Task manager - Can't end processes (Access Denied)

Anonymous

Recently I've been having problems ending processes. Whenever I try to end a certain processes I keep getting an access denied error and I have no other way of removing processes as it wont go away even if I turn off my computer. This is pretty weird considering what I'm trying to end is game processes. So now I can't play certain games as I keep getting "Program is already opened" errors when I try to play them and there's no way I can play them. Some of the games that still play even without me having to kill the task completely now have multiple copies of the process and I can't end any of them.

I've tried messing with the permissions on the files and it didn't work, I also tried messing with the admin rights and such but no luck. My account is an admin

Can anyone help me out?

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Anonymous

Hi HyperXII,

Thank you for posting this question in Microsoft Community Forums!!

I see that you aren’t able to end tasks in Task Manager.

I will certainly guide you in the right direction to get the issue fixed.

But before we continue to the resolution, could you give us more information?

1. Do all the game processes point to a single task?

Here’s what you can try:

Method 1: Perform Safe Mode and Clean Boot.

Step 1: Follow the steps given in the link below to check if the issue occurs in Safe Mode.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/windows-startup-settings-including-safe-mode

Choose Safe Mode as the Startup Setting.

If you still can’t end the processes, continue to perform Step 2.

Step 2: Clean Boot

Follow the steps given in the link below to perform Clean Boot.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

Check if you are able to end the processes in Clean Boot.

Note: Please go through step 3 of the Kb to keep the computer in normal startup after fixing the issue

Method 2: Re-install the games and check if the issue continues.

**Step 1:**Uninstall the games and check if you are able to end the tasks.

Step 2: Follow the link below to get help to install the games.

http://support.microsoft.com/mats/Program_Install_and_Uninstall/

Please get back to us with the results.

If you have any further questions about Windows, write to us anytime.

We are happy to help!!

Regards,

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61 additional answers

Anonymous

2015-08-19T17:43:01+00:00

I am also experiencing this issue, with all processes. IE, Chrome, explorer, cmd, everything. I get access denied. I'm on 8.1 OEM from Lenovo on a laptop.

I would upgrade to windows 10 again but that wasn't a good experience. Starting with everything having the 'Your trial period has expired', so I reset the pc, to then get 'boot drive not found'. reinstalled from manufacturer to then have searchUI.exe crash the computer randomly unless I disabled indexing. So I rolled back to 8.1 again.
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Anonymous

2015-08-12T02:28:35+00:00

Noooo, don't reformat! What process are you trying to kill?

I'm not from microsoft.

-Alex
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Anonymous

2015-08-05T16:10:42+00:00

its Microsoft. they don't know how to answer a question directly. it is all misdirection so that you get frustrated, give up and reformat.

typical canned response by someone not reading the question completely.

I'm having the same issue with Windows 10 now.
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Anonymous

2015-07-02T21:45:17+00:00

Hi Nelson.

While your reply is detailed, and helpful in some respects, this is something that has happened with some desktop programs that were designed to run on Windows 8.x.

This leads me to believe it has something to do with the way the program is executed, or that when the program is told to close, or exit, that the code is so poorly written (either in the program, or in windows itself) that it elevates in a way that task manager simply has no access.

I'm thinking that the windows 8 task manager may not be running with the credentials of all users, (aka administrators, trustedinstaller, etc) even when the end user is logged in as an administrator.

This was not a problem in any version of windows before windows 8 that I can remember.

If enough people make a complaint about a bug, or issue with a Microsoft product on these forums, that information should be elevated to a support team that will actively look into identifying, and resolving the problem as a bug.
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