Can I have 2 versions of Opera simultaneously

A Former User

Hi, I posted a while back about issues with Opera and youtube playback; someone suggested that the version of Opera I was using is too old and I should reinstall.

The thing I have 2 versions of Opera installed.

Version: 29.0.1795.41 - Checking for updates...
Update stream: beta
System: Windows 7 64-bit (WoW64)
Browser identification

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/42.0.2311.82 Safari/537.36 OPR/29.0.1795.41 (Edition beta)

Version: 39.0.2256.48 - Opera is up to date
Update stream: Stable
System: Windows 7 64-bit (WoW64)
Browser identification

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/52.0.2743.82 Safari/537.36 OPR/39.0.2256.48

I use different browsers for different reasons. IE, FF, not Chrome, and of all the browsers I like Opera the best, which is why I use it for my general surfing activity.

So, is it possible to have 2 different, up to date, versions of Opera running? Currently, I can have both versions of Opera running without them interfering with each other. Thx.

A Former User

You can have as many versions of Opera running as you like, as long as they are installed in different folders.
The only caveat is that they should all be installed as standalone "USB" installs, so all their files are self-contained in their own program folders.
With a normal install the Opera user data files will be installed in a folder in your Windows user folder, and different versions may well then clash with each other as the different Opera versions will try to use the same folder for their user files.
You could get away with installing the first version like that, but all subsequent ones should be standalone installations.

A Former User

Presumably I can just direct the install to a folder I designate and thereafter all updates, bookmarks will be contained therein?

Presumably that's what you meant by standalone install?

A Former User

I don't think standalone is the only option.

Yes, different folders is right. You could possibly have both non-standalone, i.e. regular, but in this case, I reckon, they must have their profile like the same, judging by my other browsers experience, of course: which means same settings, bookmarks...

Clashing, Dave? It might be.
Haven't experienced much of such a thing with my multiple installs of Firefox. But recently, oddly enough, my Midory started to somehow interact with my Presto Opera. No way I know, only that I imported the bookmarks from the latter to this Midori.
It doesn't seem to show signs of interacting with Google Chrome though.
I should tell you that no standalones here - all regular.
Though I do have like three different folders to choose usually: 1) Program Files on C, 2) D&S or something for all users, and 3) D&S for my account section.

A Former User

Presumably I can just direct the install to a folder I designate and thereafter all updates, bookmarks will be contained therein?
Presumably that's what you meant by standalone install?

Exactly so, then the installations are completely independent of each other.
You can manually synchronise them if you want to by copying things like the Bookmarks file between them, subject to any compatibility issues between older and newer versions.
That's the main reason that I wouldn't recommend that different versions share the same user data folder.

A Former User

OK, so I installed another version of Opera to another part of my computer - I placed the file path on to the drive to ensure it was distinct to the Opera installed on the C: drive. There is of course another copy of Opera, much older, on the C: drive.

So, the problem is, when I open up the new version of Opera on D:, it functions the same as the version on the C: drive. When I set about deleting bookmarks from the version, it deleted the bookmarks in the C: version.

So they're not functioning independently.

I suppose I can just create a new speed dial folder but that wasn't really the original idea.

A Former User

Did you install the version on the drive as a standalone (USB) installation?
If so, anything you do to it should not affect any other installations.
If you didn't, then what I said would probably happen is happening, the two versions are sharing the same user folder, and therefore interacting with each other, which is presumably not what you want to happen!

leocg

leocg Moderator Volunteer

So, the problem is, when I open up the new version of Opera on D:, it functions the same as the version on the C: drive. When I set about deleting bookmarks from the version, it deleted the bookmarks in the C: version.

How they were installed? They are from the same channel (Stable, Beta or Developer)?

All Opera installations of a same channel will share the same profile folder if you use the regular installation mode. For them to have its own profile folder you need to install Opera using the standalone mode.

A Former User

As Leo pointed out, you can have up to a bunch of Opera browsers independent while non-standalone:

a Blink Opera stable,
a Blink Opera beta,
a Blink Opera "Developer",
and a Presto Opera (some 12, say).

Is it right?

A Former User

Yes, but as I (and now Leo too) have already said, different versions will use the same user data folder unless they are installed as standalone independent installations.
Leo is correct that if they are from different Opera branches they will actually be OK, as different branches name their user folders differently so they can be installed side by side, but personally I would always keep them independent anyway to avoid confusion. If you actually want two or more versions from the same branch to share the same user data, remember that this is risky if they are of very different ages as there may be compatibility issues.