Can I safely run multiple instances of the same Windows Service?

I have a windows service running on a server. It's a 'helper app' for a system we have and it does a very specific task (downloads html files based 开发者_StackOverflow社区on the config) with a specific database configuration.

We're now developing a system that's very similar to the existing system (at least on the face of it, where this service has an impact). I need to have a different instance of the service to run the same server with a different database configuration, so it can do its task for the new system, as well as the existing system.

Can somebody tell me if it's going to cause problems if I install a second instance of the same service on the same box?

I intend to install the service from a different directory from where the original is installed.

It turns out I couldn't. I needed to give each instance of the service a unique name. Not a big deal though.

This won't be a problem at all as long as the program itself does not do things in a way that would cause the various instances to conflict - like trying to write to the same files at the same time, or the like. As long as each is configured/coded to keep to itself, it will be fine.