Linux – Why are there many zombie process in windows subsystem for linux(WSL)? How to kill them totally

linuxwindows-subsystem-for-linuxzsh

Recently, I find my WSL (ZSHELL) cost much CPU resource(around 35%) via the Windows resource manager.

Then I try to find out and solve this problem as follows: 

  ~ ps -ef
UID        PID  PPID  C STIME TTY          TIME CMD
root         1     0  0 Mar28 ?        00:00:00 /init ro
root         3     1  0 Mar28 tty1     00:00:00 /init ro
mbinary      4     3  0 Mar28 tty1     00:00:12 -zsh
mbinary     48     1  0 Mar28 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary     66     1  0 Mar28 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary    173     1  0 Mar29 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary    225     1  0 Mar29 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary    431     1  0 09:45 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
root      6845     1  0 09:53 tty2     00:00:00 /init ro
mbinary   6846  6845  0 09:53 tty2     00:00:04 -zsh
mbinary   7419  6846  0 10:03 tty2     00:00:00 python3
mbinary   7455     1  0 14:42 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary   7522     1  0 14:42 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary   7559     1  0 14:43 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary   7587     1  0 14:48 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary   7595     1  0 14:49 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary   7604     1  0 14:49 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary   7643     1  0 14:49 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary   7666     1 97 15:03 tty1     00:00:21 -zsh
mbinary   7670  7666  0 15:03 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary   7699     4  0 15:03 tty1     00:00:00 ps -ef
➜  ~ sudo kill -9 1
➜  ~ ps -ef
UID        PID  PPID  C STIME TTY          TIME CMD
root         1     0  0 Mar28 ?        00:00:00 /init ro
root         3     1  0 Mar28 tty1     00:00:00 /init ro
mbinary      4     3  0 Mar28 tty1     00:00:12 -zsh
mbinary     48     1  0 Mar28 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary     66     1  0 Mar28 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary    173     1  0 Mar29 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary    225     1  0 Mar29 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary    431     1  0 09:45 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
root      6845     1  0 09:53 tty2     00:00:00 /init ro
mbinary   6846  6845  0 09:53 tty2     00:00:04 -zsh
mbinary   7419  6846  0 10:03 tty2     00:00:00 python3
mbinary   7455     1  0 14:42 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary   7522     1  0 14:42 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary   7559     1  0 14:43 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary   7587     1  0 14:48 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary   7595     1  0 14:49 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary   7604     1  0 14:49 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary   7643     1  0 14:49 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary   7666     1 99 15:03 tty1     00:00:25 -zsh
mbinary   7670  7666  0 15:03 tty1     00:00:00 [awk] <defunct>
mbinary   7712     4  0 15:03 tty1     00:00:00 ps -ef

It doesn't work.

I found that the zombie processes awk occur after I use the command z.

Info:
Windows 10: 1809
WSL: Ubuntu 1804

Best Answer

I am running Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (64-bit), Version 10.0.18362 and I still get rogue zsh processes. This function kills the rogue zsh processes.

killzshs(){ps ax -o pid,command,ppid | grep '.*zsh.*\s1$' | awk '{print $1}' | xargs kill -9}

Then call killzshs or put the function in your dotfiles.

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