How to collect all running instances of cmd.exe?

Question

Is there a simple way to catch all cmd.exe instances that are currently running on Win10 to afterwards close them?

My problem is that my stress test c# application initiates multiple instances of a program that is started as follows:

private List<Process> procs = new List<Process>()


public void StartExe(...) {
//...
for (int i = 1; i <= clientcount; i++)
            {
                var proc = Process.Start(filename,
                    String.Concat(bucketNrString, " ", waitMinString, " ", waitMaxString, " ", syshostname, " ", username, " ", pw, " ", searchstring));

                procs.Add(proc);
            }

}

But after the loop has been iterated through, my list of processes is empty again and thus I cannot kill the processes.

Accordingly I either search for an option to catch the processes and keep them in my "procs" list, or to just kill all instances of cmd.exe which would have same result even though it is not a 100% clean solution.

I am using .NET Framework 4.8 in my application.

This sound to be an [X/Y problem](https://xyproblem.info/) you should fix why your app is not closing itself — Leandro Bardelli, Apr 20 '23 at 15:50
_"But after the loop has been iterated through, my list of processes is empty again"_ - why is it empty? What is clearing it? — Guru Stron, Apr 20 '23 at 15:50

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 26 '23 at 09:08

Changing private List<Process> procs to public List<Process> procs did not solve the problem (as the instantiation is done in the same class).

I solved the problem by just collecting all processes that fit the corresponding name and kill them.

Process[] processes = Process.GetProcessesByName("MyConsoleApp");
            foreach (Process p in processes)
            {
                p.Kill();
            }

How to collect all running instances of cmd.exe?

1 Answers1