FindZombieHandles doesn't work on a VM running Windows Server 2012 R2

[leolopesfigueiredo]

Hi everyone.

I've tested FindZombieHandles in two VM's running Windows Server 2012 R2, and it didn't find any zombies. It returns the above message:

I'm running it as Administrator on both VM's.

Regarding .NET version, I have:

and

Do you have any idea of what is the cause of this issue?

Thank you in advance,

Leandro

[leolopesfigueiredo]

UPDATE:

I forgot to say, I've tested it on a VM running Windows Server 2016 and it worked like a sharm.

Its .net version is:

thanks.

[randomascii]

Unfortunately I don't have any ideas. I'd try the -verbose output to see if it gives any clues. I'd also try intentionally creating some zombie processes to make sure that you have something to find.

Finally, if you suspect that there are a large number of zombies then sorting by handle count in process explorer may show them. When I hit this problem in 2018 I found that CcmExec.exe had over 500,000 handles and most of those were process handles. FindZombieHandles is more precise, but Task Manager works for the egregious cases.

https://randomascii.wordpress.com/2018/02/11/zombie-processes-are-eating-your-memory/