Exec with timeout in VBScript

exec-with-timeout.vbs

' Calls WshShell.Exec with c and kills the process tree after the specified timeout t
' Returns the created WshScriptExec object
Function Exec(c, t)
  Dim s, e : Set s = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") : Set e = s.Exec(c)
  Do While e.Status = 0
    Call s.Run("waitfor /t 1 OneSecond", 0, True)
    t = t - 1
    If 0 >= t Then
      Call s.Run("taskkill /t /f /pid " & e.ProcessId, 0, True)
      Exit Do
    End If
  Loop
  Set Exec = e
End Function

wscript.sleep should be more efficient and self contained than running waitfor

• http://ss64.com/vb/sleep.html
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1729075/how-to-set-delay-in-vbscript

Agreed on the wscript.sleep comment. Spawning an external process should be avoided when possible, as it comes with its own overhead. In my environment we audit Process Creation, so this would add a new security event log entry every second until the process ends or timeout occurs.