3 Ways to Force Quit a Program on Windows 11

Pankil is a Civil Engineer turned freelance writer. Since his arrival at Guiding Tech in 2021, he delves into the world of how-tos, and troubleshooting guides for Android, iOS, and Windows. Besides his new-found love for mechanical keyboards, he's a disciplined footfall fan and loves international travel with his wife. Learn about our Tech Review Board

Updated April 15, 2024

Method 1: Force Close an App or Program From the Taskbar

On computers running Windows 11 version 23H2 or later, you can terminate non-responsive apps and programs from the taskbar. To use this feature, you first need to enable the ‘End Task’ option on the taskbar. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: Press the Windows + I keys on your keyboard to open the Settings app. Select the System tab from the left pane and click on For developers.

Developer Settings Menu on Windows 11

Step 2: Enable the toggle next to End Task.

End Task Option on Taskbar on Windows 11

After completing the above steps, right-click on the non-responsive app or program icon on the taskbar and select the End task option from the resulting menu.

Close Apps From Taskbar on Windows 11

Method 2: Force Close an App or Program via Task Manager

While the above methods work great for force-quitting programs on Windows, sometimes, you might need a more powerful alternative. That’s where Task Manager comes in. Here’s how you can use it to force-quit a program on Windows 11.

Step 1: Press the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keyboard shortcut to open the Task Manager.

Step 2: In the Processes tab, select the program you wish to close and click the End task button.

Close Unresponsive Apps via Task Manager on Windows 11

Like apps and programs, Task Manager also lets you force-quit background processes or a sub-process of a program running on your PC.

Method 3: Force Close an App or Program With Command Prompt

Using Command Prompt is another way to force-quit a program or a process on your Windows 11 PC. Here’s how.

Step 1: Click the search icon on the taskbar and type in cmd. Select Run as administrator.

<a href=Open Command Prompt as Admin on Windows 11" width="1384" height="992" />

Step 2: In the console, type the following command and press Enter to view a list of programs and processes running on your PC.

tasklist

Tasklist Command in Command Prompt on Windows 11

Step 3: Scroll through the list to note down the name of the program you want to force quit.

Step 4: Type the following command in the console and press Enter.

taskkill /im ProgramName.exe /t /f

Replace ProgramName in the above command with the actual name of the program noted earlier.

Force Close Apps Using Command Prompt on Windows 11

Alternatively, you can also kill a program using its PID (or ProcessID). You can find the ProcessID of a program next to its name on the Tasklist.

Once you have the PID of a program, use the command below to force close it.

taskkill /pid ProcessID /t /f

Replace ProcessID in the above command with the actual PID number noted earlier.

Force Close Programs Using Command Prompt on Windows 11

Bonus: Create a Shortcut to Force-Quit Non-Responding Apps on Windows 11

While the above methods are quite powerful for force-quitting programs on Windows 11, there’s also another option. You can set up a desktop shortcut on Windows to quickly close any non-responding programs. Here’s how.

Step 1: Right-click anywhere on the desktop. Go to New, and select the Shortcut option from the sub-menu.

Step 2: Paste the following command in the text field and hit Next.

taskkill /f /fi "status eq not responding"

Create Shortcut for Closing Non Responding Command on Windows 11

Step 3: Give your shortcut a suitable name and click on Finish.

Name Shortcut on Windows 11

And that’s about it. Now, you can force quit programs that are not responding by double-clicking on this shortcut.