Is there any way that I can run two 8.5.2 images on the single machine as I would like to have the same environment for both?
There is, however, another problem: once you have many windows open, it is hard to tell which image they belong to :-) But if you find a scheme for your window positioning when working with multiple images, there's nothing that stops you.
I was going by the fact that I was trying to install a second copy and that wouldn't work. You would have thought that after 17 or so years using VAST that I would know better!
I copied the image, changed the paths in the abt.ini and both images work fine. I actively want two manager.dat files as I want to keep the server from utilising client code and vice versa. This way I don't get distracted.
You can also download a virtual desktop manager, like windowspager, and open an image in each desktop. This has worked well for me.