Multiple users could not open edge when connecting the same terminal server

shenglong li 0

May I ask you a question? I encountered a problem when multiple users connect to a terminal server, they could not open edge at the same time. When the first user opens edge, the edge window opened by the other users will jump to the first user's session. How could I fix it? Thanks!

ShiJieLi-MSFT 9,566 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2023-09-26T09:43:15.65+00:00

Hi @shenglong li,

I saw you left a comment on a previous post. Is that the same scenario as yours?
shenglong li 0 Reputation points

2023-09-27T01:03:33.8233333+00:00

Yes, professor, it's the same scenario. I wonder if edge supports running multiple independent instances in different remote desktop sessions.

1 answer

ShiJieLi-MSFT 9,566 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2023-09-27T02:15:42.15+00:00

Hi @shenglong li,

Unfortunately, modern browsers like Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome and Firefox are simply not designed to permit more than one session to be using the same browser profile. This feature requires you to specify a unique profile for each user.

As I have shared in the previous post, the problem is exactly that the two sessions do not share the desktop although they are logged in with the same credentials. The desktop does not mean the "Desktop" folder but the logical entity in windows where the applications run. Therefore, the instances running in both sessions can't see each other and the first one locks the profile for exclusive use which is critical to ensure no profile corruption can occur.

The best workaround (or we can say the expected configuration) is to make sure every logged-in user gets their own profile. You can achieve that by --user-data-dir flag. For example:
msedge.exe --user-data-dir=%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Edge\%CLIENTNAME%

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Shijie Li
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shenglong li 0 Reputation points

2023-09-27T02:57:09.0566667+00:00

Thanks for the solution. I have tried the --user-data-dir flag. Actually, I can find the different user profiles in the %LOCALAPPDATA% directory. However, the first logon user can open edge normally, the second one can not. I find the edge window will jump to the first logon user's session with the second one's profile.

ShiJieLi-MSFT 9,566 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2023-09-27T03:22:12.3566667+00:00

Hi @shenglong li,

Let's have a check. Please share the profile path of the first and second user. You can find the profile path at edge://version. And make sure you have closed all Microsoft Edge processes on the first user when you are trying to open it on the second user.

shenglong li 0 Reputation points

2023-09-27T06:18:25.6033333+00:00

I use two accounts like test001 and test002 to connect the same remote desktop and open edge. First, I use test001 to open edge. The profile path is C:\Users\test001\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\DESKTOP001. It works well. Then I close edge processes of test001's session. And I use test002 to open edge with --user-data-dir flag. The edge window is not jumped out. I find an alert in test001's session. It says “microsoft edge can not read and write data directory: C:\Users\test002\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\DESKTOP002”.

ShiJieLi-MSFT 9,566 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2023-09-28T03:46:37.1933333+00:00

Hi @shenglong li,

Have you used --user-data-dir flag on test001's Microsoft Edge?

shenglong li 0 Reputation points

2023-10-10T03:35:02.6433333+00:00

Yes, I use this flag for both users. The profile path has directed to %LOCALAPPDATA%.
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Multiple users could not open edge when connecting the same terminal server

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