Tech Tips

Learn how to use PowerShell to check if a given application or process is running, as well as how to automatically resume it in the event of a crash, a user closing it by accident, or it consuming a lot of memory (memory leak).

If (!(Get-Process -Name notepad -ErrorActionSilentlyContinue))

{Invoke-Item C:\Windows\notepad.exe

}

If a process doesn’t reply (hangs) or starts to use too much memory (over 1000 MB in this case), you can have it immediately restarted:

$proc = Get-Process -Name notepad| Sort-Object -Property ProcessName -Unique

If (($proc.Responding -eq $false) –or ($proc.WorkingSet -GT 1000000*1024)} {

$proc.Kill()

Start-Sleep -s 10

Invoke-Item C:\Windows\notepad.exe

}

You can create an endless loop using PowerShell for loop that launches a process, checks if it is running every 60 seconds, and restarts it if necessary:

for(;;){

try{

If (!(Get-Process -Name notepad -ErrorActionSilentlyContinue))

{Invoke-Item C:\Windows\notepad.exe}

$proc = Get-Process -Name notepad | Sort-Object -Property ProcessName -Unique -ErrorActionSilentlyContinue

If (!$proc -or ($proc.Responding -eq $false) –or ($proc.WorkingSet -GT 200000*1024)) {

$proc.Kill()

Start-Sleep -s 10

Invoke-Item C:\Windows\notepad.exe}

}

catch    {    }

Start-sleep -s 60

}

This command can be used to verify the status of a process on a remote computer:

$proc = Get-Process -ComputerNameSRV1-VISPL211 -Name notepad | Sort-Object -Property ProcessName -Unique -ErrorActionSilentlyContinue

You can use the Invoke-Command cmdlet to start a process from remote:

Invoke-Command -ComputerNameSRV1-VISPL211 -Credential $Cred -ScriptBlock {Start-Process C:\Windows\notepad.exe -wait -verb runas;}

This PowerShell script can be used as a GPO logon script at user logon.

The PowerShell code should then be saved as a *.PS1 file. You can use a digital signature to sign the script, update the PowerShell Execution policy settings, or use the –ExecutionPolicy Bypass option to launch the script.

File name: %windir%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe

Running options: -windowstyle hidden -ExecutionPolicy Bypass –Noprofile -file %~dp0CheckProcess.ps1

The Task Scheduler can also be used to run a PS1 script on a regular basis. The same run options should be used. You can optionally select a user account for the process to operate under.

$Action= New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute “PowerShell.exe” -Argument “-windowstyle hidden -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -file %windir%\CheckProcess.ps1”

$Trigger= New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -AtLogon

$Principal=New-ScheduledTaskPrincipal -UserId “jsmith” -LogonType Interactive

$Task=New-ScheduledTask -Action $Action -Trigger $Trigger -Principal $Principal

Register-ScheduledTask -TaskName “Check Notepad Process” -InputObject $Task

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