Short answer: Claude finishes most sign-ins in your web browser, which hands the result back to Claude through a claude:// link. Windows always gives that link to your usual Claude, never to the second window that asked - so the new account ends up in your main window, and the second window stays on the sign-in screen.
This page is for people who already run a second Claude Desktop window with its own data folder - the setup described in How to use multiple Claude accounts at once on Windows - and cannot get the second account signed in.
You open the second Claude window and click Continue with Google (or with email, Apple, or your company account). Your browser opens, you sign in, and the browser asks "Open Claude?". You accept. Then:
Nothing is broken in your second window. The sign-in simply never reaches it.
Claude Desktop does not ask for your password inside the app. For Google, Apple, company sign-in and the email link, it sends you to claude.ai in your browser. When you are done, the page sends the result back to the app with a link that starts with claude://.
Windows opens claude:// links with the installed Claude app - the plain one, started without the data folder of your second window. So the sign-in is delivered to the Claude that holds your main account: if it is open, it receives it; if it is closed, Windows starts it to receive it.
That is why the advice you will find in bug reports - quit every other Claude window first, then sign in (see #98549) - does not help on Windows. With nothing open, Windows simply starts your main Claude to take the link.
Can't you change which app opens claude:// links? Not in a way that lasts: Claude registers itself again for these links every time it starts, so any change you make is overwritten at the next launch.
If the account signs in with an email address, the browser page offers a way out that does not use the claude:// link at all:
Checked on Windows 11 with a second Claude window in September 2026. Repeat it for each extra account that uses email sign-in.
With a Google account, the browser page only says to finish signing in in the Claude app, with an Open Claude button - no Sign in with a code link (checked in September 2026). Whatever you click, the sign-in goes to your main Claude. Apple and company sign-in finish in the browser the same way, so expect the same.
Free options, before you install anything:
Claude Desktop Manager does not fight Windows over the link. It lets the sign-in land where Windows sends it, then moves the account into the right profile:
What to expect next: the first time the new profile starts, Claude may ask you to confirm the device. The code appears in the window of your main account, not in the new one: copy it across. It is a one-time step; after that, the profile opens signed in.
We have validated this route end to end with a Google account. Apple and company (SSO) sign-in reach Claude through the same browser link, which is what the app relies on.
🖥️ Windows app - download it from a PC. This page reads fine on a phone, but the installer only runs on Windows 10 / 11.
| How the account signs in | "Sign in with a code" on the browser page | Free fix | With Claude Desktop Manager |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | Cancel "Open Claude?", use the code | Same, or the browser option | |
| No (checked) | Keep it in your main Claude | Browser option, then I'm done | |
| Apple | Not checked - assume no | Keep it in your main Claude | Browser option, then I'm done |
| Company (SSO) | Not checked - assume no | Keep it in your main Claude | Browser option, then I'm done |
A different problem, with the same cause underneath: on some Windows installs the claude:// link never reaches Claude at all, and the app returns to the sign-in screen with no error (#31476, closed by Anthropic without a fix). Clearing the cache rarely helps, because the cache is not the problem.
Because the sign-in finishes in your web browser and comes back to Claude through a claude:// link, and Windows opens that link with your usual Claude - not with the second window that asked. The second account ends up in your main window.
Google sign-in always lands in your main Claude on Windows, and the browser page offers no code alternative. Either keep the Google account in your main Claude and sign the others in by email with a code, or use Claude Desktop Manager, which lets the sign-in land in the main slot and then moves it into its own profile.
It finishes an email sign-in by showing a code that you type into the Claude window, instead of handing the sign-in back through a claude:// link. That keeps the sign-in in the window that asked for it. It appears for email sign-in, under the Open the app button.
Not on Windows. When no Claude is open, Windows starts your main Claude to receive the sign-in link, so the result is the same.
When signing a second window in by email: no, cancel it and use Sign in with a code. During Claude Desktop Manager's account adding steps: yes, accept it - the window waiting for the sign-in is the one Windows opens.
After an account has been added with Claude Desktop Manager, Claude may ask once to confirm the device on the first launch. The code appears in the window of your main account: copy it into the new one. It does not ask again.
Free to download. Standard ($10, one-time purchase) runs two Claude windows at the same time with no time limit. Pro ($30, one-time) removes all limits and adds QuickPrompt and QuickAsk.
🖥️ Windows app - download it from a PC. The installer only runs on Windows 10 / 11.