I agree with @avillanueva. It sounds like maybe wt_home is set in the OS environment variables. This response is Windows centric, but the same concepts apply to Linux.
The two installations need to be fully independent. So...
- Choose a DB release that is supported by both Windchill versions.
- Don't install Java with the operating system because multiple releases have multiple unique Java requirements. Extract the zipped Java bundle to the Windchill load point and give it a generic name: D:\PTC\Windchill_12.1\Java.
- Ensure the Windchill variables are not set in the OS. Set your environment variables in the properties and batch files that launch and run Windchill.
The Windchill shell shortcut created by PTC doesn't use any variables.
Target: D:\PTC\Windchill_12.1\Windchill\bin\windchill.exe -w "D:\PTC\Windchill_12.1\Windchill" --java="D:\PTC\Windchill_12.1\Java\bin\java.exe" shell
Source: D:\PTC\Windchill_12.1\Windchill
If you are running a CMD shell and launching the shell environment, ensure you are in the correct load point.
pushd D:\PTC\Windchill_12.1\Windchill\bin
windchill shell
Other thoughts....
folder mappings
The old PTC demo images used drive substitution/folder mappings to replace content associated to a common software load point. For instance, we want the Windchill load point to consistently be D:\PTC\Windchill_12.1, but we have two installs: E:\12.1.1.2\PTC\Windchill_12.1 and E:\12.1.2.4\PTC\Windchill_12.1.
:: Remove mapping
subst d: /D
:: Create mapping
subst d: E:\12.1.1.2
This technique really isn't necessary unless you want a common load point (D:\PTC\Windchill_12.1) and both installs are different builds of the same major.minor version (12.1.x.x). I mention this only in case you are using drive substitution/folder mappings and maybe forgot to switch the mapping before attempting to launch the second version.
Windows Services
On Windows, even in development images, I register Windchill and Apache as Windows services and set them to manual launch. Then I use a batch file to start the appropriate services for the version I want to launch.
net start 12.1HTTPServer
net start 12.1Windchill
On Linux, many companies use a bash script registered through .bashrc to do the same start/stop commands via command line.
Named Java Processes
Naming the Windchill processes helps to quickly identify which version is running, what process is doing something, or what process(es) crashed.
xcopy /y %java_home%\bin\java.exe %java_home%\bin\java_sm_121.exe
xcopy /y %java_home%\bin\java.exe %java_home%\bin\java_ms_121.exe
xcopy /y %java_home%\bin\java.exe %java_home%\bin\java_bgms_121.exe
and in Site.xconf...
<!-- Named Processes -->
<Property name="wt.manager.cmd.BackgroundMethodServer.java.cmd.quoted" overridable="true"
targetFile="codebase/wt.properties"
value="$(wt.jdk)\bin\java_121_bgms.exe"/>
<Property name="wt.manager.cmd.MethodServer.java.cmd.quoted" overridable="true"
targetFile="codebase/wt.properties"
value="$(wt.jdk)\bin\java_121_ms.exe"/>
<Property name="wt.manager.cmd.ServerManager.java.cmd.quoted" overridable="true"
targetFile="codebase/wt.properties"
value="$(wt.jdk)\bin\java_121_sm.exe"/>
Just some ideas.
