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Kill IE tabs

This script finds Internet Explorer processes corresponding to tabs in which the URL matches the pattern provided by the user in the "Tab Title Pattern" argument, and kills these processes.

Internet Explorer may recover the killed tab automatically, which is a default behavior controlled by the the "Enable automatic crash recovery" setting. When set to "yes", the "Disable Tab Recovery" setting of this script will prevent the killed tab from getting reopened. Tab recovery will then remain disabled at the user level.

If the Force parameter is set to "yes", the script will terminate the processes it found, even if their count does not correlate to the number of tabs matching the provided pattern. Be advised that this option may result in closing more tabs than intended, and should be used with caution.
Version: 1.5.28
Created: 2019-04-01
Modified: 2019-04-10
Creator: Guy Leech
Downloads: 88
Tags: browser internet explorer rds troubleshooting vdi
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#requires -version 3

<#
    Find process for IE tabs

    Uses window enumeration code found at https://powertoe.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/finding-the-thread-pid-that-belongs-to-a-tab-in-ie-8-with-powershell/

    @guyrleech 2019
#>

[int]$sessionId = if( $args.Count -and $args[0] )
{
    $args[0] -as [int]
}
else
{
    Throw 'Must pass the session id of the session on the command line'
}

[string]$URLtoKill = if( $args.Count -ge 2 -and $args[1] )
{
    $args[1]
}
else
{
    Throw 'Must pass the URL to kill on the command line'
}

[bool]$forceKill = ( $args.Count -ge 3 -and ( $args[ 2 ] -eq 'Yes' -or $args[2] -match 'True' ))
[bool]$killRegardless = ( $args.Count -ge 4 -and ( $args[ 3 ] -eq 'Yes' -or $args[3] -match 'True' ))

[int]$outputWidth = 400

$VerbosePreference = 'SilentlyContinue'

Add-Type -Namespace User32 -Name Util -UsingNamespace System.Text -MemberDefinition @'
[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError=true)]
public static extern uint GetWindowThreadProcessId(IntPtr hWnd, out uint lpdwProcessId);

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr GetTopWindow(IntPtr hWnd);

[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
public static extern IntPtr GetWindow(IntPtr hWnd, uint uCmd);

public enum GetWindow_Cmd : uint {
    GW_HWNDFIRST = 0,
    GW_HWNDLAST = 1,
    GW_HWNDNEXT = 2,
    GW_HWNDPREV = 3,
    GW_OWNER = 4,
    GW_CHILD = 5,
    GW_ENABLEDPOPUP = 6
}

[DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
public static extern int GetWindowText(IntPtr hWnd, StringBuilder lpString, int nMaxCount);

[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError=true, CharSet=CharSet.Auto)]
public static extern int GetWindowTextLength(IntPtr hWnd);
'@

Function Get-HKCU
{
    Param
    ( 
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        $process 
    )

    $owner = Invoke-CimMethod -InputObject $process -MethodName GetOwner

    if( $owner )
    {
        [string]$sid = (New-Object -TypeName System.Security.Principal.NTAccount( "$($owner.Domain)\$($owner.User)" )).Translate([System.Security.Principal.SecurityIdentifier]).Value

        if( [string]::IsNullOrEmpty( $sid ) )
        {
            Write-Warning "Failed to get sid for user $($owner.Domain)\$($owner.User))"
        }
        else
        {
            if( ! (  Get-PSdrive -Name HKU -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue ) )
            {
                [void](New-PSDrive -Name HKU -PSProvider Registry -Root 'Registry::HKEY_USERS' -Scope Script )
            }

            Join-Path -Path 'HKU:\' -ChildPath $sid ## return
        }
    }
    else
    {
        Write-Warning "Failed to get owner for process id $($process.ProcessId) ($($process.Name))"
    }
}

[hashtable]$ieProcesses = @{}

# Altering the size of the PS Buffer
$PSWindow = (Get-Host).UI.RawUI
$WideDimensions = $PSWindow.BufferSize
$WideDimensions.Width = $outputWidth
$PSWindow.BufferSize = $WideDimensions

## command line not returned on Server 2016 when run as non-admin - we will check later that it's a child of another IE process otherwise likely to kill multiple tabs
Get-CimInstance -Class Win32_Process -Filter "Name = 'iexplore.exe' and SessionId = '$sessionId'" | ForEach-Object `
{
    $ieProcesses.Add( $_.ProcessId -as [int] , $_ )
}

[hashtable]$toKill = @{}
[int]$tabsFound = 0
[hashtable]$notToKill = @{}
[hashtable]$topLevelTabs = @{}

if( ! $ieProcesses -or ! $ieProcesses.Count )
{
    Write-Warning "No child iexplore.exe processes found in session $sessionid"
}
else
{
    $window = [User32.Util]::GetTopWindow( [IntPtr]::Zero )

    if( ! $window )
    {
        Write-Error "Failed to get top most window in session $sessionId so cannot get tabs"
    }
    while ($window -ne [IntPtr]::Zero ) 
    {
        [int]$windowPid = 0
        [void]([User32.util]::GetWindowThreadProcessId( $window , [ref]$windowPid ))
        $ieProcess = $ieProcesses[ $windowPid ]
        if( $ieProcess ) 
        {
            $length = [User32.Util]::GetWindowTextLength( $window )
            if ($length -gt 0)
            {
                $string = New-Object System.Text.Stringbuilder 1024
                if( [User32.Util]::GetWindowText( $window , $string , ( $length + 1 )) -gt 0 )
                {
                    ## can be hidden blank pages but ignore anyway since won't contain content
                    if( $string.tostring() -notmatch '^(MSCTFIME UI|Default IME|SysFader|MCI command handling window|Tooltip|DDE Server Window|PseudoServerHiddenWindow|Blank Page - Internet Explorer)$' )
                    {
                        ## only look to kill if it is a child process not the parent as that will kill everything but still count the tab for reporting/checking purposes
                        if( (Get-Process -Id $ieProcess.ParentProcessId -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name) -eq 'iexplore')
                        {
                            $tabsFound++
                            if( $string.ToString() -match $URLtoKill )
                            {
                                Write-Verbose "Will kill pid $windowPid with text `"$($string.ToString())`""
                                ## Can't kill processes yet as it can mess up fetching of windows
                                try
                                {
                                    $toKill.Add( $windowPid , [pscustomobject]@{ Title = $string.tostring() ; 'Process' = $ieProcess } )
                                }
                                catch
                                {
                                    ## already have it so don't try and kill twice
                                }
                            }
                            else
                            {
                                Write-Verbose "Not killing pid $windowPid with text `"$($string.ToString())`" as no match"
                                ## keep a list of innocent pids so we can warn if we are going to kill them
                                $existing = $notToKill[ $windowPid ]
                                if( $existing )
                                {
                                    [void]$existing.Add( $string.ToString() )
                                }
                                else
                                {
                                    $notToKill.Add( $windowPid , ( [System.Collections.ArrayList]@( $string.ToString() ) ) )
                                }
                            }
                        }
                        else
                        {
                            Write-Verbose "May not kill pid $windowPid with text `"$($string.ToString())`" as top level process"
                            try
                            {
                                $topLevelTabs.Add( $string.tostring() , [pscustomobject]@{ Title = $string.tostring() ; 'Process' = $ieProcess } )
                            }
                            catch
                            {
                                ## already got it - may be same tab or another tab of same name but we can't tell
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        $window = [User32.Util]::GetWindow( $window , 2 ) ## GW_HWNDNEXT
    }
}

[bool]$checkedUserSettings = $false
[string]$regPath = $null
[int]$oldValue = -1
[string]$hkcu = $null
[int]$killedCount = 0

## if number of tabs found exceeds number of IE child processes then we haven't got a 1:1 mapping so killing one process could kill multiple tabs
[int]$ieChildProcesses = ( $ieProcesses.GetEnumerator() | Where-Object { ((Get-Process -Id $_.Value.ParentProcessId -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name) -eq 'iexplore') } | Measure-Object | Select -ExpandProperty Count )

if( $tabsFound -gt $ieChildProcesses -or ! $toKill.Count )
{
    if( ! $hkcu )
    {
        $hkcu = Get-HKCU -process ($ieProcesses.GetEnumerator()|Select-Object -First 1 -ExpandProperty Value)
    }
    ## check user settings to see if tab will respawn if killed
    if( $hkcu )
    {
        $regPath = Join-Path -Path $hkcu -ChildPath 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main'
        $value = Get-ItemProperty -Path $regPath -Name 'TabProcGrowth' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select -ExpandProperty 'TabProcGrowth'
        ## if missing then is a problem on Windows 10 but not Server 2016
        [bool]$isWindows10 = ((Get-WmiObject -Class win32_operatingsystem|select -ExpandProperty Name) -match '^Microsoft Windows 10 ')
        if( $value -eq [int]0 -or $value -lt $tabsFound -or ( $value -eq $null -and $isWindows10 ) )
        {
            Write-Warning "Found $($tabsFound + $topLevelTabs.Count) tabs in total but only $ieChildProcesses IE child processes so consider setting 'TabProcGrowth' in 'HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main' to at least $([math]::Max($tabsFound,1))"
        }
    }
    ## Now see if have just top level tabs with just our URL in which case we will kill that otherwise we won't
    [int]$topLevelInnocentTabs = 0
    if( ! $toKill.Count )
    {
        $topLevelTabs.GetEnumerator() | ForEach-Object `
        {
            if( $_.Name -notmatch $URLtoKill )
            {
                $topLevelInnocentTabs++
            }
            else
            {
                $toKill.Add( $_.Value.Process.ProcessId , $_.Value ) ## we will delete later if innocents found
            }
        }
        if( $topLevelInnocentTabs -and $toKill.Count )
        {
            if( $killRegardless )
            {
                Write-Warning "Tab with specified text is a shared top level tab so killing it will kill those tabs too" 
            }
            else
            {            
                Write-Warning "Found $topLevelInnocentTabs other tab$(if( $topLevelInnocentTabs -ne 1 ) { 's' }) in top level IE process so not killing"
                $toKill = @{}
            }
        }
    }
}

if( $toKill.Count )
{
    ForEach( $kill in $toKill.GetEnumerator() )
    {
        if( ! $checkedUserSettings -and $kill.Value.Process )
        {
            if( ! $hkcu )
            {
                $hkcu = Get-HKCU -process $kill.Value.Process
            }
            ## check user settings to see if tab will respawn if killed
            if( $hkcu )
            {
                $regPath = Join-Path -Path $hkcu -ChildPath 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Recovery'
                $value = Get-ItemProperty -Path $regPath -Name 'AutoRecover' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select -ExpandProperty 'AutoRecover'
                if( $value -ne 2 ) ## if missing then also respawns
                {
                    [string]$warning = "User has the `"Enable automatic crash recovery`" IE setting enabled so "
                    if( $forceKill )
                    {
                        Set-ItemProperty -Path $regPath -Name 'AutoRecover' -Value ([int]2) -Force
                        $warning += 'disabled this'
                        $oldValue = $value
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        $warning += 'killed tabs will re-open'
                    }
                    Write-Warning $warning
                }
            }

            $checkedUserSettings = $true
        }
        if( $notToKill.Count )
        {
            ## check if any tab not being killed shares the same process as one that is
            $innocent = $notToKill[ $kill.Name ]
            if( $innocent )
            {
                if( $killRegardless )
                {
                    Write-Warning "PID $($kill.Name) also hosts these tabs which will be killed:`n`t$($innocent -join "`n`t")"
                }
                else
                {
                    Write-Warning "Found other tabs in the same IE process so not killing"
                    continue
                }
            }
        }
        $killed = Invoke-CimMethod -InputObject $kill.Value.Process -MethodName Terminate
        if( ! $killed -or $killed.ReturnValue )
        {
            Write-Warning "Failed to kill PID $($kill.Name), returned $($killed|Select-Object -ExpandProperty ReturnValue)"
        }
        $killedCount++
    }
}

<#
if( $forceKill -and $oldValue -ge 0 -and $regPath )
{
    Set-ItemProperty -Path $regPath -Name 'AutoRecover' -Value $oldValue
}
#>

"Killed $killedCount process$(if( $killedCount -ne 1) { 'es' })"

if( $VerbosePreference -eq 'Continue' -and $killedCount )
{
    $toKill.GetEnumerator() | Select -ExpandProperty Value | Where-Object { ! $_.Process.PSobject.properties[ 'CUNotKilled' ] } | Format-Table @{n='  Process Id';e={("{0,10}" -f $_.Process.ProcessId)}},Title | Out-String ## left padding pid with spaces
}