Can I run two instances of Cursor with two different accounts?

[brandonssmith (Brandon Smith)]

I have a personal account and my company has another account for me. I need to use both of them for different projects.

I was able to create two instances and I can use both accounts but I am running into a couple of issues:

1. They do not seem to be able to update - The “New Update Available” message is constantly on my screen
2. I can not run them at the same time
3. It feels kind of random as to which one pops up when I do run Cursor.

I was able to create a shortcut in windows for (let’s call it) Instance #2 but if I lock it to the taskbar then it launches Instance #1.

Has anyone done this and if so, HOW?

OS: windows 11
Cursor version: Not quite sure at this point but not updated for a couple of days - I think
Confusion level: moderate to slightly annoyed

[deanrie]

Hey, try this solution:

Seamless Account Switching in Cursor

While we don’t have direct support for this, there may be a workaround! When launching Cursor from the terminal, you can add a parameter --user-data-dir, which lets you change where Cursor’s settings and data are stored. To achieve what you want, you can probably make a shortcut that launches Cursor with a different directory set, which will enable you to be logged into a different account, and also have different settings and project history, independent from the standard directory Cursor wou…

[brandonssmith (Brandon Smith)]

Thank you. That’s how I am currently doing it. It almost works.

If I can’t get it to work I will simply delete my personal account, uninstall and sign in with my corporate account but I would prefer to keep both.