How to kill a unkillable process?

Question

Discord.exe is unable to be ended. The following methods were used: Task manager with admin, "wmic process where name= "discord.exe" call terminate" ran in cmd with administrator privileges, and trying to utilize both process explorer and system informer both elevated to administrator results in an error message saying "Error terminating Discord.exe: Access is denied"

What other methods could I use to solve this problem?

Thanks

Answer 1

Hi,

If you try ending the process through the task manager in the details tab, does the error occur?

Or

You can try starting in safe mode and uninstalling and reinstalling Discord.

I can instruct you.

Thanks

Answer 2

Because the process is denying termination requests, use tools that can forcefully end processes and be aware of the risks (possible data loss or app corruption):

1. Use taskkill with force Run an elevated Command Prompt and try:

taskkill /f /im discord.exe

If there are multiple instances or child processes, you can also use:

taskkill /f /t /im discord.exe

This uses the built‑in Windows command that forcefully ends processes.

2. Kill by PID instead of name Sometimes the image name is protected or wrapped. First list processes:

tasklist | findstr /i discord

Then kill by PID:

taskkill /f /pid <PID>

Repeat for each Discord‑related PID.

3. Use the Kill tool (kill.exe) If Debugging Tools for Windows are installed, use the Kill tool locally:

kill /f discord*

Or, if you know the PID:

kill /f <PID>

/f forces termination, including protected processes such as services.

4. Use PsKill If PsTools is available, PsKill can terminate local or remote processes:

pskill -t discord.exe

Or by PID:

pskill -t <PID>

-t also kills child processes.

5. As a last resort: reboot If all tools report Access is denied, the process may be tightly integrated with a driver, service, or security product. In that case, a full reboot is often the only way to clear it. After reboot, avoid launching Discord until any underlying issue (e.g., corruption, malware, or conflicting software) is resolved.

Note: Forcing termination can cause data loss in that process and may destabilize the system if the process is critical. Use /f and similar options only when normal shutdown is impossible.

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References:

• taskkill
• Kill Tool
• PsKill v1.17
• Using PsKill
• Terminating a Process
• Terminate method of the Win32_Process class