I'd love to pin Process Explorer from sysinternals to my task bar. However procexp.exe is a 32-bit application that launches the 64-bit procexp64.exe on an x64 system.
However when I pin it to the task bar and try to lunch the application later, I have the message which claims that procexp64.exe cannot be found because physically on hard-drive I have only procexp.exe.
Any idea how I can solve my problem?
Update:
New versions of the Sysinternals Suite now include a standalone copy of procexp64.exe, so there is no longer a need to extract it. Simply pin the application to the taskbar, and it will behave as expected. If you are still using an older version, see below.
When you run Process Explorer on a 64bit system, it extracts a 64bit version of the exe to the executing directory, and executes it instead. Usually this file is deleted upon application close.
I've found that if you kill process explorer unexpectedly though, the file will not get deleted, and you can pin It to the task bar instead.
Upon running the 32bit exe, you can see that it bootstraps the 64bit image.
Select the procexp.exe process, and RClick -> Kill Process.
the procexp64 process will re-parent itself and appear at the bottom of the list. You can now pin procexp64.exe to the taskbar, and it will no longer be deleted on close.
Note that you may delete procexp64 later by accidentally running and closing procexp.exe. if that occurs, repeat these instructions to recreate procexp64.
confirmed with Process explorer v15.04 on win7 x64.
-------------------------------UPDATE-----------------------------------------------------
Process Explorer 16 has been released, and it changes the behavior of the sub-process spawning and cleanup. The spawned procex64.exe is now created in the users %APPDATA%\local folder, and is "cleaned up" even if the parent process is killed ungracefully.
For version 16, double click the procexp64 process and note its exact path, within your %APPDATA% directory, and open an explorer window to that location.
while the application is running, right click procexp64.exe and copy it to another location.
Run the copied procexp64.exe and you should now be able to pin it to the task bar as expected.
An alternate solution is to copy procexp64.exe prior to closing the application. The temporary copy can be located as follows:
Once copied out of the temporary location, this procexp64.exe works fine, can be pinned to the taskbar, and will not be deleted if you accidentally open procexp.exe again later.
