"End Process" on the Processes-Tab calls TerminateProcess which is the most ultimate way Windows knows to kill a process.

If it doesn't go away, it's currently locked waiting on some kernel resource (probably a buggy driver) and there is nothing (short of a reboot) you could do to make the process go away.

Have a look at this blog-entry from wayback when: http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2005/08/17/unkillable-processes.aspx

Unix based systems like Linux also have that problem where processes could survive a kill -9 if they are in what's known as "Uninterruptible sleep" (shown by top and ps as state D) at which point the processes sleep so well that they can't process incoming signals (which is what kill does - sending signals).

Normally, Uninterruptible sleep should not last long, but as under Windows, broken drivers or broken userpace programs (vfork without exec) can end up sleeping in D forever.

Answer from pilif on Stack Overflow
🌐
Comparitech
comparitech.com › home › net admin › tutorial: powershell kill process command
PowerShell Kill Process Command: Step-by-Step Tutorial
November 11, 2024 - The kill command doesn’t work in Windows – use taskkill instead. PowerShell offers a way to manage processes programmatically with scripts. However, it can be time-consuming, and numerous pre-existing tools may perform process management more efficiently than a simple script you create. ... Stephen Cooper has taken a close interest in online security since his thesis on Internet encryption in the early 90s.
Discussions

How do I kill this system process without rebooting my PC every time?
Its EAC. Its designed to be as deep as malware but... less... actively malicious. Uninstall the game or live with it. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/Windows10
32
76
December 10, 2022
What is the shortcut command to kill a process in a Windows command window? - Stack Overflow
Releases Keep up-to-date on features we add to Stack Overflow and Stack Internal. ... Find centralized, trusted content and collaborate around the technologies you use most. Learn more about Collectives ... Bring the best of human thought and AI automation together at your work. Explore Stack Internal ... I have a process in a Windows command window which cannot be killed... More on stackoverflow.com
🌐 stackoverflow.com
What program can I use to kill process (such as games), as Alt + F4 is disabled so often?
CTRL-SHIFT-ESCAPE brings up the task manager More on reddit.com
🌐 r/pcgaming
23
0
April 18, 2018
What exactly happens when you kill a process using the Task Manager? Can you restart a process that's been killed?
First the important questions, before you do anything you shouldn't: What folder are you trying to delete? Why? Which executables does it contain? You don't sound sure what these executables are and do. Before you kill/delete them, you should investigate if it's safe to remove them. Answering your actual question: When you run a program (or when it's started automatically), the program is loaded into memory and starts executing. This instance of a running program is called a "process". A running program can start other programs or "fork" itself into multiple processes. Usually, you can also start multiple instances of the same program. Each of these will be their own process. A process ends, if it reaches the end of it's execution or if it is forcefully stopped by the operating system (this is what killing a processor in task manager does). The process will be removed from memory and ceases to exist. There is no way to continue the killed process. Although you can normally just start the program again, which will create a new process. This new process cannot access the memory of the old process, so it cannot "pickup and continue" where the old process has terminated. If the old process did write it's progress into a file, the new process might pick up that file and continue from there. Otherwise, it's a fresh start. Killing a process will not prevent the *.exe file from running in the future. Deleting it (or the containing folder) will prevent the *.exe file from running in the future. If you delete executables that are part of the system, Windows can be rendered unbootable, because it relies on these executables to do it's job. If you just kill such system processes, Windows might crash but should come back up after a restart (when these important executables are started again). If the executables aren't part of the system, they might still be critical to another application. Killing/deleting such executables has similar effects as with system files. It's just more limited to the applications depending on those executables and shouldn't affect the entire system. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/windows
5
2
February 23, 2021
People also ask

How do I kill Windows processes from the command line?

At the command line, you can terminate a Windows process with the command taskkill. To use this command, you need to know its process ID (PID). You can get a list of all running tasks with the command tasklist. Once you know the PID, use the taskkill command in this manner: taskkill /PID /F. Type in the process ID without quotes instead of .

🌐
comparitech.com
comparitech.com › home › net admin › tutorial: powershell kill process command
PowerShell Kill Process Command: Step-by-Step Tutorial
What is the kill PID command?

The kill command is used on Linux to terminate a running process. The format is just kill followed by the process ID. You can get a list of running processes by using the top command. The kill command doesn’t work in Windows – use taskkill instead.

🌐
comparitech.com
comparitech.com › home › net admin › tutorial: powershell kill process command
PowerShell Kill Process Command: Step-by-Step Tutorial
How do I stop a PowerShell command from running?

You can interrupt and stop a PowerShell command while it is running by pressing Control-C. A script can be stopped with the command exit. This will also close the PowerShell console.

🌐
comparitech.com
comparitech.com › home › net admin › tutorial: powershell kill process command
PowerShell Kill Process Command: Step-by-Step Tutorial
🌐
M3 Data Recovery
m3datarecovery.com › home › how to tips › kill stubborn processes on windows 7/8/10/11 with confidence
Kill Stubborn Processes on Windows 7/8/10/11 with Confidence
If you want to automatically kill processes based on certain conditions (like after a specific amount of time or at a scheduled time), you can use Task Scheduler to set up a task that will run a script to kill a process. Press Windows + R, type taskschd.msc, and press Enter to open Task Scheduler.
🌐
Atera
atera.com › home › how to kill a process in windows
How to kill a process in Windows
November 30, 2025 - Kill specific processes on remote computers: Invoke-Command -ComputerName “PC01” -ScriptBlock { Stop-Process -Name “notepad” -Force } » Still not working? Try restarting the computer remotely · Knowing how to kill a Windows process is a fundamental IT skill, but the method you choose matters, and the key is matching the tool to the situation.
🌐
Linux Hint
linuxhint.com › kill-process-windows
How to Kill a Process in Windows – Linux Hint
To kill the process in Windows, you can use Task Manager, Command Prompt (taskkill command), or Windows PowerShell (Get-Process and Stop-Process command).
🌐
Wikihow
wikihow.com › computers and electronics › operating systems › windows › 4 ways to use the taskkill command in cmd & powershell
How to Use Taskkill to End Processes in Windows
February 19, 2026 - Type the "tasklist" command and find a program you want to end. Type "taskkill /IM [image name]" and hit Enter. Use " /F" at the end of the command to force-close the process, and type "/T" to kill all its child processes.
Find elsewhere
🌐
Microsoft Learn
learn.microsoft.com › en-us › windows-server › administration › windows-commands › taskkill
taskkill | Microsoft Learn
Applies to: ✅ Windows Server 2025, ✅ Windows Server 2022, ✅ Windows Server 2019, ✅ Windows Server 2016, ✅ Windows 11, ✅ Windows 10, ✅ Azure Local 2311.2 and later ... 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. ... This command replaces the kill tool.
🌐
NinjaOne
ninjaone.com › home › blog › it ops › how to kill a process in windows: 4 methods
How to Kill a Process in Windows | NinjaOne
April 30, 2025 - To end a process, select it and click on the “End Task” button at the bottom right of the window. Alternatively, you can right-click on the process and select “End Task” from the context menu.
🌐
Microsoft Learn
learn.microsoft.com › en-us › windows-hardware › drivers › debugger › kill-tool
Kill Tool - Windows drivers | Microsoft Learn
December 5, 2024 - The Kill tool, kill.exe, terminates one or more processes and all of their threads. This tool works only on processes running on the local computer. Kill.exe is included in Debugging Tools for Windows.
🌐
The Windows Club
thewindowsclub.com › the windows club › how to kill a process using command line in windows 11
How to kill a Process using Command Line in Windows 11
You can open the Task Manager, find the process, and click the End task button. Alternatively, you can use the Taskkill /IM “process name” /F command to stop any process using Command Prompt.
Published   June 9, 2024
🌐
University of Massachusetts Boston
cs.umb.edu › ~tsoro › teaching › IT442 › it442_online › class_notes_it442 › resources › kill_a_process_in_windows.html
IT 442: Windows Operating System
Press the Windows key and type “Command Prompt”, then choose “Run as administrator”. ... You can get a quick readout of all the currently running processes, much like Task Manager, by typing tasklist | more and pressing “Enter” · Run the taskkill command to kill the process: Type ...
🌐
Marc Nuri
blog.marcnuri.com › home › windows: how to kill a process from the command line
Windows: How to kill a process from the command line - Marc Nuri
October 31, 2023 - In this post, I've shown you the possible ways to kill a process from the command line in Windows. Using the taskkill command from cmd or the Stop-Process cmdlet from powershell.
🌐
Eleven Forum
elevenforum.com › windows support forums › tutorials
Kill Process in Windows 11 | Windows 11 Forum
February 16, 2023 - B) Select a parent process you want to kill, and perform one of the actions:​ · Press the Delete key. Click/tap on the End task button on the command bar. Right click or press and hold on the process, and click/tap on End task.
🌐
Action1
action1.com › home › blog › how to kill process remotely on windows os
How to Kill Process Remotely on Windows Operating Systems | Action1
December 5, 2024 - Determine the name or process id which you need to kill. This is usually just the name of the executable of the program you’re trying to terminate, like winword.exe, chrome.exe, notepad.exe, or explorer.exe (don’t, seriously). ... Open the command prompt in Administrator mode. You do this by opening your start menu, typing cmd, and right clicking the “CMD” or “Command Prompt” icon and clicking “Run as Administrator”. In appeared command line window type the following command
🌐
Tweaks
tweaks.com › windows › 39559 › kill-processes-from-command-prompt
Kill Processes from Command Prompt
The /F flag kills the process forcefully. Failure to use the /F flag will result in nothing happening in some cases. One example is whenever I want to kill the explorer.exe process I have to use the /F flag or else the process just does not ...
🌐
The Tech Diary
obasimvilla.com › home › pc › 10 ways to kill a process in windows
10 Ways to Kill a Process in Windows
April 15, 2021 - You just have to follow it like this: Press and hold “Ctrl + Alt + Delete” keys together, and it will show you some options from where you can click the Task Manager option. Then select the “Processes” Tab.
🌐
C# Corner
c-sharpcorner.com › article › how-to-kill-a-process-in-windows-10
How To Kill A Process In Windows 10
October 20, 2023 - Follow the below instructions to proceed. Step 1. Press the "Ctrl + Alt + Delete" Key or the "Window + X" Key and click the Task Manager option. Step 2. Click on the "Processes" Tab.