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taskkill

  • Article

Applies to: Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012

Ends one or more tasks or processes. Processes can be ended by process ID or image name. You can use the tasklist command command to determine the process ID (PID) for the process to be ended.

Note

This command replaces the kill tool.

Syntax

taskkill [/s <computer> [/u [<domain>\]<username> [/p [<password>]]]] {[/fi <filter>] [...] [/pid <processID> | /im <imagename>]} [/f] [/t]

Parameters

Parameter Description
/s <computer> Specifies the name or IP address of a remote computer (do not use backslashes). The default is the local computer.
/u <domain>\<username> Runs the command with the account permissions of the user who is specified by <username> or by <domain>\<username>. The /u parameter can be specified only if /s is also specified. The default is the permissions of the user who is currently logged on to the computer that is issuing the command.
/p <password> Specifies the password of the user account that is specified in the /u parameter.
/fi <filter> Applies a filter to select a set of tasks. You can use more than one filter or use the wildcard character (*) to specify all tasks or image names. The valid filters are listed in the Filter names, operators, and values section of this article.
/pid <processID> Specifies the process ID of the process to be terminated.
/im <imagename> Specifies the image name of the process to be terminated. Use the wildcard character (*) to specify all image names.
/f Specifies that processes be forcefully ended. This parameter is ignored for remote processes; all remote processes are forcefully ended.
/t Ends the specified process and any child processes started by it.

Filter names, operators, and values

Filter Name Valid Operators Valid Value(s)
STATUS eq, ne RUNNING | NOT RESPONDING | UNKNOWN
IMAGENAME eq, ne Image name
PID eq, ne, gt, lt, ge, le PID value
SESSION eq, ne, gt, lt, ge, le Session number
CPUtime eq, ne, gt, lt, ge, le CPU time in the format HH:MM:SS, where MM and SS are between 0 and 59 and HH is any unsigned number
MEMUSAGE eq, ne, gt, lt, ge, le Memory usage in KB
USERNAME eq, ne Any valid user name (<user> or <domain\user>)
SERVICES eq, ne Service name
WINDOWTITLE eq, ne Window title
MODULES eq, ne DLL name

Remarks

  • The WINDOWTITLE and STATUS filters aren't supported when a remote system is specified.

  • The wildcard character (*) is accepted for the */im option, only when a filter is applied.

  • Ending a remote process is always carried out forcefully, regardless whether the /f option is specified.

  • Providing a computer name to the hostname filter causes a shutdown, stopping all processes.

Examples

To end the processes with process IDs 1230, 1241, and 1253, type:

taskkill /pid 1230 /pid 1241 /pid 1253

To forcefully end the process Notepad.exe if it was started by the system, type:

taskkill /f /fi "USERNAME eq NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM" /im notepad.exe

To end all processes on the remote computer Srvmain with an image name beginning with note, while using the credentials for the user account Hiropln, type:

taskkill /s srvmain /u maindom\hiropln /p p@ssW23 /fi "IMAGENAME eq note*" /im *

To end the process with the process ID 2134 and any child processes that it started, but only if those processes were started by the Administrator account, type:

taskkill /pid 2134 /t /fi "username eq administrator"

To end all processes that have a process ID greater than or equal to 1000, regardless of their image names, type:

taskkill /f /fi "PID ge 1000" /im *