Terminate subprocess in Windows, access denied

Question

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import time
import subprocess
from os.path import expanduser

chrome_path = expanduser('~\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe')

proc = subprocess.Popen(chrome_path)
time.sleep(4)
proc.terminate()

Output: WindowsError: [Error 5] Access is denied

How can I kill the Chrome process?

Python 2.6 on Windows XP.

Answer 1

I don't know about Windows, but have noticed on Linux that Google Chrome "protects" itself from operating system control signals in a way that few programs do:

$ ps -lp 2345
F S   UID   PID  PPID  C PRI  NI ADDR SZ WCHAN  TTY          TIME CMD
4 S  1000  2345     1  0  80   0 - 17699 skb_re ?        00:00:00 chrome
$ kill -TERM 2345
$ kill -HUP 2345
$ kill -SEGV 2345
$ ps -lp 2345
F S   UID   PID  PPID  C PRI  NI ADDR SZ WCHAN  TTY          TIME CMD
4 S  1000  2345     1  0  80   0 - 17699 skb_re ?        00:00:00 chrome

I suspect this may be the root cause of your troubles. Incidentally, I'm posting this note from process 2345.

Answer 2

Anyone get a solution to this? This happens with every process, not just Chrome.

Answer 3

what happens if you use TASKKILL /F /PID [number of process ID] ? Give it a try. Launch it through import OS

Answer 4

I think the best bet is to find and close the window at the os level: http://python.net/crew/skippy/win32/Downloads.html.