topic Multiple Users on the same Windows machine in Alteryx Designer Desktop Discussions

Multiple Users on the same Windows machine

JBovard76 — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 21:33:57 GMT

For performance purposes, my team employs a specialized Windows machine that multiple users can remote into to take advantage of the larger capacity for large jobs. Historically, that is the machine I have installed Alteryx Designer on so my jobs can run in the background without impacting my local device. We recently added a 2nd team member and have obtained an additional Alteryx Designer license for them. When attempting to download and install his own licensed version of Designer, he is encountering errors that the "same or newer version of this patch is already installed". I installed the non-admin User version for Designer and he was trying to do the same, however this error makes it seem like the registry is tied up by my user install. Does anyone have any guidance on how to resolve this situation? I do not want to spend additional budget on a 2nd Windows machine just for Alteryx. Thanks

Re: Multiple Users on the same Windows machine

Yoshiro_Fujimori — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 23:06:16 GMT

Hi @JBovard76 ,

If you do not need to use different versions among the two users, you can switch the license with the same Designer instance.

From command line, you can deactivate User 1 and then activate User 2.

https://help.alteryx.com : Use Command-Line Options / Activate License Online

> AlteryxActivateLicenseKeyCmd.exe [license key] delete

> AlteryxActivateLicenseKeyCmd.exe [license key] [email address]

I hope this helps. Good luck.

Re: Multiple Users on the same Windows machine

JBovard76 — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 16:59:54 GMT

hi @Yoshiro_Fujimori unfortunately, we need both users active, I'm not sure constantly deactivating and reactivating users makes sense. Think of it this way: we share a computer but work separate shifts. I use the computer during the day, and log into Alteryx with my license. My coworker then works the shift after me, and needs to be able to log into the same computer and use Alteryx with his own license. I had thought that was the point of having User-version installed instead of the Admin version

Re: Multiple Users on the same Windows machine

Yoshiro_Fujimori — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 23:37:03 GMT

Hi @JBovard76 ,

Considering the message "same or newer version of this patch is already installed",

it seems that Alteryx Designer checks if the software is already installed.
I do not know if there is any way to avoid this check.
Even if it exists, I guess it can be complicated and dangerous.

So I would not recommend to dive into this way.

I would rather give each user a Designer Start-up .BAT script like below;

Designer Start-up script for User A
> cd C:\Program Files\Alteryx\bin // the path where Alteryx is installed
> AlteryxActivateLicenseKeyCmd.exe [license key of User B] delete
> AlteryxActivateLicenseKeyCmd.exe [license key of User A] [email address of User A]
> AlteryxGui.exe

Designer Start-up script for User B
> cd C:\Program Files\Alteryx\bin // the path where Alteryx is installed
> AlteryxActivateLicenseKeyCmd.exe [license key of User A] delete
> AlteryxActivateLicenseKeyCmd.exe [license key of User B] [email address of User B]
> AlteryxGui.exe

It should work if there are a couple of users using the same machine.
I am not sure if this works for your case, but this is what I can advise for now.
I hope it helps. Good luck.

Re: Multiple Users on the same Windows machine

JBovard76 — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 13:42:17 GMT

Thank you @Yoshiro_Fujimori , unorthodox, but might be my only hope :)

Re: Multiple Users on the same Windows machine

HannahBrauer223 — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 16:24:56 GMT

Is the error while downloading Alteryx, or trying to activate his license?

We use a virtual machine and needed multiple designer keys on it. We were able to get the software downloaded for everyone, but each person did have to put in their own license key. The tricky part - we had to do "activate license offline" for each member so the computer wouldn't realize what was happening. You just follow the steps on setup for offline activation. You will need access into the Alteryx License Portal for your company for this to work.

Hannah Brauer

Crowe LLP