you must kill child process too if any spawned to kill successfully your process

taskkill /IM "process_name" /T /F

/T = kills child process

/F = forceful termination of your process
Answer from aaa on Stack Overflow
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/commandline › i tried "taskkill /f /pid (number" but no effect - access denied
r/commandline on Reddit: I tried "taskkill /F /PID (number" but no effect - access denied
November 14, 2019 -

Of course i'm administrator in my pc, windows 8.1.

I changed ownership of folder and subfolders in safe mode to my account. But it doesn't help. In services.msc start and stop are grayed out. I was able to change startup to manual but this program still started automatically. If i try to delete this program, i get message than i have to get permission by administrator. But i am administrator.

Shortly: WTF?

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/sysadmin › how is this even possible? not able to kill process, either from task manager -> end task or command prompt administrator.
r/sysadmin on Reddit: How is this even possible? Not able to kill process, either from Task Manager -> End Task or command prompt administrator.
June 14, 2025 -

Windows 11 with today update complete.

C:\Windows\System32>tasklist | findstr /I photoshop
Photoshop.exe 110556 Console 1 4.824.320

C:\Windows\System32>taskkill /F /PID 110556
ERROR: The process with PID 110556 could not be terminated.
Reason: There is no running instance of the task.

https://imgur.com/a/CIpNGEa

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/windows › windows 10 can’t kill process access denied what is waynotana and why is there nothing on google about it?!!?
Windows 10 Can’t kill process access denied what is waynotana and why is there nothing on google about it?!!? : r/windows
January 4, 2021 - Open powershell as admin and type: taskkill /F /PID 14132 · am_i_will · • 5y ago · Looks like a service running in the background. Check your Services and see if anything is out of the ordinary. Try to boot into Safe Mode and see if the process still runs.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/sysadmin › windows service will not die even with taskkill /f
r/sysadmin on Reddit: Windows Service will not die even with taskkill /f
July 20, 2016 -

I have a stubborn Replay Core Service that had malfunctioned. I've attempted to stop the service but it was stuck in the STOP_PENDING state. So I attempted my usual "sc queryex [servicename]" query to find the Service PID and run a "taskkill /f /pid [PID#]". I get the standard "SUCCESS: The process with the PID XXXX has been terminated." return message but the process is still in the STOP_PENDING state. I've tried violently typing out TASKKILL in all caps but it didn't make a difference. I've seen this a few times. Usually a server reboot fixes it but it's in production until a few hours from now and I'm feeling impatient. Is there any other means of stopping stubborn services that does not require a reboot or interruption?

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EaseUS
easeus.com › computer instruction › can't end task access denied (cuauses & solutions)👍
Can't End Task Access Denied (Cuauses & Solutions)👍
July 10, 2025 - "Hello, is there a way to kill a process that gives access denied without restarting the server? Tried from CMD and PowerShell with force, still did not work." -Reddit
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SmartTechWays
smarttechways.com › home › taskkill error access denied
Taskkill Error Access denied - SmartTechWays - Innovative Solutions for Smart Businesses
January 8, 2026 - TASKKILL Commands : TASKKILL /? TASKKILL /IM notepad.exe TASKKILL /PID 1230 /PID 1241 /PID 1253 /T TASKKILL /F /IM cmd.exe /T TASKKILL /F /FI "PID ge 1000" /FI "WINDOWTITLE ne untitle*" TASKKILL /F /FI "USERNAME eq NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM" /IM oracle.exe TASKKILL /S system /U AMERIFIRST\tron /FI "USERNAME ne NT*" /IM oracle.exe TASKKILL /S system /U username /P password /FI "IMAGENAME eq note*"
Find elsewhere
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Microsoft Learn
learn.microsoft.com › en-us › answers › questions › 184056 › kill-other-users-process-in-task-manager-access-de
Kill other users process in Task Manager "Access Denied" Server 2019 - Microsoft Q&A
December 2, 2020 - Please use domain admin account to locally log onto the server and then run command prompt as administrator. Input command"taskkill /f /PID processID" to try again.
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Eleven Forum
elevenforum.com › windows support forums › general support
Access Denied when trying to kill stuck processes | Windows 11 Forum
February 2, 2024 - Create a shortcut with target C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c taskkill /im explorer.exe /f & start explorer.exe Name it Kill Explorer (or whatever) Right click on the shortcut. select properties general tab-advanced-check run as administrator shortcut tab- change the shortcut icon to one of your choosing Apply-OK You can pin this icon to taskbar or start menu. ... I am not sure but I think the "kill not responding processes" I have added to context menu does the same and fails with the "access denied" error.
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The Windows Club
thewindowsclub.com › the windows club › unable to terminate process, access is denied in windows 11
Unable to terminate process, Access is denied, The operation could not be completed
To force kill a Windows process when access is denied, open Task Manager, locate the process, and note its PID. Then, open Command Prompt as an administrator and type taskkill /PID <PID> /F replacing “<PID>” with the actual process ID.
Published   June 18, 2025
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/techsupport › killing an unkillable process
r/techsupport on Reddit: Killing an unkillable process
June 22, 2014 -

My friend has an odd issue where one of his processes (DAOrigins.exe) just refuses to die. He's using Windows 8.

Task Manager doesn't allow him to kill the process, even in an elevated state. I've asked him to taskkill the process in cmd, but he was given the error "No instance of this process is running", when it clearly is.

Image Name   | PID  |  Session Name |   Session# |   Mem Usage
================================================================
DAOrigins.exe| 6768 |               | 1          |   58,656 K

It's still using up memory.

Next I've tried using pskill to kill the process via its PID (which probably wouldn't have been too much of a difference). My friend got "Unable to kill process 6768: Access is denied.", even when he was running cmd in an elevated state.

Restarting does not kill the process either.

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/pchelp › cant kill steam.
r/pchelp on Reddit: Cant Kill steam.
March 25, 2022 -

Ive tried going through cmd using "taskkill". Ive also used process hacker but no avail, it just comes up with "Unable to terminate steam.exe (PID 10292): An attempt was made to access an exiting process. Same with task manager, I just get an access denied error. Any help?

[SOLVED] I just had to reinstall steam and it’s back to working normally ty every1

https://preview.redd.it/ld3wkbwojzo81.png?width=792&format=png&auto=webp&s=6753b2f36b9c0085a01e43e1c033374264994b0f

https://preview.redd.it/ymproettjzo81.png?width=679&format=png&auto=webp&s=d0c082aba551fac7cb31ac410a5ae561f98362c1

This is what happens in cmd

https://preview.redd.it/qd67bc88s6p81.png?width=649&format=png&auto=webp&s=e48d5eb86aea74a8e323e391183a7d3defd00741

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4iT
4it.com.au › knowledge base › error: the process with pid xxxx could not be terminated. reason: access is denied
ERROR: The Process with PID xxxx could not be terminated. Reason: Access is denied
December 1, 2022 - We have found that the best way to kill a process in Windows where you are getting an Access denied message is to use a tool like Process Hacker. Sometimes there are processes however which can’t be killed without rebooting the machine.
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MiniTool
minitool.com › home › news › 5 fixes to unable to terminate process access is denied
Quick Fixes: Unable to Terminate Process Access Is Denied
November 29, 2024 - Remember to replace the process name with the actual one. If you keep receiving the “unable to terminate process access is denied” error message, your computer may have been attacked by a virus.
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Broadcom Community
community.broadcom.com › symantecenterprise › communities › community-home › digestviewer › viewthread
Taskkill - Access Denied | Endpoint Protection
We have a server running an app that has an uptime requiremtne of 24/7 with 1 scheduled monthly reboot. The server is 2008 R2 Standard running 12.1.6 MP4 and h
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Eleven Forum
elevenforum.com › windows support forums › general support
killing stubborn processes | Windows 11 Forum
June 20, 2025 - C:\>taskkill /f /t /PID 10296 ERROR: The process with PID 10296 (child process of PID 11824) could not be terminated. Reason: Access is denied. C:\>taskkill /IM firefox.exe /f /t ERROR: The process with PID 10296 (child process of PID 11824) could not be terminated.