Close All Windows at Once — Safely & Easily Quit Apps Before Shutting Down Your PC

Close All Windows (or CloseAll) is an ultimate task management tool for Windows designed specifically to quickly close multiple applications. CloseAll flashes a ‘close’ signal to the selected applications and then ceases. It doesn’t use any system resources at all, since you run it only when needed. What can be easier than a task list with check boxes and OK button? Yes, you can run CloseAll without any UI too!

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CloseAll allows you to choose different sorting and grouping options for the task list, double-click groups to select/deselect the whole group, filter apps by typing in any part of their window title or app name, and use individual close buttons to close apps one by one.

Screenshots created with WinSnap – 20% discount if bought together with CloseAll!

New dark theme is default now:

Start typing to search for apps quickly:

Command Line Usage

You can specify /NOUI command line switch to run CloseAll in silent mode and close all windows without any UI interaction. Just open CloseAll shortcut properties and add /NOUI to the “Target” location:

CloseAll is indeed very handy if you are running

20 applications at the same time and want all of them to quit instantly. Try it now to see if it saves you time!

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CloseAll runs only on Windows 10, 8, 7 and Vista (32-bit and 64-bit). The native 64-bit version is included in the setup package and installed automatically.

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Close programs from the command line (Windows)

What is the proper way to close/exit programs from command line, similar to pressing the «X» close button in the corner of the window?

Im trying to close chrome under 3 different versions of windows: win7 ultimate, win7 home, winXP

Under Ultimate and XP: TSKILL chrome

Under Home: TASKKILL /IM chrome.exe

(It closes chrome, no cmd errors,
but chrome error restore when relaunch it)

TASKKILL /IM chrome.exe :

(It closes chrome, no chrome errors when relaunch it,
but errors in cmd: «impossible to terminate child processes(about 4-5), only by force with /F «)

Should I ignore cmd child errors if on relaunch chrome show me no errors?

5 Answers 5

The proper way to close/exit a program ultimately depends upon the software. However, generally the best practice is for Windows programs to close whenever they receive the WM_CLOSE message. Properly releasing memory and closing handles. There are other messages that can signal the close of the application, but it is up to the author of the software how each message is handled.

taskkill sends the WM_CLOSE message and it is then up to the application whether to properly close. You may also want to use the /T option to also signal child processes.

Only use the /F option if you want to force the termination of the process.

Other options would include sending the Alt+F4 keys, using PowerShell, or 3rd party applications.

Update to Updated Question

Ignore, the errors. Chrome generates many processes. The errors are caused when an process does not acknowledge the WM_CLOSE message that TASKKILL sends. Only processes with a message loop will be able to receive the message, therefore, the processes that do not have a message loop will generate that error. Most likely, these processes are the chrome extensions and plugins.

To hide the errors capture the output

Summary: TASKKILL is the proper way via command line to close applications per its WM_CLOSE implementation and the Microsoft KB that I linked.

It has «closeprocess» command which is designed to close processes gracefully. As per its document, it does not terminate apps but sends WM_CLOSE to all top-level windows of the target process.

If this doesn’t work, I bet your application has an unusual cleanup procedure. I would like to see what happens inside so please let me know what your target application is.

The answer to that question can be found here (Microsoft link).

You can send WM_CLOSE messages to any window you wish to close. Many windows handle WM_CLOSE to prompt the user to save documents.

A tool that does this correctly is @Kill . Look also SendMsg.

I do not know how to do this in batch, but you could use the vbscript for this. Simulating the Alt + F4 keys (equates to signal WM_CLOSE ).

Run and look at the behavior of this script below.

Here is the list key names for SendKeys.

When you run the script, the notepad is open, some words are written and then a signal to close the program is delivered, see picture below.

Additional Questions

Can I start a program minimized, or background with vbscript?

Yes. Use the following code:

For more information check the Run Method .

Can chrome go to some url in vbscript?

If chrome is the default, use:

Is there a way to bring focus to specific application (chrome.exe)?

I want to send alt+f4 ONLY to chrome, independently of i’m doing with other windows.

The following code works on Windows 8.

There are some command-line utilities that can send a suitable WM_SYSCOMMAND message (with SC_CLOSE as the command) to a program’s top-level window. I’m sure that at least one will be mentioned shortly. (Then someone will mention AutoIt. Then there’ll be an answer showing how to do it with PowerShell and CloseMainWindow() .)

The command-line utility that comes as a built-in command in JP Software’s TCC, a command interpreter and command script processor for Windows, is called TASKEND .

Alright, Not going to lie. I saw this on stackoverflow and thought it was a challenging question. Soooo I just spent the last 2 hours writing some code. And here it is.

After following the steps below, you can type «TaskClose notepad.exe» after hitting «Start» and it will auto save all undocumented notepad files into desktop. It will auto-close chrome.exe and save the restoration settings.

You can add and remove additional settings for other applications under the if conditions. For instance:

The vbs and batch files performs the following procedures:

• Collects the executable.
• Queries the executable application names off of the tasklist.
• Performs an «Alt+TAB(x)» procedure until it has verified the window is open.
• Then Executes the rolling commands whether it be «Alt+F4» or even in extreme cases
• Alt+F4
• Activate Save
• AutoIncrememnt Filename
• Exit application.

ReturnAppList.bat : install in «C:\windows\system32\»

TaskClose.bat : install in «C:\windows\system32\» AND «C:\Users\YourUserName\»

TaskClose.vbs : install in «C:\windows\system32\»

This was alot of fun to write and I’m more happy about finishing it than actually showing the answer. Have a great week!

How to automatically close cmd window after batch file execution?

I’m running a batch file that has these two lines:

This batch file is used to run the Xming application and then the PuTTY app so I can SSH into my university’s computer lab.

However, if I run this and Xming is not already open, once I exit from the PuTTY terminal the cmd window remains open. Only if I have already run Xming does the cmd window close when I close the PuTTY terminal. I’ve tried adding exit to the last line of the batch file, but to no avail.

10 Answers 10

Modify the batch file to START both programs, instead of START ing one and CALL ing another

If you run it like this, no CMD window will stay open after starting the program.

You normally end a batch file with a line that just says exit . If you want to make sure the file has run and the DOS window closes after 2 seconds, you can add the lines:

But the exit command will not work if your batch file opens another window, because while ever the second window is open the old DOS window will also be displayed.

SOLUTION: For example there’s a great little free program called BgInfo which will display all the info about your computer. Assuming it’s in a directory called C:\BgInfo , to run it from a batch file with the /popup switch and to close the DOS window while it still runs, use:

If you want to separate the commands into one command per file, you can do

and in the other file, you can do

The command cmd /c will close the command-prompt window after the exe was run.

This worked for me. I just wanted to close the command window automatically after exiting the game. I just double click on the .bat file on my desktop. No shortcuts.

To close the current cmd windows immediately, just add as the last command/line:

Try move nul to nowhere and redirect the stderr to stdin will result in the current window cmd.exe being closed

This is different from closing a bat, or exiting it using goto :EOF or Exit /b

I even opened a question to find an answer that would explain behavior. Would that be a bug? Immediate closing of the current cmd window when executing: move nul 2>&0

I had this, I added EXIT and initially it didn’t work, I guess per requiring the called program exiting advice mentioned in another response here, however it now works without further ado — not sure what’s caused this, but the point to note is that I’m calling a data file .html rather than the program that handles it browser.exe , I did not edit anything else but suffice it to say it’s much neater just using a bat file to access the main access pages of those web documents and only having title.bat , contents.bat , index.bat in the root folder with the rest of the content in a subfolder.

i.e.: contents.bat reads

It also looks better if I change the bat file icons for just those items to suit the context they are in too, but that’s another matter, hiding the bat files in the subfolder and creating custom icon shortcuts to them in the root folder with the images called for the customisation also hidden.

You could try the somewhat dangerous: taskkill /IM cmd.exe ..dangerous bcz that will kill the cmd that is open and any cmd’s opened before it.

Or add a verification to confirm that you had the right cmd.exe and then kill it via PID, such as this:

Substitute (pslist &&A) or (tasklist /FI «PID eq %%A») for the (taskkill /PID %%A) if you want to check it first (and maybe have pstools installed).

Just try /s as listed below.

As the last line in the batch file type:

The above command will close the Windows CMD window.

/s — stands for silent as in (it would wait for an input from the keyboard).

This works for me

Sometimes you can reference a Windows «shortcut» file to launch an application instead of using a «.bat» file, and it won’t have the residual prompt problem. But it’s not as flexible as bat files.

Not the answer you’re looking for? Browse other questions tagged batch-file cmd or ask your own question.

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How to close all open windows at once?

How do I close all opened windows at once?

12 Answers 12

All answers I could quickly find on this topic involve either the tip Molly gave or using an application (or coding it yourself). For example (I haven’t tried this), Close All Windows.

Also, by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc you get the Windows Task Manager, where you can see all running applications at once (among other things), select them, and End Task them.

I like to see my open windows ungrouped, but realized that this i.e. closing multiple windows at once was a problem with such a setting. A less time-taking method would be to use the command line like this :

And then restart explorer using :

Caution : This will cause processes like file copying on the default Windows interface to abort.

Simultaneously close all open windows:

1. While pressing the Ctrl key, successively click each of the task icons on the taskbar.
2. Right-click the last task icon, and choose Close Group.

If you only want to minimize the windows, use the ‘Show Desktop’ shorcut.

I usually (yes, this happens a lot to me..) just press Alt key and then go crazy on the F4 key until everything is shut down. Not one click, but it’s pretty fast. Or, depending on your system, reboot.. Don’t forget to save anything.

Or maybe you could simply switch users to continue your work without all these tabs. Then when you’re down, shutting down the computer will kill all the processes for the first user.

Not the best solutions, I just thought Id give this one a try.

It’s not a one-click solution but it is the fastest I know with my Windows 7 Pro

1. Open taskbar properties (right click > properties) or (Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Taskbar and Start Menu)
2. Select «Group similar taskbar buttons» = «Group similar taskbar buttons», and click OK
3. Your windows are group, right-click and select «Close all windows»
4. Go back to taskbar properties to restore you old settings

After doing Ctrl-Shift-Esc, go to applications. Then, press shift down and end task, all of them will end (You might get a confirmation message or something depending on the program).

Sometimes, even when you close a program, the processes of the program (The biggest example is an unclosed connection to a local file) may still be on your computer. Most of the time, these processes are mainly overlooked by the owner software because they use almost no space. However, if you still want to end them, just to be meticulous, go to processes and you’ll have to end them one by one.