CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonexcelvbaxlwingstaskkill
SkyWalker
SkyWalker

Reputation: 14327

Zombie xlwings Python processes hanging after closing excel

Is there a way from VBA to kill hanging zombie xlwings Python processes before opening or after closing Excel? I'm happy to take a solution from either VBA or Python, I don't really mind which.

For example, in VBA I could do the following, but this imprecise, I need to kill specific Python processes, namely those resulting from xlwings and those connected to a specific workbook i.e. that contain the MyWorkbook.xlsx in the file name. Is there a way to use TASKKILL in a more precise manner?

Private Sub Workbook_Open()
   Dim KillPython As String
   KillPython = "TASKKILL /F /IM Python.exe"
   Shell KillPython, vbHide
   
   'do more stuff, now I can safely rely that there are no
   'automation errors coming from xlwings' zombie processes
   RunPython("import mymodule; mymodule.do_stuff()")
 
End Sub

In Python I could do the following, which is more precise:

import os
import psutil

my_pid = os.getpid()
my_proc = None
for p in psutil.process_iter():
    if 'python' in p.name() and 'MyWorkbook' in ' '.join(p.cmdline()):
        if p.pid != my_pid:
            p.kill()
        else:
            my_proc = p

# finally try to kill self, if needed
my_proc.kill()

Here there seems to be a relationship between my_pid and the p I am getting as some times it satisfies the condition p.pid != my_pid yet it kills the current process. Maybe there is a parent child process relationship when I match the process names.

On a separate note, why is xlwings always triggering the creation of two Python processes instead of only one?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 457

Answers (1)

mouwsy
mouwsy

Reputation: 1943

Try:

import subprocess
subprocess.call(["taskkill", "/f", "/im", "EXCEL.EXE"])

Upvotes: 1

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