"Kill a process tree" on windows using Java

Question

I have a Java webstart process that is part of a windows batch script. I'm using the javaws command in a batch script in this case. This match script ( start.bat) is invoked programatically using the "apache commons exec". Under some conditions the java process invoked by javaws hangs and I'd have to kill the entire process thread starting from the batch script start.bat. Is there a programatic way of doing killing an entire process tree through apache commons exec?

I've tried using the "execWatchdog.destroyProcess();" on the "start.bat" script. However it only kills the start.bat process and not the entire process tree.

Is there a way of killing the entire process tree through apache-commons-exec or a similar code?

I've seen this question Performing equivalent of "Kill Process Tree" in c++ on windows that performs an equivalent task in c++. I'm wondering if anyone has implemented calling windows native system calls through JNI.

Answer 1

Finally got something workable even though its a roundabout way.

Apache Commons Exec API contains the CommandLauncher class that returns a java.lang.Process object. Thanks to the link

Here the link to get the windows Process Id from a java.lang.Process. This uses the JNA libraries.

Finally with the Process Id, here the command string that kills the process tree //String killCmd = "taskkill /F /T /PID " + JNAHandler.getPid(process);