Managing processes in the Windows Command Prompt (cmd) is crucial for monitoring system performance, troubleshooting issues, and managing applications running on your computer. Several built-in commands allow you to view, start, stop, and manage processes. Below, I’ll explain the key commands used for managing processes, along with examples and expected outputs.

1. Viewing Running Processes with tasklist

The tasklist command displays a list of currently running processes, along with their Process ID (PID), session name, and memory usage.

Basic Syntax:

tasklist

Example:

To view all running processes, simply enter:

tasklist

Output:

C:\Users\YourUsername>tasklist

Image Name                     PID Session Name        Session#    Mem Usage
========================= ======== ================ =========== ============
System Idle Process              0 Services                   0         28 K
System                           4 Services                   0        376 K
smss.exe                      484 Services                   0        224 K
csrss.exe                     576 Console                    1      1,024 K
wininit.exe                   660 Services                   0        544 K
explorer.exe                  992 Console                    1      10,412 K

Output Explanation:

• Image Name: The name of the running process.
• PID: The Process ID, a unique identifier for each process.
• Session Name: The session associated with the process (e.g., Console or Services).
• Mem Usage: The amount of memory being used by the process.

2. Killing Processes with taskkill

The taskkill command allows you to terminate running processes using either the PID or the process name.

Basic Syntax:

taskkill /PID [PID]

or

taskkill /IM [ImageName]

Example 1 (Using PID):

To kill a process with a specific PID, enter:

taskkill /PID 992

Output:

C:\Users\YourUsername>taskkill /PID 992
SUCCESS: The process with PID 992 has been terminated.

Example 2 (Using Image Name):

To kill a process by its name, enter:

taskkill /IM explorer.exe

Output:

C:\Users\YourUsername>taskkill /IM explorer.exe
SUCCESS: The process "explorer.exe" has been terminated.

3. Managing Processes with start

The start command is used to create and start a new process or open a new command prompt window.

Basic Syntax:

start [ApplicationName]

Example:

To open Notepad from cmd, enter:

start notepad

Output:

C:\Users\YourUsername>start notepad

(This command opens Notepad without producing additional output in cmd.)

4. Viewing Detailed Process Information with wmic

The Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) tool can provide detailed information about running processes.

Basic Syntax:

wmic process list brief

Example:

To list running processes with more details, enter:

wmic process list brief

Output:

C:\Users\YourUsername>wmic process list brief

Handle  Name                        PID   CommandLine
-------  --------------------------  -----  ------------------------------
    0    System Idle Process          0   
    1    System                       4   
    2    smss.exe                   484   C:\Windows\System32\smss.exe
    3    csrss.exe                  576   C:\Windows\System32\csrss.exe
    4    wininit.exe                660   C:\Windows\System32\wininit.exe
    5    explorer.exe                992   C:\Windows\explorer.exe

5. Filtering Processes with findstr

You can combine tasklist or wmic with the findstr command to filter the output based on specific criteria, such as a process name.

Basic Syntax:

tasklist | findstr [ProcessName]

Example:

To find processes related to notepad, enter:

tasklist | findstr notepad

Output:

C:\Users\YourUsername>tasklist | findstr notepad

notepad.exe                  1256 Console                    1      12,000 K

Summary

Managing processes in the Windows Command Prompt involves various commands such as tasklist for viewing running processes, taskkill for terminating processes, start for launching applications, and wmic for detailed process information. Additionally, you can filter process lists using findstr to quickly locate specific processes. Understanding these commands is essential for effective system administration, troubleshooting, and resource management in a Windows environment.