Wait until a process ends

Question

I've an application which does

Process.Start()

to start another application 'ABC'. I want to wait till that application ends (process dies) and continue my execution. How can I do it?

There may be multiple instances of the application 'ABC' running at the same time.

Answer 1

I think you just want this:

var process = Process.Start(...);
process.WaitForExit();

See the MSDN page for the method. It also has an overload where you can specify the timeout, so you're not potentially waiting forever.

Answer 2

Try this:

string command = "...";
var process = Process.Start(command);
process.WaitForExit();

Answer 3

Process.WaitForExit should be just what you're looking for I think.

Answer 4

You could use wait for exit or you can catch the HasExited property and update your UI to keep the user "informed" (expectation management):

System.Diagnostics.Process process = System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("cmd.exe");
while (!process.HasExited)
{
    //update UI
}
//done

Answer 5

Use Process.WaitForExit? Or subscribe to the Process.Exited event if you don't want to block? If that doesn't do what you want, please give us more information about your requirements.

Answer 6

I had a case where Process.HasExited didn't change after closing the window belonging to the process. So Process.WaitForExit() also didn't work. I had to monitor Process.Responding that went to false after closing the window like that:

while (!_process.HasExited && _process.Responding) {
  Thread.Sleep(100);
}
...

Perhaps this helps someone.