how to kill a process?

hello,

how can kill a running process?
do I need the name? the id?

thanks

"kill store.exe" as an example

The Kill statement will delete a file on disk, not exit a running process. What you can do is to call TerminateProcess, and you do need the Process handle to do that. Do you know which process you want to end?

in a module:

VB Code:

LuidUDT As LUID
Attributes As Long
End Type
Const TOKEN_ADJUST_PRIVILEGES = &H20
Const TOKEN_QUERY = &H8
Const SE_PRIVILEGE_ENABLED = &H2
Const PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS = &H1F0FFF
Type PROCESSENTRY32
dwSize As Long
cntUsage As Long
th32ProcessID As Long
th32DefaultHeapID As Long
th32ModuleID As Long
cntThreads As Long
th32ParentProcessID As Long
pcPriClassBase As Long
dwFlags As Long
szexeFile As String * MAX_PATH
End Type
Public Function KillApp(myName As String) As Boolean
Const TH32CS_SNAPPROCESS As Long = 2&
Const PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS = 0
Dim uProcess As PROCESSENTRY32
Dim rProcessFound As Long
Dim hSnapshot As Long
Dim szExename As String
Dim exitCode As Long
Dim myProcess As Long
Dim AppKill As Boolean
Dim appCount As Integer
Dim I As Integer
On Local Error GoTo Finish
appCount = 0
    uProcess.dwSize = Len(uProcess)
    hSnapshot = CreateToolhelpSnapshot(TH32CS_SNAPPROCESS, 0&)
    rProcessFound = ProcessFirst(hSnapshot, uProcess)
        Do While rProcessFound
            I = InStr(1, uProcess.szexeFile, Chr(0))
            szExename = LCase$(Left$(uProcess.szexeFile, I - 1))
            If Right$(szExename, Len(myName)) = LCase$(myName) Then
            KillApp = True
            appCount = appCount + 1
            myProcess = OpenProcess(PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS, False, uProcess.th32ProcessID)
            If KillProcess(uProcess.th32ProcessID, 0) Then
            End If
            End If
            rProcessFound = ProcessNext(hSnapshot, uProcess)
        Loop
Call CloseHandle(hSnapshot)
Exit Function
Finish:
MsgBox "Error!"
End Function
Function KillProcess(ByVal hProcessID As Long, Optional ByVal exitCode As Long) As Boolean
Dim hToken As Long
Dim hProcess As Long
Dim tp As TOKEN_PRIVILEGES
If GetVersion() >= 0 Then
        If OpenProcessToken(GetCurrentProcess(), TOKEN_ADJUST_PRIVILEGES Or TOKEN_QUERY, hToken) = 0 Then
            GoTo CleanUp
        End If
    If LookupPrivilegeValue("", "SeDebugPrivilege", tp.LuidUDT) = 0 Then
        GoTo CleanUp
    End If
tp.PrivilegeCount = 1
tp.Attributes = SE_PRIVILEGE_ENABLED
    If AdjustTokenPrivileges(hToken, False, tp, 0, ByVal 0&, ByVal 0&) = 0 Then
        GoTo CleanUp
    End If
End If
hProcess = OpenProcess(PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS, 0, hProcessID)
    If hProcess Then
        KillProcess = (TerminateProcess(hProcess, exitCode) <> 0)
        CloseHandle hProcess
    End If
    If GetVersion() >= 0 Then
        tp.Attributes = 0
        AdjustTokenPrivileges hToken, False, tp, 0, ByVal 0&, ByVal 0&
CleanUp:
    If hToken Then CloseHandle hToken
    End If
End Function

and call it like
Private Sub Form_Load()
KillApp ("project1.exe")
End Sub

Woah. Why go through all that?

Send the WM_CLOSE API call to it and it closes instantly. No need for all that.

WM_CLOSE will close a window, a process might have several windows or in fact no window at all (in which case you don't have anything to send the WM_CLOSE message to :)).

yep, good post joacim..

Wow, now I know how hard it is to read unindented code. ;)

yeh i dunno what happened..it was formatted when i posted it :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by |2eM!x

yeh i dunno what happened..it was formatted when i posted it :D

---

Sorry, but I find that a bit hard to believe unless you posted it without the [vbcode][/vbcode] tags first and edited it afterward to add them :). But you can always edit the post again and paste the formatted code.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>TaskKill /IM IExplore.exe /F
SUCCESS: The process "iexplore.exe" with PID 2904 has been terminated.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

Xp and posibly win2k only though

I have the process handle.
how do I use TerminateProcess? how do I call it?

how do I use the uExitCode ( GetExitCodeProcess )?
what do I put there?

:wave:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dekelc

I have the process handle.
how do I use TerminateProcess? how do I call it?

---

Do you have the process handle or the process ID, there is a difference. The process handle can be retrieved from the process ID by calling the OpenProcess API function to which you specify what kind of access you need for the handle, in your case you need the PROCESS_TERMINATE + the STANDARD_RIGHTS_REQUIRED access flag. When you have this handle you may call the TerminateProcess function.

However you should know that calling the TerminateProcess function is an abnormal way of killing a process. It's equal to clicking the End Process button on the Processes tab in Task Manager. The reason it's abnormal is because TerminateProcess does kill the process and all of its threads but DLLs that are attached to the process will not be notified that the process has been terminated. You should only use this during extreme circumstances since the state of the global data maintained by DLLs may be comprimised.

However if it's the Process ID you have you can use the following code:

VB Code:

Private Declare Function OpenProcess Lib "kernel32.dll" ( _
 ByVal dwDesiredAccess As Long, _
 ByVal bInheritHandle As Long, _
 ByVal dwProcessId As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function TerminateProcess Lib "kernel32.dll" ( _
 ByVal hProcess As Long, _
 ByVal uExitCode As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "kernel32.dll" ( _
 ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
 
Private Const STANDARD_RIGHTS_REQUIRED As Long = &HF0000&
Private Const PROCESS_TERMINATE As Long = (&H1)
 
Public Function KillProcess(ByVal nProcessID As Long) As Boolean
    Dim hProcess As Long
    Const RIGHTS_FLAGS = STANDARD_RIGHTS_REQUIRED Or PROCESS_TERMINATE
    hProcess = OpenProcess(RIGHTS_FLAGS, 0&, nProcessID)
    If hProcess Then
        If TerminateProcess(hProcess, 0&) Then
            KillProcess = True
        End If
        Call CloseHandle(hProcess)
    End If
End Function

here try this its a small thing u can use for more than one process it stops the process from running

in a moduel putthis

VB Code:

Declare Function AdjustTokenPrivileges Lib "advapi32" (ByVal TokenHandle As Long, ByVal DisableAllPrivileges As Long, NewState As TOKEN_PRIVILEGES, ByVal BufferLength As Long, PreviousState As Any, ReturnLength As Any) As Long
Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
Declare Function CreateToolhelpSnapshot Lib "kernel32" Alias "CreateToolhelp32Snapshot" (ByVal lFlags As Long, lProcessID As Long) As Long
Declare Function GetCurrentProcess Lib "kernel32" () As Long
Declare Function GetVersion Lib "kernel32" () As Long
Declare Function LookupPrivilegeValue Lib "advapi32" Alias "LookupPrivilegeValueA" (ByVal lpSystemName As String, ByVal lpName As String, lpLuid As LUID) As Long
Declare Function OpenProcess Lib "kernel32" (ByVal dwDesiredAccess As Long, ByVal bInheritHandle As Long, ByVal dwProcessId As Long) As Long
Declare Function OpenProcessToken Lib "advapi32" (ByVal ProcessHandle As Long, ByVal DesiredAccess As Long, TokenHandle As Long) As Long
Declare Function ProcessFirst Lib "kernel32" Alias "Process32First" (ByVal hSnapshot As Long, ByRef lppe As PROCESSENTRY32) As Long
Declare Function ProcessNext Lib "kernel32" Alias "Process32Next" (ByVal hSnapshot As Long, uProcess As PROCESSENTRY32) As Long
Declare Function TerminateProcess Lib "kernel32" (ByVal ApphProcess As Long, ByVal uExitCode As Long) As Long
 
Public Const TH32CS_SNAPPROCESS As Long = 2&
Public Const TOKEN_ADJUST_PRIVILEGES = &H20
Public Const TOKEN_QUERY = &H8
Public Const SE_PRIVILEGE_ENABLED = &H2
Public Const PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS = &H1F0FFF
 
Type PROCESSENTRY32
    dwSize As Long
    cntUsage As Long
    th32ProcessID As Long
    th32DefaultHeapID As Long
    th32ModuleID As Long
    cntThreads As Long
    th32ParentProcessID As Long
    pcPriClassBase As Long
    dwFlags As Long
    szexeFile As String * 260
End Type
 
Type LUID
   lowpart As Long
   highpart As Long
End Type
 
Type TOKEN_PRIVILEGES
    PrivilegeCount As Long
    LuidUDT As LUID
    Attributes As Long
End Type
 
Public Function KillApp(myName As String) As Boolean
 
Const PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS = 0
Dim uProcess As PROCESSENTRY32
Dim iProcessFound As Long
Dim hSnapshot As Long
Dim szExename As String
Dim myProcess As Long
Dim appCount As Integer
Dim i As Integer
On Local Error GoTo Finish
 
uProcess.dwSize = Len(uProcess)
hSnapshot = CreateToolhelpSnapshot(TH32CS_SNAPPROCESS, 0&)
iProcessFound = ProcessFirst(hSnapshot, uProcess)
Do While iProcessFound
    i = InStr(1, uProcess.szexeFile, Chr(0))
    szExename = LCase$(Left$(uProcess.szexeFile, i - 1))
    If Right$(szExename, Len(myName)) = LCase$(myName) Then
        KillApp = True
        appCount = appCount + 1
        myProcess = OpenProcess(PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS, False, uProcess.th32ProcessID)
        Call KillProcess(uProcess.th32ProcessID, 0)
    End If
    iProcessFound = ProcessNext(hSnapshot, uProcess)
Loop
 
Call CloseHandle(hSnapshot)
 
Finish:
    Exit Function
 
End Function
 
Public Function KillProcess(ByVal hProcessID As Long, ByVal exitCode As Long) As Boolean
 
Dim hToken As Long
Dim hProcess As Long
Dim tp As TOKEN_PRIVILEGES
 
If GetVersion() >= 0 Then
    If OpenProcessToken(GetCurrentProcess(), TOKEN_ADJUST_PRIVILEGES Or TOKEN_QUERY, hToken) = 0 Then
        GoTo CleanUp
    End If
    If LookupPrivilegeValue("", "SeDebugPrivilege", tp.LuidUDT) = 0 Then
        GoTo CleanUp
    End If
    tp.PrivilegeCount = 1
    tp.Attributes = SE_PRIVILEGE_ENABLED
    If AdjustTokenPrivileges(hToken, False, tp, 0, ByVal 0&, ByVal 0&) = 0 Then
        GoTo CleanUp
    End If
End If
 
hProcess = OpenProcess(PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS, 0, hProcessID)
If hProcess Then
    KillProcess = (TerminateProcess(hProcess, exitCode) <> 0)
    CloseHandle hProcess
End If
 
If GetVersion() >= 0 Then
    tp.Attributes = 0
    AdjustTokenPrivileges hToken, False, tp, 0, ByVal 0&, ByVal 0&
End If
 
CleanUp:
    If hToken Then CloseHandle hToken
   
End Function

and in theform put a listbox,command button, and timer and

VB Code:

' put in option explicit 
 
 Dim xStr As String
Dim boolQuick As Boolean

'put in the timer

VB Code:

Dim i As Long
 
For i = 0 To lstProcess.ListCount - 1
    Call KillApp(lstProcess.List(i))
Next

and in the command button

VB Code:

Timer1 = 1
add_process 'used in my example may vary

also you will need to make a sub or function that allows you to put in the process
ex.
private sub add_process()
process.additem "iexplore.exe
end sub

I have the process handle and process ID,
so what it the simplest way to kill it?

:wave:

Take a look at this.....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dekelc

I have the process handle and process ID,
so what it the simplest way to kill it?

---

Hmmm... Did you even bothered to read this? If you have the process handle with the correct rights you may call the TerminateProcess. If you only have the ID you need to use that to open the running process with the correct rights flag, and then terminate it. Please let me know what it is you didn't understand.