It's 2019 and Windows still won't let us run multiple installations at once. Question: Does anyone know of a program, script, or process that will able one to circumvent the limitations of Windows Installer from being able to have multiple instances of itself running in the background? I don't know the exact reason why some installers can run multiple instances vs other will set-off this error, but in 2019, I'm a little surprised we keep seeing this error. I thought that by now someone would have found a workaround. As I'd understood it, the limitations were due to problems with how Windows controls its service and installs stuff, and that it effectively cannot operate multiple versions of itself and thus install multiple software at once. It's possible to do this at the command prompt level for scripting, but not for the GUI Windows Installer. I know of programs that enable a person to fit multiple installers together and will run them in tandem, or programs like ninite that will pair multiple installs together based upon preset scripts. Has anyone figured out a way to get around the arcane coding limitation either by a secondary project or by built-in modifications with Windows? Thanks.
That would be stupid. MSI installers are most of the times limited to single-instance for a good reason - nobody wants system files with versions all over the place, everything must be installed in ordered fashion so that it can be reverted. What do you thing it is going to happen when you run 10 msi installers at once, 3 of them superseeding the same components, one of them failing during install? Naturally, it is going to revert it's file and registry changes - but woops! a concurrent installer already altered those very same files and registry. Now another fourth component that depends on those is going to fail hard at the next startup - enjoy your boot loop or whatever. Other installers can be run in parallel because they are standalone - do not influence other stuff but their own.. in theory. Because that can often fail, and to prevent issues leading to user configuration or worse - user data - being lost, many non-Microsoft software publishers also provide a msi installer - it's not because of being faster - it's because of being more reliable.