In Windows, Killing an application through Python

Question

I am trying to kill external running applications like Windows Paint, a .mp3 and similar programs through a python script.

I open the program throughos.startfile. Any ideas how I can close the programs efficiently? I am using a Windows 7 machine. I'd appreciate the help a lot! Thanks!

Seems like the top answer to this question would do what you're looking for: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5780425/run-external-program-in-a-loop-with-max-time-limit — Dan H, Jul 11 '11 at 04:34

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 11 '11 at 04:46

3

As of Python 2.7 os.kill works on Windows. You could find the PID using this recipe.

answered Jul 11 '11 at 04:46

Dan H

17,654
1
27
22

You're welcome. I agree it is more complicated than I expected. – Dan H Jul 12 '11 at 15:58

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 11 '11 at 04:33

0

Popen will let you kill an opened process, but that won't prompt to save files, etc.

p = subprocess.Popen(['notepad', 'tmp.txt'])
#later
p.kill()

answered Jul 11 '11 at 04:33

Eryk Sun

33,190
5
92
111

Can I open non .exe files with `P.open` ? – dawnoflife Jul 11 '11 at 04:37
I just tried and it doesn't look like it: WindowsError: [Error 193] %1 is not a valid Win32 application – Dan H Jul 11 '11 at 04:46

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 11 '11 at 04:53

When you ask Windows to launch something with os.startfile(), you don't get a handle to the created process. This is because the underlying ShellExecute() function does not return a handle to the created process. I believe this is because not all actions actually result in a process being created at all (for example with in-process COM servers or other esoteria).

In Windows, Killing an application through Python

3 Answers3

Linked