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Wait-Process

  • Reference
Module:
Microsoft.PowerShell.Management

Waits for the processes to be stopped before accepting more input.

Syntax

Wait-Process
    [-Name] <String[]>
    [[-Timeout] <Int32>]
    [<CommonParameters>]
Wait-Process
    [-Id] <Int32[]>
    [[-Timeout] <Int32>]
    [<CommonParameters>]
Wait-Process
    [[-Timeout] <Int32>]
    -InputObject <Process[]>
    [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The Wait-Process cmdlet waits for one or more running processes to be stopped before accepting input. In the PowerShell console, this cmdlet suppresses the command prompt until the processes are stopped. You can specify a process by process name or process ID (PID), or pipe a process object to Wait-Process.

Wait-Process works only on processes running on the local computer.

Examples

Example 1: Stop a process and wait

PS C:\> $nid = (Get-Process notepad).id
PS C:\> Stop-Process -Id $nid
PS C:\> Wait-Process -Id $nid

This example stops the Notepad process and then waits for the process to be stopped before it continues with the next command.

The first command uses the Get-Process cmdlet to get the ID of the Notepad process. It stores the ID in the $nid variable.

The second command uses the Stop-Process cmdlet to stop the process with the ID stored in $nid.

The third command uses Wait-Process to wait until the Notepad process is stopped. It uses the Id parameter of Wait-Process to identify the process.

Example 2: Specifying a process

PS C:\> $p = Get-Process notepad
PS C:\> Wait-Process -Id $p.id
PS C:\> Wait-Process -Name "notepad"
PS C:\> Wait-Process -InputObject $p

These commands show three different methods of specifying a process to Wait-Process. The first command gets the Notepad process and stores it in the $p variable.

The second command uses the Id parameter, the third command uses the Name parameter, and the fourth command uses the InputObject parameter.

These commands have the same results and can be used interchangeably.

Example 3: Wait for processes for a specified time

PS C:\> Wait-Process -Name outlook, winword -Timeout 30

This command waits 30 seconds for the Outlook and Winword processes to stop. If both processes are not stopped, the cmdlet displays a non-terminating error and the command prompt.

Parameters

-Id

Specifies the process IDs of the processes. To specify multiple IDs, use commas to separate the IDs. To find the PID of a process, type Get-Process.

Type:Int32[]
Aliases:PID, ProcessId
Position:0
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-InputObject

Specifies the processes by submitting process objects. Enter a variable that contains the process objects, or type a command or expression that gets the process objects, such as the Get-Process cmdlet.

Type:Process[]
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Name

Specifies the process names of the processes. To specify multiple names, use commas to separate the names. Wildcard characters are not supported.

Type:String[]
Aliases:ProcessName
Position:0
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Timeout

Specifies the maximum time, in seconds, that this cmdlet waits for the specified processes to stop. When this interval expires, the command displays a non-terminating error that lists the processes that are still running, and ends the wait. By default, there is no time-out.

Type:Int32
Aliases:TimeoutSec
Position:1
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

Inputs

Process

You can pipe a process object to this cmdlet.

Outputs

None

This cmdlet returns no output.

Notes

  • This cmdlet uses the WaitForExit method of the System.Diagnostics.Process class.

  • Unlike Start-Process -Wait, Wait-Process only waits for the processes identified. Start-Process -Wait waits for the process tree (the process and all its descendants) to exit before returning control.