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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>]
    [-Any]
    [-PassThru]
    [<CommonParameters>]
Wait-Process
    [-Id] <Int32[]>
    [[-Timeout] <Int32>]
    [-Any]
    [-PassThru]
    [<CommonParameters>]
Wait-Process
    [[-Timeout] <Int32>]
    [-Any]
    [-PassThru]
    -InputObject <Process[]>
    [<CommonParameters>]

Description

This cmdlet doesn't work on Linux or macOS.

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

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

$nid = (Get-Process notepad).id
Stop-Process -Id $nid
Wait-Process -Id $nid

The Get-Process cmdlet gets the process ID of the Notepad process and stores it in the $nid variable. Stop-Process stops the process with the ID stored in $nid. Wait-Process waits until the Notepad process is stopped.

Example 2: Specifying a process

This example shows 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.

$p = Get-Process notepad
Wait-Process -Id $p.id
Wait-Process -Name "notepad"
Wait-Process -InputObject $p

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

Example 3: Wait for processes for a specified time

In this example, Wait-Process 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.

Wait-Process -Name outlook, winword -Timeout 30

Parameters

-Any

When multiple processes are passed into Wait-Process, the cmdlet waits for all processes to exit before returning. With this parameter, the cmdlet returns when any of the processes exits. The remaining processes continue to run.

This parameter was added in PowerShell 7.4.

Type:SwitchParameter
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-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

-PassThru

By default, this cmdlet doesn't output anything. With this parameter, the cmdlet returns objects representing the processes that were waited on.

This parameter was added in PowerShell 7.4.

Type:SwitchParameter
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
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

By default, this cmdlet returns no output.

Process

The cmdlet returns process objects when you use the PassThru parameter.

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.