Kill process skype.exe - How? [ Edited ]

[kicks-mobil]

After crash, Skype 5.5. beta does not gently disappear, but the process skype.exe keeps running. As TCPview shows, it is "Listening". You can start a new independant  instance of Skype (by parameter  /secondary). But login to the same account will bring up the response: already logged in on this computer. All attempts to kill the old process fail. Task Manager, taskkill.exe, Process Explorer, pskill.exe, ProcessViewer's pv.exe  ... all in vain. The only effective procedure is system reboot .

This stubborn behavior was observed with a couple of older versions, too, and recently for version 5.1:

https://jira.skype.com/browse/SCW-2780

Any new idea for a workaround?

[TheUberOverLord]

Please try doing this from a run command:

"C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe" /shutdown

This should force all Skype.exe processes to stop

[kicks-mobil]

Thanks a lot. I will test it and give feedback after the next crash has come up.

[kicks-mobil]

---

TheUberOverLord wrote:

"C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe" /shutdown

 should force all Skype.exe processes to stop

---

This is ineffective, if skype.exe 5.5.beta runs from a copied folder as a self-made portable. Background: For test purposes, I have a number of different versions side by side in copied folders (including different profile folders).

After I installed 5.5 over the actual 5.3, the above recommended method with /shutdown did work.

Remains the theoretical question, why the stand alone copy of 5.5.beta is unkillable.

[ruwim]

---

kicks-mobil wrote:

---

TheUberOverLord wrote:

"C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe" /shutdown

 should force all Skype.exe processes to stop

---

This is ineffective, if skype.exe 5.5.beta runs from a copied folder as a self-made portable.

---

You can just replace C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone with the actual folder path of your portable installation.

By the way, do you have the switch /removable in the command-line for the portable installation?

[kicks-mobil]

My shortcuts have the structure

"%programfiles%\Skype-XYZ\Phone\Skype.exe" /datapath:xxx /username:yyy /password:zzz /secondary

What additional effect is the parameter /removable designed for?

[ruwim]

I have several different versions of Skype installed on my PC as “portable” and they work without any problems. However, you should not use the %programfiles% folder for this kind of installation. This can be very problematic due to Windows protection features.

The procedure you can use to create your own portable application is as follows:

Create a new folder anywhere on your hard drive but not within any Windows folders. Let’s say that the name of this folder is “MySkypeXX”. Within this folder create a subfolder with the name Data. You can name this folder something else, but Data is as good as anything.

Copy a version of Skype.exe to the folder MySkypeXX, so the file structure will look now like this:

 \MySkypeXX

   Skype.exe

   Data

Now create a shortcut with the following command in the Target field:

  X:\MySkypeXX\Skype.exe /datapath:"Data" /removable

Where X is the drive letter of your installation. The /removable switch tells Skype not to write any values to Windows registry, or at least nothing that can have impact on other programs.

When you start Skype first time using this new shortcut, you may receive a prompt from Windows Firewall asking for permission to access firewall. This information is stored in the registry but only for this particular copy of Skype.

[kicks-mobil]

Thanks a lot for your detailed explanations!

Interestingly, my user created folders "Skype-versionnumber" have been working under %programfiles% in xp-sp3 as well as vista-sp2 for the last two years - except 5.5beta. Nevertheless, I will be content with the explanation that this failure may have to do with access rights.

Good to know that /remove prevents most registry entries. Now, I will add it to the copies of all this stuff on the USB stick that I am utilizing for tests on customers' machines.

Thanks again for your commitment.

Regards.

[akhil1986]

I tried as per your process it didn't work.I had to restart my PC again.I started facing this problem after i installed new version of Skype 

This problem is very much serious as every time the software is getting hanged and every time user has to restart his system.

Regards

Akhil.Rashinkar

[TheUberOverLord]

---

akhil1986 wrote:

I tried as per your process it didn't work.I had to restart my PC again.I started facing this problem after i installed new version of Skype 

This problem is very much serious as every time the software is getting hanged and every time user has to restart his system.

Regards

Akhil.Rashinkar

---

In your case and your case only.

1. Please stop any and all running Skype Client programs on your system.

2. Using your Windows Control Panel Add/Remove Programs uninstall Skype, when prompted to save your history, choose yes.

3. Using Windows File Explorer ("What you use to view files with") do:

%appdata%\skype

If you find a file called shared.xml right click on it and choose delete.

4. If you see a folder for the Skype name in question, click on it, if you see a file called Config.xml right click on it and choose delete.

5. Using the Windows file Explorer enter:

%programfiles%

Right click on the Skype folder and choose delete.

6. Please install the normal version using the instructions below:

You can install the current normal release by doing this from the top of this page:

Get Skype -> Windows -> Choose the normal release.

These instructions have worked for many and is the quickest thing to try to resolve issues such as this.

Also, what operating system are you on and do you have all Windows updates and updates to any hardware devices by the manufacturers?