Support

Product: Port Killer for Windows (Stream Deck plugin for Windows) · Provider: GRAMSHIFT (Tokyo, Japan)

Contact

Email contact@gramshift.com in English or Japanese. We reply within 7 business days, usually sooner. Please include your Windows version, your Stream Deck app version, the port, what the key shows (a photo or screenshot of the key and of its settings helps) and, if you can, the output of netstat -ano | findstr :3000 (with your port) from a Command Prompt.

Port Watch

  1. Install the plugin from the Elgato Marketplace. In the Stream Deck app, find Port Killer for Windows in the action list and drag Port Watch onto a key.
  2. Select the key and enter the Port, for example 3000. A Label is optional; without one the key shows :3000.
  3. The key is checked every 2 seconds while it is visible. A green frame and FREE: nothing is listening on the port. A red key with a name and a PID: that program is listening on the port (IPv4 or IPv6). +1 after the PID means one more program listens on the same port.
  4. To stop it, press the key once: it turns amber and asks STOP?. Press again within 2 seconds. The program and every program it started (for example a dev server's watchers) are stopped, and the key turns green when the port is free. If you do not press again, nothing happens and the key goes back to red.
  5. Right before stopping, the plugin reads the port again. If a different program is on the port by then, it stops nothing and shows CHANGED.

Dev Ports

  1. Drag Dev Ports onto a key. It watches 3000-3010, 4200, 5000, 5173, 8000, 8080, 8888 unless you enter your own Ports: numbers and ranges separated by commas or spaces, for example 3000-3005, 5173, 8080.
  2. The key shows how many of those ports are in use (green frame and 0 when none). Press to see them one by one: the port, the program and its PID. After the last one, or 6 seconds without a press, it shows the count again. The key's settings list all of them.
  3. Dev Ports never stops anything. Put a Port Watch key on a port to stop what is on it.

What the key shows

KeyMeaning
Green frame, FREENothing is listening on the port.
Red, name, PID 1234, press 2x to stopThat program is listening on the port.
Amber, STOP?You pressed once. Press again within 2 seconds to stop it.
Red, protected / PROTECTEDThe program on the port is one the plugin never stops (see below). Presses only show the warning triangle.
Red, NOT STOPPEDWindows refused to stop it. The reason is shown, and the key's settings show it in full. Most often the program runs as administrator (see below).
Gray, CHANGEDAnother program took the port between your two presses. Nothing was stopped.
Gray, ?, can't read portsThe list of ports could not be read (netstat failed). The reason is in the key's settings.

What is never stopped

Whatever you press, the plugin does not stop: the System process (PID 4) and PID 0; Windows' own processes svchost, services, lsass, wininit, csrss, smss, winlogon and a few others; the Stream Deck app; the plugin itself; and a program whose name can not be read. Many Windows services listen on ports through svchost (for example 135 and 445); stop those in the Services app if you really need to.

Common questions

"NOT STOPPED" with "Access is denied".
The program runs as administrator (for example it was started from an administrator terminal), and the Stream Deck app does not. Windows lets only an administrator stop it. Stop it from where you started it, or from Task Manager.

The server comes back right after it is stopped.
Something outside the stopped tree restarts it, for example a process manager (pm2, nodemon started from another tool, a Windows service, Docker). Stop that manager instead.

A Docker or WSL port.
Ports published by Docker Desktop or WSL are held by Windows helper processes (for example com.docker.backend or wslrelay), not by the program inside the container. Stopping those helpers is possible but affects every container; stop the container instead.

Does it slow down my PC?
While a key of this plugin is visible, it runs netstat every 2 seconds (one run for all keys), and tasklist only when one of your ports is in use. When no key is visible, it runs nothing.

Does it run as administrator?
No. It uses netstat, tasklist and taskkill from Windows, with the same Windows account and permissions as the Stream Deck app. It never asks for administrator rights.

Does it work on Mac?
No. This plugin is for Windows 10 or later only.

Privacy

The plugin runs entirely on your PC and sends no data anywhere. See the Privacy Policy.