Buzz
Users are usually familiar with using Google Drive on 1 Gmail account on their computers, but what if you use Google Drive from 2 or more accounts?
Many users have had to spend money to purchase third-party apps to sync multiple Google Drive accounts at the same time.
However, there's still a way to use 2 Google Drive accounts simultaneously without relying on any third-party apps or paying any fees.
Using 2 Google Drive accounts at once
Utilize a separate Windows user account
All you need to do is create another user account on Windows and launch Google Drive application for another computer within the privileges of the new account.
Windows allows users to open app accounts within the same user account, as long as the app account is opened under the privileges of a different user account.
Below, Mytour will guide you on creating a new user account to open another Google Drive account and synchronize data.
Note: This guide is performed on Windows 10. If you're using Windows 7 or 8, you can refer to the steps on Microsoft's support page.
Make sure you've created an Admin account to have full access to the data.
Step 1: Go to Windows Settings in the Start Menu, then click on Accounts.
Step 2: Next, select Family & other people on the left panel and click on Add someone else to this PC under Other people.
Step 3: A new window will appear, here you click on I don’t have this person’s sign-in information.
Step 4: On the next window, click on Add a user without a Microsoft account.
Step 5: Next, enter the username and password for the new account, then click on Next to create the account.
Step 6: To set up the account as an Admin, click on Change account type under the account you just created.
Step 7: In the Account type menu, select Administrator and then click on OK.
Using another Google Drive account
Step 1: Press and hold the Shift key while right-clicking on the Google Drive application shortcut.
Step 2: A menu will appear with the option Run as different user, your task is to select that option.
Step 3: Enter the username and password of the newly created user account and then click on OK.
Another Google Drive application will open on your Windows 10 computer. You can see a new Google Drive icon on the Taskbar.
Setting up the synchronization of the second Google Drive application
When opening the Google Drive application from another user account, the steps will be slightly different.
Here are the steps to set up the synchronization of the second Google Drive application.
Step 1: Open the second Google Drive application and sign in to the secondary Google account you want to sync.
Step 2: Next, click on Choose Folder and select the folders on your computer that you want to sync.
Step 3: If you want to access data on the main account, navigate to the Users folder in the Windows installation drive and open your main account. If prompted, click on Continue.
Step 4: Simply enter the password or PIN of your main account, and you can access the data within this account.
After selecting the folders you want to sync, click on Next and the synchronization process will be completed.
Your data in the secondary Google Drive account will be stored in a separate Google Drive folder displayed within the new user's user folder. And anything you add to the sync folder will be automatically synchronized.
Perform similar steps to sync multiple Google Drive accounts if desired.
Important note:
Ensure you have performed the setup steps above when launching the second Google Drive application. For some reason, Windows will not allow users to set up the operating system from the same user account in the future.
Drawbacks
Both of your Google Drive accounts will run and data will be synchronized. However, there are some limitations you should be aware of:
- You cannot open or manage settings of the secondary Google Drive application from the main user account. When you left-click or right-click on the main account, no menu appears at all. If you wish to change your settings in the future, you'll have to log out and log in to the secondary user account and adjust the Google Drive settings there.
- You'll have to manually open the secondary Google Drive application every time you restart your computer.
- To exit the Google Drive application, you'll need to do so from the Task Manager (open Task Manager by pressing the Ctrl + Shift + Esc key combination).
Here's how to use 2 Google Drive accounts simultaneously. With just a few tweaks, you can use 2 Google Drive accounts at the same time without having to pay any fees to purchase third-party apps.
