How to Find a Process PID in Windows

PID (Process Identifier) is a unique identifier assigned to every process in the Windows operating system. You might need to find the PID for system diagnostics, terminating unresponsive processes, or monitoring process activity. This guide will show you several ways to check a process PID in Windows.

Method 1: Using Task Manager

The easiest way to find a process PID is through the Task Manager:

  1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager.
  2. Go to the “Details” tab (in older versions, it might be the “Processes” tab).
  3. The “PID” column displays the process ID of each running process.

If you don't see the “PID” column:

  • Right-click on the table header.
  • Select “Select columns” and check the box next to “PID (Process Identifier)”.

Method 2: Using Command Prompt (cmd)

If you prefer using the command line, you can find the PID using the tasklist command:

tasklist

This command displays a list of all running processes along with their PIDs. You can also filter the results:

tasklist | findstr process_name.exe

Method 3: Using PowerShell

In PowerShell, you can easily check the PID of a process:

Get-Process

This command lists all processes with their identifiers. To get the PID of a specific process, use:

Get-Process process_name

Method 4: Using Process Explorer

Process Explorer from Microsoft Sysinternals provides detailed information about processes. It displays the PID, file path, and other useful parameters for diagnosing and analyzing system behavior.