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Windows Multiple Instances

Docker Multiple Instances

It is possible to run multiple instances of Radarr. This is typically done when one wants a 4K and 1080p copy of a movie. Note that you can (and probably should) review TRaSH's guide and configure Radarr to use a second Radarr as a list. This is helpful if you wish to keep both in sync.

The following requirements should be noted:

This guide will show you how to run multiple instances of Radarr on Windows using only one base installation. This guide was put together using Windows 10; if you are using a previous version of Windows (7, 8, etc.) you may need to adjust some things. This guide also assumes that you have installed Radarr to the default directory, and your second instance of Radarr will be called Radarr-4K. Feel free to change things to fit your own installations, though.

Note: You should run Radarr as either a service or as a tray app. Running both an app and a service is unnecessary and likely to cause issues.

  1. Open a Command Prompt administrator window. (To run as an admin,
    right click on the Command Prompt icon and choose “Run as
    administrator.”)
  2. If Radarr is running, stop the service by running nssm stop Radarr
    in Command Prompt.
  3. Now we have to edit the existing Radarr instance to explicitly point
    to its data directory. The default command is as follows:
    sc config Radarr binpath= "C:\ProgramData\Radarr\bin\Radarr.exe -data=C:\ProgramData\Radarr"

This command tells the original instance of Radarr to explicitly use
C:\ProgramData\Radarr for its data directory. If you didn't use the
default Radarr install, or if your data folder is somewhere else, you
may have to change your paths here.

  1. Create a new folder where you’d like Radarr-4K to live. Most use a similar place such as
    C:\ProgramData\Radarr-4K
  2. Back in Command Prompt, create the new Radarr-4K service using nssm install Radarr-4K. A popup window will open where you can type your
    parameters for the new instance. For this example, we will use the
    following:
    • Path: C:\ProgramData\Radarr\bin\Radarr.exe
    • Startup directory: C:\ProgramData\Radarr\bin
    • Arguments: -data=C:\ProgramData\Radarr-4K
    • Exit Actions Tab
      • Restart: Restart Application
      • Delay: 120000 ms
        (2 minutes, can be longer if update fails to complete in time)

Note that Arguments points to the new folder created in step 1.
This is crucial, as it keeps all the data files from both instances in
separate locations.

  1. Click Install service. The window should close and the service
    will now be available to run.
  2. Continue to Configuring Radarr-4k
  • Disable automatic updates in one of your instances

Configuring the NSSM Exit Action correctly should allow Radarr to update and restart multiple instances with no additional scripts.
If the restart delay is not configured by default it will restart the instance immediately.
This can prevent updates from being applied and can result in the following error Radarr was restarted prematurely by external process.

Windows Port Checker and Restarter PowerShell Script

  1. Create a new File and name it RadarrInstancesChecker.ps1 with the below code.
  2. Edit the script with your actual service names, IP, and ports. If you are running in Tray mode, you must create Scheduled tasks to start each Radarr instance and use those Task names in the script below.
  3. Create a scheduled task to run the script on a repeating schedule.

Below is an example script to create a Radarr4K instance. The below systemd creation script will use a data directory of /var/lib/radarr4k/. Ensure the directory exists or modify it as needed.