On Linux, I have to call wait() after fork() on the parent process, otherwise the child process will stay zombie after completion until the parent process completes.

I wonder whether I must follow similar steps on Windows, i.e. whether I must call WaitForSingleObject() after calling CreateProcess().

I know that Windows' CreateProcess() is different from Linux's fork() and it seems that 'zombie' is a UNIX/Linux concept that does not exist on Windows. But maybe I still must call WaitForSingleObject() to free some OS resources allocated for CreateProcess(), similar to the Linux case.

CodePudding user response：

If CreateProcess succeeds you must close the two handles in PROCESS_INFORMATION but you don't have to wait for the child process first, the handles can be closed at any point if you don't need them.

A open handle to a process will keep the process object alive in a zombie state after it has finished running.