How to launch multiple OBS instances on Linux (Ubuntu 24.04)?

C

ctfmetal

New Member
Hi everyone,


I'm trying to find a reliable way to launch multiple instances of OBS Studio on Linux, each using its own separate configuration folder. My goal is to stream multiple live broadcasts to YouTube from the same PC, using different profiles but sharing the same GPU and hardware encoder.


Here's what I’ve tried so far:


  • Setting custom XDG_CONFIG_HOME, XDG_CACHE_HOME, and XDG_DATA_HOME for each instance
  • Launching OBS with the --multi flag
  • Installing OBS via the official .deb package (not using Flatpak or Snap)
  • Creating multiple folders with cloned configurations and running them via shell scripts

The issue:


Starting with version 31, it seems OBS no longer allows launching more than one instance on Linux, even when using the --multi flag.
Click to expand...

❓ My questions:​


  1. Is there still an official way to run OBS in multi-instance mode on Linux?
  2. Are there any hidden flags or workarounds supported by the developers?
  3. Will multi-instance support be reintroduced or improved in future versions?


✅ System Info:


  • OS: Ubuntu 24.04
  • OBS version: 30.2.3 (tested with 31.x as well)
  • GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4060
  • Installation: Official .deb package
  • Use case: Multiple YouTube streams via ffmpeg, each with overlays and separate config

Thanks in advance to anyone who can share advice, documentation, or experience on this!
 
Tuna

Tuna

Member
--multi works fine for me, it will just use the same config.
I think what you want to is to build your own version of OBS with portable mode enabled.
 
C

ctfmetal

New Member
The --multi option, according to the documentation, only suppresses the warning about concurrent sessions being started.
Unfortunately, version 31.1.X launches the second instance for me without the panels.
By examining the startup script, it looks like there are access-denied errors for the integrated browser.
I was wondering whether you could copy the executable into separate folders and pass variables to each executable telling it where its configuration directory should reside.
 
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