Taskkill a Process present in a specific path using WMIC and a Environment Variable

Question

I am trying to close an exe process located in a specific directory, using the %appdata% variable, but it doesn't work.

WMIC Process Where "ExecutablePath='%APPDATA%\\Adobe\\screenrecorder.exe'" Call Terminate

If I try to close the process without %appdata% it works as intended.

WMIC Process Where "ExecutablePath='C:\\Users\\Admin\\AppData\\Roaming\\Adobe\\screenrecorder.exe'" Call Terminate

It is essential that it must work using %appdata%, does someone know how to close an exe file using %appdata%?

Answer 1

You should have noted that backward slashes in a path require escaping in the WHERE clause of WMIC, so you simply need to expand the environment variable, and substitute the backward slashes for escaped backward slashes. The general method of doing that is %VariableName:CharToSubstitute=SustitutionChars%

WMIC Process Where "ExecutablePath='%AppData:\=\\%\\Adobe\\screenrecorder.exe'" Call Terminate

Or more robustly

%SystemRoot%\System32\wbem\WMIC.exe Process Where "ExecutablePath='%AppData:\=\\%\\Adobe\\screenrecorder.exe'" Call Terminate