{"id":74901,"date":"2024-04-22T16:42:51","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T11:12:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=74901"},"modified":"2024-04-22T16:51:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T11:21:32","slug":"replace-procexp-with-task-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/replace-procexp-with-task-manager\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Replace Task Manager with Process Explorer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Windows Sysinternals Process Explorer is an advanced process management utility often called “Task Manager on steroids”. If you want to replace Task Manager with Process Explorer, this article is for you.<\/p>\n

After following the instructions, Process Explorer will launch whenever you launch Task Manager using Ctrl + Shift + Esc or other methods.<\/p>\n

Replace Task Manager with Process Explorer<\/h2>\n

Option 1: Using Process Explorer<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Download Process Explorer<\/a> from Sysinternals.<\/li>\n
  2. Unzip and extract procexp.exe<\/code> and procexp64.exe<\/code> to a permanent<\/strong> folder — e.g., C:\\Tools<\/code><\/li>\n
  3. Start Process Explorer.<\/li>\n
  4. From the Options<\/strong> menu, click Replace Task Manager<\/strong>.
    \n\"replace<\/li>\n
  5. Click Yes when you see the UAC consent dialog.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Important:<\/strong> If you later decide to move procexp.exe or procexp64.exe to a different folder, please undo the above steps and redo them. Otherwise, you’ll see an error when launching Task Manager.<\/em><\/p>\n

    RELATED:<\/strong> [Fix] Error “Windows cannot find taskmgr.exe” when Opening Task Manager<\/a><\/div>\n
    \n

    Option 2: Using the Registry Editor<\/h3>\n
      \n
    1. Start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe)<\/li>\n
    2. Go to the following key:\n
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Image File Execution Options\\<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
    3. Create a subkey named taskmgr.exe<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
    4. Select taskmgr.exe. Create a REG_SZ value named Debugger<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
    5. Double-click “Debugger<\/strong>” and type the full path to ProcExp.exe or ProcExp64.exe. Enclose the entry within double quotes, especially if the path contains a space.
      \n\"replace<\/li>\n
    6. Exit the Registry Editor.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      You’ve now replaced Task Manager with Process Explorer.<\/p>\n
      RELATED:<\/strong> How to Replace Notepad With Notepad++ or Other Editor<\/a><\/div>\n
      Note: If a future Feature Update reverses the above setting, you may need to redo the above steps. But you can back up that registry key by exporting it to a .REG file. To reapply the setting in the future, all you need to do is run the .REG file. Also, if you plan to move procexp.exe or procexp64.exe to a different folder, please edit the path in the registry accordingly.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
      Windows Sysinternals Process Explorer is an advanced process management utility often called “Task Manager on steroids”. If you want to replace Task Manager with Process Explorer, this article is for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[412,441],"class_list":["post-74901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows","tag-process-explorer","tag-registry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6343,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/windows-cannot-find-taskmgr-exe-task-manager-debugger\/","url_meta":{"origin":74901,"position":0},"title":"[Fix] Error “Windows cannot find taskmgr.exe” Opening Task Manager","author":"Ramesh","date":"July 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"When attempting to open the Task Manager in your Windows computer, you may receive the following error: Windows cannot find 'C:\\Windows\\system32\\Taskmgr.exe'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. This error occurs no matter which method you use in order to launch Task Manager. Running taskmgr.exe with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"taskmgr.exe cannot be found - debugger","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/taskmgr_error.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/taskmgr_error.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/taskmgr_error.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1385,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/exit-explorer-restart-windows-10-8\/","url_meta":{"origin":74901,"position":1},"title":"How to Restart Explorer.exe Cleanly in Windows 10 or 11","author":"Ramesh","date":"December 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier, we learned how to exit and restart the explorer shell safely in earlier versions of Windows. Task Manager has the Restart Explorer option in Windows 8, Windows 10, and Windows 11 that lets you gracefully restart the explorer shell. But, if you want to terminate the Explorer shell (and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived2\/w0-exit-explorer-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":227,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/how-to-terminate-and-restart-explorerexe-process-cleanly-in-windows-7-and-vista\/","url_meta":{"origin":74901,"position":2},"title":"Exit and Restart Explorer.exe Cleanly in Windows 7 and Vista","author":"Ramesh","date":"April 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"To restart Explorer to test a registry setting without a reboot, we usually terminate the Explorer shell (explorer.exe) using Task Manager. The Task Manager method is like forcibly killing the process instead of terminating it cleanly. Jeff, a Software Design Engineer at Microsoft, posted a great tip on how to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 7"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 7","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-7\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/exitexplorer.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":895,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/services-svchost-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":74901,"position":3},"title":"Multiple Svchost.exe in Task Manager; View Services Running Under Each Svchost.exe","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Svchost.exe is a process that hosts Windows services to perform various functions. There can be multiple instances of svchost.exe (host process for Windows services) running on your computer, with each instance containing different services. Especially on Windows 10 v1709 and Windows 11, you might see 50+ Svchost.exe processes. Using Task\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"process explorer - svchost.exe - list of services","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/procmon-svchost-services-list.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/procmon-svchost-services-list.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/procmon-svchost-services-list.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/procmon-svchost-services-list.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1166,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/determine-parent-process-of-running-process\/","url_meta":{"origin":74901,"position":4},"title":"How to Determine the Parent Process of a Running Process in Windows?","author":"Ramesh","date":"June 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"You may have come across situations where a continuous hard disk activity taking place although your system being in an idle state. If you open Task Manager out of curiosity, you may find several processes starting and exiting of their own without you doing anything. It could be a scheduled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Utilities"","block_context":{"text":"Utilities","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/utilities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/parentproc-3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/parentproc-3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/parentproc-3.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1124,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/clear-ie-cache-command-line-rundll32\/","url_meta":{"origin":74901,"position":5},"title":"Clear Internet Explorer Cache using Rundll32 Command-Line","author":"Ramesh","date":"March 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The rundll32 command-line involving inetcpl.cpl and the entry point ClearMyTracksByProcess which is widely in use since Internet Explorer 7, is effective only if it's run in low integrity level. This is because in Windows Vista and higher, Internet Explorer manages two different cache containers, one for the Protected Mode and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Internet Explorer"","block_context":{"text":"Internet Explorer","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/internet-explorer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Clear Internet Explorer Cache","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/ie-low-int-5.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/ie-low-int-5.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/ie-low-int-5.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74901\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}