Cannot run multiple flows simultaneously since the new update

[Usinul_Mubarak]

After the new update I cannot run multiple flows simultaneously, is that a bug or Microsoft permanently disabled?

[Pstork1 · Accepted solution]

Although this sometimes worked in previous versions it was only officially supported when running flows on the Windows Server operating system.  See the following: Run multiple concurrent UI flows on a single Windows Server device – High Density | Power Auto... I suspect the most recent release tightened up the connection between the UI flow and the Windows Session, which is why you can no longer run multiple attended UI flows. You should still be able to do this on Windows Server or when running Unattended flows.

[Usinul_Mubarak]

what is attended flow and unattended flow

[Pstork1]

Take a look at this article.

Attended and unattended scenarios for process automation - Power Automate | Microsoft Docs

[steve993]

https://powerautomate.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/

Does any subscription plan like the $15 one allow for multiple flows? Or is the ONLY way to get Windows Server? (I don't think this is possible on a laptop?)

I am trying to use Wait for shortcut key shortcuts and limited now by only being able to use one and liked to be able to keep each "chunk" of code separate - instead of cramming into 1 huge flow.

Is there a way to still keep things separate but run them?

Any help or more information would be greatly appreciated!

[Pstork1]

The $15 plan doesn't cover Power Automate Desktop.  You need the $40 plan PAD, but that only covers attended flows. For unattended flows you need the $40 plan plus an add-on. When running attended flows you can only run one at a time unless you are one a server OS.  

Of course if you have Windows 10 or 11 you can run attended flows directly without any of these licenses.  In that case you only need the $40 license if you want to have a cloud flow that interacts with a desktop flow.

[steve993]

Hi,

Thank you for the fast reply!

"Of course if you have Windows 10 or 11 you can run attended flows directly without any of these licenses.  In that case you only need the $40 license if you want to have a cloud flow that interacts with a desktop flow."

I am not trying to run anything fancy with clouds and other stuff. I just need to run up to 2 Attended Flows at a time on a Laptop with Windows 11.

The one code has a "wait for key" and makes me unable to run any additional flows while using the wait for shortcut feature in a flow.

"You need the $40 plan PAD, but that only covers attended flows. "

So it sounds like the $40 plan will allow this? I would be able to run two or more attended flows at a time from my windows 11 laptop?

[Pstork1]

If you are running the flows on a laptop running Windows 11 you can't run two desktop flows at the same time.  That is a requirement dictated by the desktop OS and how it interacts with PAD.  Getting a $40 license won't change that.  When running on a desktop OS you can only run one desktop flow at a time.

[Ruby_Ag]

Hi @Pstork1 !
I was going through this thread and was curious to know whatif we want to run 2 foreground flows at the same time. Signing in on PAD with a single account on 2 laptops will work OR using single Server will work for the same. 

[Pstork1]

Yes, you should be able to run two flows simultaneously on 2 different laptops because each laptop will have its own session even if its the same user account. A Single Server OS should work also, but that depends on what the two flows do since they may interfere with each other.

[supergoop]

I'm in a similar boat and thinking there might be a way. Not sure when it is added but there's an option to launch another flow as a command within the current flow, the current flow pauses until the other one is completed.

Within a loop You could have a wait for special key and include all your hotkeys as options to trigger it. Then have conditionals to guide the flow down a specific path depending on which of the trigger keys had been pressed. Inside those conditionals you could either launch flow2 or flow3, etc. 

This first flow will be your always on hotkey detector and caller of flows. It is paused during other flows so you won't be able to use hotkey1 and then hotkey2 right after each other. Whatever hotkey1 triggers, it will have to finish before the first flow will resume to detect hotkey2 being pressed.

No idea if this actually works but from looking at the toolbox of options it seems like it should. It's not pretty, especially since if one of your triggered flows freezes or gets caught in a loop, your main flow will be frozen too.

[cwashington214]

Glad I came across this.  Good to know that my limitation is Windows 10.  

What I've done as a workaround is to run one Flow, then edit the others and then run them while in Edit mode.  Big drawback is if the machine reboots I have to do the song-and-dance again but it works.

[Pstork1]

The problem with that workaround, or any workaround that lets you run two flows on the same desktop simultaneously is that Desktop flows interact directly with the UI.  So there is a good chance that one or the other flow will interfere with something on the desktop being accessed by the other flow. In the server OS it generates different user sessions for each flow to avoid that issue. But Windows 10 and 11 can only have on active logged in user session at a time. That's why there is a limitation. Your workaround will work to an extent since the preview runs separately from the main desktop flow. But that doesn't mean they won't interfere with each other when reading data from the screen.  So its not really a supported scenario.