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@kohlerdominik
Created January 5, 2021 15:58
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Gracefully terminate applications from powershell
# This script gracefully terminates all processes with the given name (first parameter) when it's run.
# It will also answer to a confirm message, if the process has one, by a given hotkey.
#
#
# signature: closeApplication.ps1 $ProcessName $ConfirmHotkey
#
#
# some simple examples how to use it:
# closeApplications.ps1 'notepad' close all open instances with the process name 'notepad' (you should try this)
# closeApplications.ps1 'winword' '%Y' close all open instances of word and and send ALT+Y if a confirmation window pops up
#
# You are likely looking for this script to terminate software, that blocks licenses when it's not in use.
# One possibility to do this is to register this as scheduled task when locking the workstation:
# - run taskschd.msc
# - create a new task
# - in trigger, add a trigger "On worksation lock"
# - in actions, add a new action with the following configuration
# - Action: start a programm
# - Programm/script: powershell
# - Add arguments: -command "& 'C:\closeApplications.ps1' 'notepad' '(%N)'"
param(
[parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
[String]
$ProcessName,
[String]
$ConfirmHotkey = "%(N)"
)
$ClosedCount = 0;
foreach($Process in Get-Process -Name $ProcessName -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) {
$Process.CloseMainWindow() | Out-Null
sleep 3
while (! $Process.HasExited){
Write-Host "'$ProcessName' has open windows. Trying to close now..."
$wshell = new-object -com wscript.shell
$wshell.AppActivate($Process.Id) | Out-Null
$wshell.Sendkeys($ConfirmHotkey) | Out-Null
sleep 3
}
$ClosedCount++;
}
Write-Host "Terminated $ClosedCount processes with name '$ProcessName'."
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