Windows Internals
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Process tree explorer

Walk a sample parent/child tree from System to Explorer and a user app.

Topic: processesTopic: objectsTopic: jobsTopic: session-manager

Sample process tree

Click a process. Parent/child links are simplified — real trees are wider and change constantly.

System

PID 4

Kernel/system process — not a normal user application.

On a Windows machine (PowerShell)

These steps run locally — the browser lab above is for learning; Windows tools show the real system behavior.

  1. 1tasklist /v
  2. 2Get-CimInstance Win32_Process | Select-Object ProcessId,ParentProcessId,Name | Format-Table
  3. 3Process Explorer → View → Show process tree