Windows – How to force stop a program without using the mouse in Windows 10

command linemousetaskbarvisual studiowindows 10

I'm trying to debug a Visual Studio C# Windows application that immediately takes over the desktop and disables mouse control. When it freezes, I need to be able to stop it somehow. I can press the windows key or ctrl-alt-delete and access the taskbar, but when I move the mouse onto the main part of my screen it's always an hourglass icon and I can't interact. So when I right-click to close the application on the taskbar and a dialogue pops up asking if I want to stop debugging, there's no way for me to click it. I also can't click on anything in task manager.

I looked into how to end tasks from command prompt, but the directions don't make sense. schtasks /end requires a task name argument that seems to take a path, but I have no way of knowing what the path is that I'm supposed to input. tasklist returns file names and ID numbers, but neither of those work for schtasks.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Best Answer

You can use the command prompt to terminate processes:

  1. Open the Run box using Windows+R.
  2. Type cmd in the Run box and click Enter.
  3. Use the command tasklist to list all processes.
  4. Use the command taskkill /F /IM "executable name.exe" /T to terminate the process.
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