Command line utility that terminates a specific thread in a process

[MKANET]

Microsoft Sysinternals Process Explorer can list all threads in a Windows process. It can also terminate any specific thread in a process. I can't seem to find a Windows command line utility that does this. The closest I could find is a command line utility to list threads of a process.

I was hoping someone might have done something like this in Autoit already. From what I can tell, this would require a VERY experienced AutoIt expert who knows how to use Windows API commands such as TerminateThread comfortably.

Usage:

Processthread.exe -L notepad.exe

Result:

TID: 33772 notepad.exe+0x3570

TID: 37532 WINMM.dll!timeEndPeriod+0xe8

Usage:

Processthread.exe -T 33772

Result:

TID: 33772 notepad.exe+0x3570 **TERMINATED**

[BrewManNH]

You can look here for information about a function that can terminate threads, but I'd look at the warning about half way down the page. Why are you looking to kill a program's threads instead of the program itself?

[MKANET]

I had a feeling I would get an answer like that. Yes, I already looked there obviously, that's why I mentioned the TerminateThread function in my first post. Im hoping this thread will catch the attention of someone with the expertise to do this; and, wouldn't mind helping out. Anyway, I've got a Vista64 device driver for an irreplaceable legacy product R5000HD mod that has a bug in it. The bug causes a specific process thread keep banging away at a resource that doesn't exist; which wastes significant CPU cycles. The developer for the device driver is nowhere to be found; which is the correct way to address the issue. I can successfully provide a "band-aid" for this issue by manually killing the thread via Process Explorer. There is no other way good way for me to address this issue; or I would have gone another route. I would like automate this, instead of manually doing it every time in Process Explorer.

[JohnOne]

I doubt anyone without access to the target process' code could comfortably use

that function on it.

Anyway, to use that function first you will need a handle to the thread you want to

terminate.

[MKANET]

Hmm.. Ive seen C and C# code that can do this. I was hoping that AutoIt has the same access to the WinAPI as C based languages in respect to this.

[JohnOne]

I'm not suggesting AutoIt3 cannot accomplish the task.

I'm saying it is that dodgy a function according to even MSDN

that without a full knowledge of what a thread is doing it is

extremely dangerous to the stability of the app and maybe

even system critical processes to use.

[MKANET]

Yes. I saw the same warning on MSDN. There are rare circumstances where this can be very useful and effective though. As mentioned earlier, I don't have any issues successfully doing this manually via Process Explorer's GUI; and, I dont have full knowledge of what the thread is doing. But, I do know that the band-aid solution actually works pretty well (no more weird Utilization caused by that thread... and system is perfectly stable for several days/weeks of uptime). Im just looking for a way to automate this via command line.

[JohnOne]

Oh, I thought you were looking for an AutoIt solution.

Commandline is a different kettle of fish.

[MKANET]

Autoit console app like the example above...

[tonycst]

I also want to terminate a specific thread ran by a process.

What do i do ?

Tha stupid program keeps popping up messages i dont want to see.