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Task manager: access denied when I attempt to end a task!

A task (such as skype) might hang and require me to end it or the process tree. In windows 7 this is absolutely no problem, in windows 8 I'm greeted with "error: access denied". Please FIX this! I can't even imagine how annoying this would be if I needed to remove malware or something! I'm banging my head against the wall here! I'm trying very hard to like Windows 8, truly I am. Apart from this I don't have many other complaints, but I NEED to be able to end troublesome tasks on an as needed basis without the operating system questioning me!

  • I'm using an admin level account.
  • I've tried using taskkill /PID ### /f and get access denied
  • I've used taskkill /PID ### and I get success: sent termination signal... but it NEVER terminates!
  • I've tried taskkill /IM pidgin.exe... Nothing!?
Please give me some guidance here! This happens with various process and not just any one program. Some examples are: skype, pidgin, etc.

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Hi luticuspyros,

 

Welcome to the Microsoft Community. As per the problem description you get access denied error when you attempt to end a task in task manager.

 

·         Have you made any changes on the computer prior to the issue?

 

I will help you with this issue. I would suggest you to follow the steps from the article.

 

"Access Denied" or other errors when accessing or working with files and folders in Windows

 

Hope this helps. Let us know if you need further assistance with Windows.

 

 

 

 

 

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No changes have been made to the system, it's a domain based account (domain admin) with admin privileges on the local machine.  This is a near fresh load of windows 8 (not an upgrade installation).  There is no custom UI software on the machine.  This is the VLK edition of windows 8 pro.  Thanks for your help!


Also I'm familiar with permissions regarding files and folders and I can assure you that I have permission to access (read/write) in the folder responsible for the process.  The process in question (this time) is pidgin.  It is currently not responding and has been stuck that way for days.  I refuse to shutdown my machine until I find a way to terminate this task without doing so.

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Same problem here...


With pidgin I'm able to get around it by running a new instance (pidgin.exe -m) but the other process is still stucked there and I have no way to terminate it!


Could the "Access Denied" be referring to an hidden PID file? Because any other file permissions are full control for Admin (I'm using a local admin)

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Hi luticuspyros,

 

Welcome to the Microsoft Community. As per the problem description you get access denied error when you attempt to end a task in task manager.

 

·         Have you made any changes on the computer prior to the issue?

 

I will help you with this issue. I would suggest you to follow the steps from the article.

 

"Access Denied" or other errors when accessing or working with files and folders in Windows

 

Hope this helps. Let us know if you need further assistance with Windows.

 

 

 

 

 

The problem is clearly not file access! I reviewed everything and in any case the error happens running taskkil as an Administrator.

Maybe its trying to access a file that no longer exists .... If only we could delete a pid file like in other operative systems..... :|

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I have the same problem and it´s not with pigmin it´s with Battlefield 3 with Skype and several other tasks. If a program hangs I can´t kill the task. I tried the same things luticuspyros did, taskkill e.g.
I am starting to think about switching back to Win 7.
I bought Win 8 on first day of release and that´s far from my usual behaviour which is to wait at least till SP1 before I buy a new System.
And I hate it that I start to feel proven right that I did that since Win95.
I don´t want a system where I don´t have full controll.
And please don´t give me the advice to restart the Comp that´s no solution that´s a hack. ;)

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I felt I should update this with some new information.  First off, I appreciate everyone who has commented on this with a "me too".  We need as MANY of these as we can get for this issue to gain some attention!  


I'd like to further note that this issue has occurred with the game Kingdoms of Amalur:  Reckoning.

It has also occurred with VMWare Workstation 9.0.0, Skype for desktop, Skype for metro, pidgin, and others.  



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So is this issue actually being looked into? A lot of people are having it; me too. Where's the response?

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My thoughts exactly. I have to restart the computer each time this happens. I don't want to restart my computer! I wanna leave it on.

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I have no idea if they are working on it or what.  All I ever seem to get is that it's a permission issue which it is not!  If I hear anything about a fix I will comment as soon as I see it.  This just happened again to me with winamp and my system is completely up-to-date on the patches.  No fix yet!

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I have no idea if they are working on it or what.  All I ever seem to get is that it's a permission issue which it is not!  If I hear anything about a fix I will comment as soon as I see it.  This just happened again to me with winamp and my system is completely up-to-date on the patches.  No fix yet!
I've seen this with:

BioShock Infinite
Borderlands 2
Star Trek Online (launcher, at least)

In all cases, I can't run the games again after this happens without a machine restart. 

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Question Info

Last updated May 1, 2024 Views 23,209 Applies to: