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Terminate Processes

Hi All,

I am able to get a list of running processes, but I am having trouble terminating targeted processes.

I have a list of the running processes, and I want to terminate a process according to the process name.

For example, if explorer.exe is running and iexplore.exe is running with a bunch of other processes, what I want is to target explorer.exe and iexplorer.exe and end those processes without ending the others in the list.

I have tried the TerminateProcess function and I cannot get it to work.

If you have a function that will work by my passing a process name to it I would greatly appreciate it.

For example: Call EndProcess("explorer.exe")

Thanks

RichW

vadim63

There's a very good sample:
http://www.thescarms.com/VBasic/AppResponse.asp

zzzzzooc

Try the below. The type of enumeration used will work on NT-based systems (2k, XP, etc.).

Form1:
------------
Option Explicit

Private Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "Kernel32.dll" (ByVal Handle As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function OpenProcess Lib "Kernel32.dll" (ByVal dwDesiredAccessas As Long, ByVal bInheritHandle As Long, ByVal dwProcId As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function EnumProcesses Lib "psapi.dll" (ByRef lpidProcess As Long, ByVal cb As Long, ByRef cbNeeded As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetModuleFileNameExA Lib "psapi.dll" (ByVal hProcess As Long, ByVal hModule As Long, ByVal ModuleName As String, ByVal nSize As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function EnumProcessModules Lib "psapi.dll" (ByVal hProcess As Long, ByRef lphModule As Long, ByVal cb As Long, ByRef cbNeeded As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function TerminateProcess Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hProcess As Long, ByVal uExitCode As Long) As Long

Private Const PROCESS_TERMINATE = &H1
Private Const PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION = 1024
Private Const PROCESS_VM_READ = 16
Private Sub Form_Load()
Dim intCnt As Integer
intCnt = KillProcByName("\calc.exe")
Call MsgBox("Program was terminated " & intCnt & " time(s).")
End Sub
Private Function KillProcByName(ByVal strProcName As String) As Integer
Dim lngRet As Long
Dim lngCb As Long, lngCbNeeded As Long, lngCbNeeded2 As Long
Dim intLoop As Integer
Dim lngProc As Long, lngProcIDs() As Long
Dim lngModules(0) As Long, strModule As String
lngCb = 8
lngCbNeeded = 96
Do While lngCb <= lngCbNeeded
lngCb = lngCb * 2
ReDim lngProcIDs(lngCb / 4) As Long
lngRet = EnumProcesses(lngProcIDs(0), lngCb, lngCbNeeded)
Loop
For intLoop = 1 To (lngCbNeeded / 4)
lngProc = OpenProcess(PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION Or PROCESS_VM_READ Or PROCESS_TERMINATE, 0, lngProcIDs(intLoop))
If lngProc <> 0 Then
lngRet = EnumProcessModules(lngProc, lngModules(0), 1, lngCbNeeded2)
If lngRet <> 0 Then
strModule = Space(256)
Call GetModuleFileNameExA(lngProc, lngModules(0), strModule, Len(strModule))
strModule = Left(strModule, InStr(1, strModule, vbNullChar) - 1)
If StrComp(Right(strModule, Len(strProcName)), strProcName, vbTextCompare) = 0 Then
Call TerminateProcess(lngProc, 0)
KillProcByName = KillProcByName + 1
End If
End If
End If
Call CloseHandle(lngProc)
Next intLoop
End Function

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

aelatik

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RichW

ASKER

vadim63, I already tried that and could not get it to work. It doesn't find the processes I'm trying to close.

zzzzzooc, your's didn't work either. I tried the following:

Dim intCnt As Integer
intCnt = KillProcByName("\explorer.exe")

And it did not terminate Windows Explorer, or any other process name placed in there.

aelatik, your's works on simple processes like Windows Explorer, but not on all processes, like lexbces.exe, which is a printer process I have running.

zzzzzooc

What OS and privileges do you have while trying to run these?

>>which is a printer process I have running.
If it's a service, you'll probably have to terminate it using a different method.

RichW

ASKER

aelatik's answer was the only one that I could get to work.

zzzzzooc, I still could not get your code to close even Windows Explorer, but I appreciate your trying to help.

Thanks to all!

RichW

xjake88x

Use the OpenProcess API to open a handle on the process with PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS, and then use TerminateProcess on its process ID (with exit code 0), and then close the handle.