kill -9 cannot kill process with parent PID = 1

Question

I have a process with parent PID = 1.

The command kill -9 382 doesn't work. I am root.

What can I do?

root       382     1  0 07:29 ?        00:00:00 dsmrecall /ptstv/HVideo/2014/2014761/G201476100010007.mxf

Maybe this will explain everything: [What if 'kill -9' does not work?](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/5642/what-if-kill-9-does-not-work) — Amit24x7, Jun 27 '17 at 12:21
What is the exact error message that `kill` returns? If there is none, then most likely the process is `defunc`. Unless you have any idea why that is, which seems unlikely, the simplest solution is to restart the system. I would be tempted to assume that another important relevant process was killed improperly. — Julie Pelletier, Jun 27 '17 at 16:21

Yaron · Answer 1 · 2017-06-27T12:12:25.510

1

The owner of the process is root hence you should execute the kill command as user root.

You can do it by running:

sudo kill -9 382

Or in two steps:

turn to be root using one of the below options:
- su -
- sudo su -
- sudo -i
kill the process as user root:

kill -9 382

man su

   su allows to run commands with a substitute user and group ID.

   When called without arguments, su defaults to running an interactive
   shell as root.

More info about sudo vs su

edited Jun 27 '17 at 12:12

answered Jun 27 '17 at 11:27

Yaron

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The second option is not always possible. Better use `sudo su -` – Romeo Ninov Jun 27 '17 at 11:32
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@RomeoNinov - thanks for the comment! updated my answer – Yaron Jun 27 '17 at 11:34
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`sudo su -`? What's the purpose of that? – countermode Jun 27 '17 at 11:38
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@coutermode agreed, you should use sudo -i instead. – thecarpy Jun 27 '17 at 11:56
Actually, I am already login with root. Is there something wrong with my system? – Hsing Yi Jun 27 '17 at 13:25
@HsingYi - what do you mean `kill -9` doesn't work? what happened when you execute the command as `root`? – Yaron Jun 27 '17 at 13:27
@Yaron - I am already root, and **kill -9 382** doesn't work, the process still exist. – Hsing Yi Jun 27 '17 at 13:47

kill -9 cannot kill process with parent PID = 1

1 Answers1