A Checklist for Safely Handling Child Processes in Windows Apps (archived 2026-09-01)

Handling child processes safely in a Windows app depends less on the launch API than on who owns the process tree and how shutdown is designed. This article lays out Job Objects, exit propagation, standard I/O, and watchdogs. Archived version of https://comcomponent.com/en/blog/2026/03/20/001-windows-app-safe-child-process-handling-job-object-exit-propagation-stdio-watchdog/, as published on 2026-09-01. The live article is maintained and may change after this date. First published 2026-03-20.