Multiple Instances of MPLAB® IPE

Last modified by Microchip on 2023/11/09 09:10
Contents

To enable multiple simultaneous operating instances of the MPLAB® Integrated Programming Environment (IPE), you'll need multiple instances of MPLAB® Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and several steps must be taken. Full documentation is available through the built-in help utility and the following steps walk through the process.

Open MPLAB X IDE  and go to Help > Tool Help Contents > MPLABX IDE Help.

IPE Help Tool

Select the Before You Begin folder.

IPE before you begin

Then, select Launch Multiple Instances of the IDE.

IPE launch multiple instances

Invoking Instances of the IDE

MPLAB X IDE requires each instance to have its own user directory. Therefore, plug-ins added to, or preferences set for one instance, will not be reflected in one another. In order to invoke multiple instances, launch the IDE with the –-userdir option and specify a directory.

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Windows® OS

Create a shortcut with the –-userdir option. For example, on Windows 7 OS:

Right-click on the desktop and select New > Shortcut.

Browse to the installed MPLAB X IDE executable.

By default, it is located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microchip\MPLAB\mplab_ide\bin\ mplab_ide.exe.

At the end of the line, enter the location of the user directory. You can either place your directory under the default location for this type of MPLAB X IDE information:

—userdir "C:\Users\MyFiles\AppData\Roaming\.mplab_ide\ dev\anydir" 

or you can place it where ever you like, for example:

—userdir anydir//

Click OK.

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Linux® OS

The installed version, run without any parameters by clicking on the desktop icon, will run with a user directory of:

$(HOME)/.mplab_ide

To change the user directory, run the $InstallationDir/mplab_ide/bin/mplab_ide shell script passing the argument —userid anydir. For example, to run MPLAB X IDE in two different instances:

/$ /opt/microchip/mplabx/mplab_ide/bin/mplab_ide —userdir ~/.
anydir1 &
$ /opt/microchip/mplabx/mplab_ide/bin/mplab_ide —userdir ~/.
anydir2 &//

You can also create desktop icons that have the user ID embedded.

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macOS®

Open a shell window and type the command line listed below to execute your installation of MPLAB X IDE in an alternate user directory. You can either place your directory under the default location for this type of MPLAB X IDE information:

$/bin/sh /Applications/microchip/mplabx/mplab_ide.app/Contents/
Resources/mplab_ide/bin/mplab_ide —userdir "${HOME}/Library/
Application Support/mplab_ide/dev/
anydir"

Alternatively, you can place it wherever you like, for example:

$/bin/sh /Applications/microchip/mplabx/mplab_ide.app/Contents/
Resources/mplab_ide/bin/mplab_ide —userdir
anydir

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