user-data-dir technique for Claude is from Zoltak-Dev/ai-multi-instance. This repo is a small, native (PowerShell + VBScript) reimplementation focused on Claude only, with desktop shortcuts and a one-command setup.

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Requirements

• Windows 10/11
• The official Claude Desktop app installed (claude.ai/download or Microsoft Store)
• No admin rights, no Python, no extra dependencies

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Quick start

git clone https://github.com/vodongha/claude-desktop-clone.git
cd claude-desktop-clone

# Create "Claude (Work)" + "Claude (Personal)" shortcuts on your Desktop.
# -ReuseDefaultForWork keeps your already-signed-in account for "Work".
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\Setup.ps1 -ReuseDefaultForWork

Then:

1. Double-click Claude (Work) → your existing account (no re-login).
2. Double-click Claude (Personal) → a fresh window; sign in to the other account.

Both windows now run at the same time, fully isolated.

Custom profiles

# Any names you like; each gets its own isolated login + shortcut.
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\Setup.ps1 -Profile Personal,ClientA,ClientB

Different install location

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\Setup.ps1 -InstallDir "D:\ClaudeProfiles"

Isolate Claude Code / Cowork memory per profile

By default, instances only isolate the login (Chromium --user-data-dir). The embedded Claude Code / Cowork still uses the shared ~/.claude config (memory, settings). To give a profile its own memory store too, point its CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR at a dedicated directory via -ConfigDir:

# NOTE: a real hashtable -> call the script directly (not via -File):
& .\scripts\Setup.ps1 -ConfigDir @{ Personal = "$env:USERPROFILE\.claude-personal" }

Now the Personal instance's Claude Code memory lives in ~/.claude-personal\projects\<dir>\memory\, fully separate from the work account — and it's the same store the claude-personal CLI uses (if you set one up). Manual equivalent for any launcher:

wscript.exe launch.vbs "<profile-data-dir>" "<claude-config-dir>"

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What gets created

%USERPROFILE%\ClaudeProfiles\
└── bin\
    ├── Launch-Claude.ps1     # resolves the MSIX exe, launches with --user-data-dir
    ├── launch.vbs            # runs the .ps1 hidden (no console flash)
    └── claude.ico            # icon extracted to a STABLE path (survives updates)

%APPDATA%\                     # profile DATA lives here (required for Cowork VM)
├── Personal\                 # isolated Chromium profile (login, history, cache, VM)
└── Work\                     # (only if not reusing the default login)

Desktop\
├── Claude (Work).lnk
└── Claude (Personal).lnk

The shortcuts point at the copied bin\ scripts, so you can delete the cloned repo afterwards and everything keeps working. Profile data lives under %APPDATA%\<name> (not under ClaudeProfiles\) — this is required so Claude's Cowork VM can start; see Cowork limitations below.

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Usage notes

• Re-clicking a shortcut focuses that profile's existing window instead of opening a duplicate — exactly the normal single-instance behaviour, but scoped per profile.
• App updates are handled automatically: the launcher re-resolves the exe path each time via Get-AppxPackage.
• Shortcut icons survive updates. Setup.ps1 extracts the Claude icon once to bin\claude.ico (a stable path) and points every shortcut there. Pointing a shortcut straight at the versioned WindowsApps\Claude_<version>\...\Claude.exe would go blank after the next update deletes that folder — which is why the icon is copied out to a fixed location instead.
• Switching the "main" app: the regular Start-menu Claude icon still uses %APPDATA%\Claude, i.e. the same login as a "Work" profile created with -ReuseDefaultForWork.

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Optional: build a real .exe

If you'd rather have a single executable than a .vbs:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\Build-Exe.ps1
# -> dist\ClaudeLauncher.exe  (takes -ProfileDir "<path>")

This uses ps2exe. Note that unsigned ps2exe binaries can trip SmartScreen / antivirus heuristics — the .vbs launcher created by Setup.ps1 is the recommended, friction-free option.

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Uninstall

# Remove the shortcuts only:
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\Uninstall.ps1

# Remove shortcuts AND the isolated profile data (signs you out, clears history):
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\Uninstall.ps1 -RemoveData

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Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
"Claude Desktop app not found"	Install it from claude.ai/download and run Setup.ps1 again.
Shortcut does nothing	Run scripts\Launch-Claude.ps1 -ProfileDir <dir> directly in PowerShell to see the error.
Second window won't open	Make sure the two shortcuts use different --user-data-dir paths (check shortcut Target).
Icon is blank or grey	Re-run Setup.ps1 (current versions extract the icon to a stable bin\claude.ico, so it survives updates). If a stale thumbnail lingers, clear the icon cache: ie4uinit.exe -show, or Stop-Process -Name explorer -Force; Start-Process explorer.
"Failed to start Claude's workspace" / VHDX file not found in a cloned profile	The profile's data dir is outside %APPDATA%, so the Cowork VM service can't find rootfs.vhdx. Re-run Setup.ps1 (current version puts profiles under %APPDATA%). To migrate an existing profile without re-login, move ClaudeProfiles\<name> → %APPDATA%\<name> and update the shortcut's first argument to %APPDATA%\<name>. Do not use a junction/symlink for vm_bundles — the VM service refuses to open reparse points.
Cowork won't start in one profile while another is open (HYPERVISOR_SERVICE_ERROR, "a virtual machine … with the specified identifier already exists")	Expected — see Cowork VM limitations. Only one profile can run the Cowork VM at a time; quit the other profile (or reboot to clear a stale VM) before launching.

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Cowork VM limitations

Claude Desktop's Cowork feature (the agentic workspace, scheduled tasks, and artifact storage) runs inside a per-machine Hyper-V VM, not just an Electron window. Two consequences for multi-profile use:

1. Profile data must live under %APPDATA%. The native VM service resolves the VM image (rootfs.vhdx) at %APPDATA%\<profile-name>\vm_bundles, ignoring --user-data-dir. Setup.ps1 therefore places isolated profiles under %APPDATA%\<name> (the Work/-ReuseDefaultForWork profile already uses %APPDATA%\Claude, which is why it works out of the box). A data dir anywhere else makes Cowork fail with VHDX file not found.

2. Only one Cowork VM can run at a time. The Hyper-V compute system is not scoped per profile, so launching Cowork in a second profile while another's VM is running fails with HYPERVISOR_SERVICE_ERROR / "identifier already exists". You can keep both windows open for chat, but the VM-backed workspace only runs in one profile at a time — quit (or stop the workspace of) the other profile first. The plain chat / login isolation that this tool provides is unaffected.

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How is this different from running the app twice?

The app enforces a single instance via the Chromium singleton lock, which is tied to the data directory. Clicking the normal icon twice hits the same lock and just focuses the open window. Giving each instance its own data directory gives each its own lock — and its own account.

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Disclaimer

This is an unofficial community tool. It does not modify, repackage, or redistribute the Claude app — it only launches the official, installed app with a standard Chromium command-line flag. Use in accordance with Anthropic's terms.

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Tiếng Việt — Quickstart

Chạy nhiều cửa sổ Claude Desktop cùng lúc trên Windows, mỗi cái một tài khoản (ví dụ Công việc và Cá nhân), đăng nhập/lịch sử/cài đặt tách biệt.

App chính thức chỉ cho 1 tài khoản và không mở cửa sổ thứ hai. Repo này lách bằng cờ --user-data-dir của Chromium: mỗi thư mục dữ liệu khác nhau = một khoá instance riêng = một cửa sổ + một tài khoản chạy song song.

git clone https://github.com/vodongha/claude-desktop-clone.git
cd claude-desktop-clone
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\Setup.ps1 -ReuseDefaultForWork

• Tạo 2 icon trên Desktop: Claude (Work) và Claude (Personal).
• -ReuseDefaultForWork: icon Work dùng lại tài khoản đang đăng nhập (khỏi login lại). Icon Personal mở cửa sổ mới để đăng nhập tài khoản còn lại.
• Bấm lại icon → focus đúng cửa sổ của tài khoản đó (không mở trùng).

Muốn tách riêng cả bộ nhớ Claude Code / Cowork cho từng profile (mặc định chỉ tách login, còn ~/.claude thì dùng chung), trỏ CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR qua -ConfigDir:

& .\scripts\Setup.ps1 -ConfigDir @{ Personal = "$env:USERPROFILE\.claude-personal" }

Gỡ: scripts\Uninstall.ps1 (thêm -RemoveData để xoá luôn dữ liệu/đăng nhập).

Yêu cầu: Windows 10/11 + đã cài app Claude Desktop. Không cần quyền admin, không cần Python.

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Contributing

develop is the integration branch; master is the stable, published state. Branch feature/* or bug/* off develop and PR into develop; branch hotfix/* off master for urgent fixes. Merging develop → master releases, and sync-develop.yml merges master back into develop. CI runs PSScriptAnalyzer on every PR. See CLAUDE.md for details.

License

MIT

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Built with

Claude Code by Anthropic. 🤖