c++ how do i get the current console conhost process

Question

i have searched on so many websites after \"how i get the conhost process\", and nothing is really what i\'m looking for.

i have searched on.

Answer 1

One method that comes to mind is to obtain the start time of the CMD.EXE process. Then iterate through all of the CONHOST processes looking for the same (or very close) start time.

As a proof of concept download and install Process Explorer. Find your CMD.EXE process in ProcExp, then look at Properties, Image tab. Note the start time. Then look through each CONHOST process looking for one that starts at the same time.

Note that ProcExp displays 1 second resolution, but whatever underlying API ProcExp uses probably has better resolution.

You may need to google some to get an idea what API(s) ProcExp uses to gather the process start time. Additionally there are a variety of tools you can use to see what APIs an executable (ProcExp in this case) import. You may be able to deduce from the API names that ProcExp imports which one(s) would provide a process' start time.

Answer 2

In case you still need it (after reading the comments), here's a piece of code that gets the conhost.exe processes. Please note that I only wrote it for demonstrative purposes (to check whether [MSDN]: Tool Help Functions can be used for this scenario), so don't mind its structure or other coding NO-NOs.

code.c:

#include <Windows.h>
#include <TlHelp32.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
#include <tchar.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
    DWORD pid = 0, i = 0, cPid = 0;
    PROCESSENTRY32 pe32;
    BOOL res = FALSE;
    HANDLE snap = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE, proc = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE;
    char c = 0;
    if (argc > 1) {
        pid = atoi(argv[1]);
    } else {
        pid = GetCurrentProcessId();
    }
    printf("PID: %d\n", pid);
    snap = CreateToolhelp32Snapshot(TH32CS_SNAPPROCESS, pid);
    if (snap == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {
        printf("CreateToolhelp32Snapshot failed: %d\n", GetLastError());
        return -1;
    }
    pe32.dwSize = sizeof(PROCESSENTRY32);
    res = Process32First(snap, &pe32);
    if (res == FALSE) {
        printf("Process32First failed: %d\n", GetLastError());
        CloseHandle(snap);
        return -2;
    }
    do {
        if (_tcscmp(pe32.szExeFile, TEXT("conhost.exe")) == 0) {
            _tprintf(TEXT("    Idx: %02d  PID: %5d  PPID: %5d  Name: %s\n"), i++, pe32.th32ProcessID, pe32.th32ParentProcessID, pe32.szExeFile);
            if (pe32.th32ParentProcessID == pid) {
                cPid = pe32.th32ProcessID;
            }
        }
    } while ((res = Process32Next(snap, &pe32)));
    CloseHandle(snap);

    if ((proc = OpenProcess(PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS, FALSE, cPid)) == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {
        printf("OpenProcess failed: %d\n", GetLastError());
        return -3;
    }
    printf("Conhost handle: 0x%08X\n", proc);
    CloseHandle(proc);

    printf("Press a key to exit...\n");
    c = getch();
    return 0;
}

Output (as a VStudio 2010, Console App (Debug - x86) on Win 10):

e:\Work\Dev\StackOverflow\q035102238>ver

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.17134.48]

e:\Work\Dev\StackOverflow\q035102238>"Debug\q035102238.exe"
PID: 22388
    Idx: 00  PID: 19892  PPID: 20164  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 01  PID: 21128  PPID: 21120  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 02  PID:  1144  PPID: 20572  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 03  PID:  8184  PPID: 19572  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 04  PID: 10976  PPID: 20608  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 05  PID: 21284  PPID:  8792  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 06  PID:  8172  PPID: 20444  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 07  PID:  4396  PPID: 19484  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 08  PID: 12484  PPID:  2580  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 09  PID: 18636  PPID: 11552  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 10  PID: 21456  PPID: 21016  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 11  PID:   960  PPID:  3528  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 12  PID: 20616  PPID: 18404  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 13  PID: 21548  PPID: 21528  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 14  PID: 20192  PPID:  8316  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 15  PID:  2496  PPID:  9284  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 16  PID:  5820  PPID: 23140  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 17  PID:  6032  PPID: 26512  Name: conhost.exe
Connhost handle: 0x00000000
Press a key to exit...

So, it is possible to enumerate all running conhost.exe processes, and also get PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS to the one associated with my current application (I have to mention here that my Win user has full administrative privileges).

@EDIT0:

• As @BladeMight noticed, on Win 7 all conhost.exe processes are children of crss.exe (as it can be also seen in ProcExp)

Output:

c:\Work\Dev\StackOverflow\q035102238>ver

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]

c:\Work\Dev\StackOverflow\q035102238>q035102238.exe
PID: 1548
    Idx: 00  PID:  4960  PPID:  3472  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 01  PID:  5024  PPID:  3472  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 02  PID:  5076  PPID:  3472  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 03  PID:  2676  PPID:  3472  Name: conhost.exe
    Idx: 04  PID:  1888  PPID:  3472  Name: conhost.exe
Connhost handle: 0x00000000
Press a key to exit...