Get-Process
Syntax
Get-Process
[[-Name] <String[]>]
[-Module]
[-FileVersionInfo]
[<CommonParameters>]
Get-Process
[[-Name] <String[]>]
[-IncludeUserName]
[<CommonParameters>]
Get-Process
-Id <Int32[]>
[-Module]
[-FileVersionInfo]
[<CommonParameters>]
Get-Process
-Id <Int32[]>
[-IncludeUserName]
[<CommonParameters>]
Get-Process
-InputObject <Process[]>
[-Module]
[-FileVersionInfo]
[<CommonParameters>]
Get-Process
-InputObject <Process[]>
[-IncludeUserName]
[<CommonParameters>]
Description
The Get-Process cmdlet gets the processes on a local computer.
Without parameters, this cmdlet gets all of the processes on the local computer. You can also specify a particular process by process name or process ID (PID) or pass a process object through the pipeline to this cmdlet.
By default, this cmdlet returns a process object that has detailed information about the process and supports methods that let you start and stop the process. You can also use the parameters of the Get-Process cmdlet to get file version information for the program that runs in the process and to get the modules that the process loaded.
Examples
Example 1: Get a list of all active processes on the local computer
PS C:\> Get-Process
This command gets a list of all active processes running on the local computer. For a definition of each column, see the "Additional Notes" section of the Help topic for Get-Help.
Example 2: Get all available data about one or more processes
PS C:\> Get-Process winword, explorer | Format-List *
This command gets all available data about the Winword and Explorer processes on the computer. It uses the Name parameter to specify the processes, but it omits the optional parameter name. The pipeline operator (|) passes the data to the Format-List cmdlet, which displays all available properties (*) of the Winword and Explorer process objects.
You can also identify the processes by their process IDs.
For instance,
Get-Process -Id 664, 2060
.
Example 3: Get all processes with a working set greater than a specified size
PS C:\> Get-Process | Where-Object {$_.WorkingSet -gt 20000000}
This command gets all processes that have a working set greater than 20 MB. It uses the Get-Process cmdlet to get all running processes. The pipeline operator (|) passes the process objects to the Where-Object cmdlet, which selects only the object with a value greater than 20,000,000 bytes for the WorkingSet property.
WorkingSet
is one of many properties of process objects.
To see all of the properties, type
Get-Process | Get-Member
.
By default, the values of all amount properties are in bytes, even though the default display lists them in kilobytes and megabytes.
Example 4: List processes on the computer in groups based on priority
PS C:\> $A = Get-Process PS C:\> Get-Process -InputObject $A | Format-Table -View priority
These commands list the processes on the computer in groups based on their priority class. The first command gets all the processes on the computer and then stores them in the $A variable.
The second command uses the InputObject parameter to pass the process objects that are stored in the $A variable to the Get-Process cmdlet. The pipeline operator passes the objects to the Format-Table cmdlet, which formats the processes by using the Priority view. The Priority view, and other views, are defined in the PS1XML format files in the Windows PowerShell home directory ($pshome).
Example 5: Add a property to the standard Get-Process output display
PS C:\> Get-Process pwsh |
ft @{Label = "NPM(K)"; Expression = {[int]($_.NPM / 1024)}},
@{Label = "PM(K)"; Expression = {[int]($_.PM / 1024)}},
@{Label = "WS(K)"; Expression = {[int]($_.WS / 1024)}},
@{Label = "VM(M)"; Expression = {[int]($_.VM / 1MB)}},
@{Label = "CPU(s)"; Expression = {if ($_.CPU) {$_.CPU.ToString("N")}}},
Id, MachineName, ProcessName -Auto
NPM(K) PM(K) WS(K) VM(M) CPU(s) Id MachineName ProcessName
------ ----- ----- ----- ------ -- ----------- -----------
6 23500 31340 142 1.70 1980 . pwsh
6 23500 31348 142 2.75 4016 . pwsh
27 54572 54520 576 5.52 4428 . pwsh
This example provides a
Format-Table
(alias = ft) command that adds the MachineName property to the standard
Get-Process
output display.
Example 6: Get version information for a process
PS C:\> Get-Process powershell -FileVersionInfo
ProductVersion FileVersion FileName
-------------- ----------- --------
6.1.6713.1 6.1.6713.1 (f... C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe
This command uses the FileVersionInfo parameter to get the version information for the PowerShell.exe file that is the main module for the PowerShell process.
To run this command with processes that you do not own on Windows Vista and later versions of Windows, you must open Windows PowerShell with the Run as administrator option.
Example 7: Get modules loaded with the specified process
PS C:\> Get-Process SQL* -Module
This command uses the Module parameter to get the modules that have been loaded by the process. This command gets the modules for the processes that have names that begin with SQL.
To run this command on Windows Vista and later versions of Windows with processes that you do not own, you must start Windows PowerShell with the Run as administrator option.
Example 8: Find the owner of a process
PS C:\> Get-Process pwsh -IncludeUserName
Handles WS(K) CPU(s) Id UserName ProcessName
------- ----- ------ -- -------- -----------
782 132080 2.08 2188 DOMAIN01\user01 pwsh
This command shows how to find the owner of a process. On Windows, the IncludeUserName parameter requires elevated user rights (Run as Administrator). The output reveals that the owner is Domain01\user01.
Example 9: Use an automatic variable to identify the process hosting the current session
PS C:\> Get-Process pwsh
NPM(K) PM(M) WS(M) CPU(s) Id SI ProcessName
------ ----- ----- ------ -- -- -----------
83 96.21 105.95 4.33 1192 10 pwsh
79 83.81 117.61 2.16 10580 10 pwsh
PS C:\> Get-Process -Id $PID
NPM(K) PM(M) WS(M) CPU(s) Id SI ProcessName
------ ----- ----- ------ -- -- -----------
83 96.21 77.53 4.39 1192 10 pwsh
These commands show how to use the $PID automatic variable to identify the process that is hosting the current PowerShell session. You can use this method to distinguish the host process from other PowerShell processes that you might want to stop or close.
The first command gets all of the PowerShell processes in the current session.
The second command gets the PowerShell process that is hosting the current session.
Example 10: Get all processes that have a main window title and display them in a table
PS C:\> Get-Process | where {$_.mainWindowTitle} | Format-Table id, name, mainwindowtitle -autosize
This command gets all the processes that have a main window title, and it displays them in a table with the process ID and the process name.
The mainWindowTitle property is just one of many useful properties of the Process object that Get-Process returns. To view all of the properties, pipe the results of a Get-Process command to the Get-Member cmdlet (get-process | get-member).
Required Parameters
Specifies one or more processes by process ID (PID).
To specify multiple IDs, use commas to separate the IDs.
To find the PID of a process, type
Get-Process
.
Type: | Int32[] |
Aliases: | PID |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Accept pipeline input: | True (ByPropertyName) |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Indicates that the UserName value of the Process object is returned with results of the command.
Type: | SwitchParameter |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Specifies one or more process objects. Enter a variable that contains the objects, or type a command or expression that gets the objects.
Type: | Process[] |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Accept pipeline input: | True (ByValue) |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Optional Parameters
Indicates that this cmdlet gets the file version information for the program that runs in the process.
On Windows Vista and later versions of Windows, you must open Windows PowerShell with the Run as administrator option to use this parameter on processes that you do not own.
To get file version information for a process on a remote computer, use the Invoke-Command cmdlet.
Using this parameter is equivalent to getting the MainModule.FileVersionInfo property of each process object. When you use this parameter, Get-Process returns a FileVersionInfo object (System.Diagnostics.FileVersionInfo), not a process object. So, you cannot pipe the output of the command to a cmdlet that expects a process object, such as Stop-Process.
Type: | SwitchParameter |
Aliases: | FV, FVI |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Indicates that this cmdlet gets the modules that have been loaded by the processes.
On Windows Vista and later versions of Windows, you must open Windows PowerShell with the Run as administrator option to use this parameter on processes that you do not own.
To get the modules that have been loaded by a process on a remote computer, use the Invoke-Command cmdlet.
This parameter is equivalent to getting the Modules property of each process object. When you use this parameter, this cmdlet returns a ProcessModule object (System.Diagnostics.ProcessModule), not a process object. So, you cannot pipe the output of the command to a cmdlet that expects a process object, such as Stop-Process.
When you use both the Module and FileVersionInfo parameters in the same command, this cmdlet returns a FileVersionInfo object with information about the file version of all modules.
Type: | SwitchParameter |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Specifies one or more processes by process name. You can type multiple process names (separated by commas) and use wildcard characters. The parameter name ("Name") is optional.
Type: | String[] |
Aliases: | ProcessName |
Position: | 1 |
Default value: | None |
Accept pipeline input: | True (ByPropertyName) |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Inputs
System.Diagnostics.Process
You can pipe a process object to this cmdlet.
Outputs
System.Diagnostics.Process, System.Diagnotics.FileVersionInfo, System.Diagnostics.ProcessModule
By default, this cmdlet returns a System.Diagnostics.Process object. If you use the FileVersionInfo parameter, it returns a System.Diagnotics.FileVersionInfo object. If you use the Module parameter, without the FileVersionInfo parameter, it returns a System.Diagnostics.ProcessModule object.
Notes
- You can also refer to this cmdlet by its built-in aliases, ps and gps. For more information, see about_Aliases.
- On computers that are running a 64-bit version of Windows, the 64-bit version of Windows PowerShell gets only 64-bit process modules and the 32-bit version of Windows PowerShell gets only 32-bit process modules.
- You can use the properties and methods of the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Win32_Process object in Windows PowerShell. For information, see Get-WmiObject and the WMI SDK.
-
The default display of a process is a table that includes the following columns. For a description of all of the properties of process objects, see Process Properties in the MSDN library.
-
Handles: The number of handles that the process has opened.
-
NPM(K): The amount of non-paged memory that the process is using, in kilobytes.
-
PM(K): The amount of pageable memory that the process is using, in kilobytes.
-
WS(K): The size of the working set of the process, in kilobytes. The working set consists of the pages of memory that were recently referenced by the process.
-
VM(M): The amount of virtual memory that the process is using, in megabytes. Virtual memory includes storage in the paging files on disk.
-
CPU(s): The amount of processor time that the process has used on all processors, in seconds.
-
ID: The process ID (PID) of the process.
-
ProcessName: The name of the process.
For explanations of the concepts related to processes, see the Glossary in Help and Support Center and the Help for Task Manager.
-
-
You can also use the built-in alternate views of the processes available with Format-Table, such as StartTime and Priority, and you can design your own views.