closeProcesses

Info

Terminates processes for each target in an array. Each target can be a process name (string) or a process ID (number). When a name is provided, all running instances of that process are matched. Targets are processed sequentially, and the function returns one ProcessCloseResult per target.

Signature

function closeProcesses(targets: (string | number)[]): ProcessCloseResult[]

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
targets	(string | number)[]	Array of process names (strings) or process IDs (positive integers)

Note

Each element in the array follows the same rules as the single-target closeProcess function: a string matches all running processes with that name (case-insensitive), while a number targets a specific PID. PID values must be positive integers; passing 0 throws a TypeError.

Usage

Use closeProcesses when you need to terminate multiple processes in a single call. The targets are evaluated one by one in array order. For each target the function enumerates all running processes via a Windows snapshot, matches them against the target, and attempts to terminate every match.

Tips

Prefer closeProcesses over calling closeProcess in a loop. Both behave identically, but a single batched call is more convenient and produces a combined result array for easy inspection.

Tips

When targeting by name, the process name is normalized internally so casing differences (e.g. Notepad.exe vs notepad.EXE) do not affect matching.

Return Value

Returns an array of ProcessCloseResult objects, one per input target, in the same order as the input array.

Each result object contains:

Property	Type	Description
target	string | number	The original target as passed in
matchedCount	number	Number of running processes that matched this target
terminatedCount	number	Number of processes successfully terminated
failedCount	number	Number of processes that could not be terminated
failures	ProcessFailure[]	Details for each failed termination

Warning

If a target is not found among running processes, matchedCount will be 0 and terminatedCount will be 0. This is not an error condition -- the function simply has nothing to terminate. Always check the counts rather than assuming failure.

Warning

If any element in the targets array has an invalid type (not a string or number), the function throws a TypeError. When this happens mid-iteration, results for successfully processed targets before the invalid entry are still returned, but remaining targets are skipped.

Example

TypeScript

import { closeProcesses } from '@eisland/windows-processes-attacker';

// Terminate multiple processes by name and PID in one call
const results: ProcessCloseResult[] = closeProcesses([
  'notepad.exe',   // Close all notepad instances
  'calc.exe',      // Close all calculator instances
  5678,            // Close the process with PID 5678
]);

// Inspect each result
results.forEach((r) => {
  // Build a human-readable label from the target
  const label = typeof r.target === 'string' ? r.target : `PID ${r.target}`;
  console.log(`${label}: matched ${r.matchedCount}, terminated ${r.terminatedCount}, failed ${r.failedCount}`);

  // Log failure details if any
  r.failures.forEach((f) => {
    console.error(`  Failed to terminate PID ${f.pid} (${f.name}), error code: ${f.errorCode}`);
  });
});

JavaScript

const { closeProcesses } = require('@eisland/windows-processes-attacker');

// Terminate multiple processes by name and PID in one call
const results = closeProcesses([
  'notepad.exe',   // Close all notepad instances
  'calc.exe',      // Close all calculator instances
  5678,            // Close the process with PID 5678
]);

// Inspect each result
results.forEach((r) => {
  // Build a human-readable label from the target
  const label = typeof r.target === 'string' ? r.target : `PID ${r.target}`;
  console.log(`${label}: matched ${r.matchedCount}, terminated ${r.terminatedCount}, failed ${r.failedCount}`);

  // Log failure details if any
  r.failures.forEach((f) => {
    console.error(`  Failed to terminate PID ${f.pid} (${f.name}), error code: ${f.errorCode}`);
  });
});

Notes

Note

The underlying native implementation uses Windows CreateToolhelp32Snapshot to enumerate processes and TerminateProcess to close them. Each target triggers a full process snapshot, so calling closeProcesses with N targets is roughly equivalent to N individual snapshot+terminate cycles.

Note

When a process is terminated by this API, it exits with the special exit code 1 (EXIT_CODE_TERMINATED_BY_EISLAND). Other programs monitoring the terminated process can detect this specific exit code to distinguish eIsland-initiated terminations from normal exits.

Tips

If you only need to close a single process, use closeProcess instead for a simpler call signature.

Danger Avoidance

Caution

Do not pass 0 as a PID. The PID 0 is reserved by the Windows kernel (it represents the System Idle Process). The native layer explicitly rejects 0 by throwing a TypeError. Passing negative numbers or non-integer numbers will also throw.

Caution

Terminating critical system processes can destabilize or crash the system. Processes such as csrss.exe, wininit.exe, services.exe, or lsass.exe are essential to Windows stability. Forcefully terminating them will cause a system crash (BSOD). Always filter targets carefully and avoid passing system-critical process names unless you fully understand the consequences.

Caution

Elevated privileges may be required. Terminating processes owned by other users or by the system requires administrator rights. If the current process does not have sufficient privileges, the termination will fail and the failures array will contain entries with Windows error code 5 (ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED). Run your application as administrator if you need to terminate protected processes.