WshShell.AppActivate doesn't seem to work in simple vbs script

Question

total vbs scripting newb here. I'm trying to automate closing a certain open window, namely a program called HostsMan. This is on Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit, and this is what my script currently looks like:

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.AppActivate "HostsMan"
WshShell.SendKeys "%{F4}"

The second line doesn't seem to work. I know line 3 works because it activates the Windows shutdown menu. Is there something I'm missing?

Update/more info: Manually entering alt-F4 does close it, so I know this should work. I also tested this script with other open windows and they close just fine. Additionally, HostsMan is opened with Admin privileges, so I tried running the script as a task set with highest privileges to see if that would do it, and still no go. But that does work with other open windows running with Admin privileges. Frustrating!

Answer 1

Alternative solution using WMIService (no loop through all processes required):

Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\CIMV2")
Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("SELECT * from Win32_Process WHERE Name = '" & ProcessName & "'") 

If colItems.Count = 0 Then
    WScript.Echo "Process not found"
    Wscript.Quit
End If

For Each objProcess in colItems
    WshShell.AppActivate(objProcess.ProcessId)
    Exit For
Next

Answer 2

I've tried it, too, and couldn't get it to work. There must be something about the window class, perhaps, where AppActivate doesn't see it as a top-level window?

In any event, AppActivate also lets you pass the process ID instead of the window title. When I installed HostsMan, the process name was hm.exe, so I'll use that in my example below.

Set Processes = GetObject("winmgmts:").InstancesOf("Win32_Process")

For Each Process In Processes
    If StrComp(Process.Name, "hm.exe", vbTextCompare) = 0 Then

        ' Activate the window using its process ID...
        With CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
            .AppActivate Process.ProcessId
            .SendKeys "%{F4}"
        End With

        ' We found our process. No more iteration required...
        Exit For

    End If
Next

Answer 3

The key here is to put a small pause after the 'run' command but before the 'appactivate' command so the application shows up in the process list.

     WshShell.Run "calc"
     WScript.Sleep 100
     WshShell.AppActivate "Calculator"