Finding the process ID

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Each process running in Windows is assigned a unique decimal number called the process ID (PID). This number is used in a number of ways, for case to specify the procedure when attaching a debugger to information technology.

This topic describes how you can decide the PID for a given app using Task Manager, the tasklist Windows command, the TList utility, the PowerShell Get-Process command, or the debugger.

Chore Manager

Chore Manager can be opened in a number of ways, but the simplest is to select Ctrl+Alt+Delete, and then select Task Manager.

In Windows, first click More details to expand the information displayed. From the Processes tab, select Details to encounter the procedure ID listed in the PID column.

partial screen shot of task manager in Windows 11, showing process numbers, sorted by user name.

Click on any column name to sort. You lot can correct click a process proper name to see more than options for a process.

Some kernel errors may cause delays in Job Manager's graphical interface.

The tasklist command

Use the built in Windows tasklist command from a command prompt to display all processes, their PIDs, and a multifariousness of other details.

              C:\>tasklist  Image Name                     PID Session Proper noun        Session#    Mem Usage ========================= ======== ================ =========== ============ Organisation Idle Process              0 Services                   0          eight K Organization                           4 Services                   0      7,428 M Secure System                  104 Services                   0     40,344 K Registry                       164 Services                   0    146,596 K smss.exe                       592 Services                   0      i,176 Thousand csrss.exe                      896 Services                   0      6,224 1000 wininit.exe                    980 Services                   0      6,572 K ...

Use tasklist /? to display command line help.

TList utility

Task List Viewer (TList), or tlist.exe, is a command-line utility that displays the list of tasks, or user-mode processes, currently running on the local computer. TList is included in the Debugging Tools for Windows. For information on how to download and install the debugging tools, see Download Debugging Tools for Windows.

If you installed the Windows Commuter Kit in the default directory on a 64 bit PC, the debugging tools are located here:

C:\Plan Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Debuggers\x64\

When you run TList from the command prompt, it will display a list of all the user-mode processes in memory with a unique PID number. For each procedure, it shows the PID, procedure name, and, if the process has a window, the title of that window.

              C:\Plan Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Debuggers\x64>tlist -t System Process (0) Arrangement (four)   smss.exe (592)   Memory Compression (3376) Secure System (104) Registry (164) csrss.exe (896) wininit.exe (980)   services.exe (660)     svchost.exe (1232)       WmiPrvSE.exe (6008)       dllhost.exe (1748)       WmiPrvSE.exe (1860) ...

For more than data, see TList.

The .tlist debugger command

If there'south already a user-mode debugger running on the system in question, the .tlist (List Process IDs) command will display a list of all PIDs on that system.

PowerShell Go-Procedure control

To work with automation scripts, utilise the Become-Process PowerShell command. Specify a specific process proper noun, to see the process ID for that process.

              C:\> Get-Process explorer  Handles  NPM(K)    PM(K)      WS(Chiliad)     CPU(southward)     Id  SI ProcessName -------  ------    -----      -----     ------     --  -- -----------    2520     404   108948     179284   ane,702.95   7656   1 explorer

For more data, see Get-Process.

Additional resources

To acquire more than about Windows internals (including retentiveness usage, context, threads, and processes), review additional resources, such as Windows Internals by Marker Russinovich, David Solomon, and Alex Ionescu.