Netstat reports PID that doesn’t exist – wtf and how to close it

netstatwindows-xp

I have an app that listens on port 7001, which sometimes crashes but leaves the port open. netstat reports a PID that doesn't exist. How is that possible? How can I force the port to close without restarting the machine?

C:\>netstat -a -o

Active Connections

  Proto  Local Address          Foreign Address        State           PID
  ...
  TCP    JD1:7001               JD1.intranet:0         LISTENING       6060
  ...

C:\>taskkill /pid 6060
ERROR: The process "6060" not found.

Best Answer

Try netstat with the -b option as well as the -a and -o options to show the executables involved. That may help you track down the culprit.