26.09.2 requiring task manager to close itself

Anki Help
1

The current version of Anki on windows 10+ (x64) requires task manager to close itself consistently. I also had the same issue with the previous version of Anki. I have tried resetting my laptop, opened in safe mode, checked and uninstalled any add-ons, checked the database, tried all video driver options and reset the window size on start-up. Has anybody else had this problem and found a way to fix it?

2

  1. What happens when you try to close Anki the usual way? How are you noticing that it has not closed? How long are you waiting?

  2. Do you know which processes are failing to end?

  3. Has this only occurred with the past 2 versions of Anki?

  4. Try starting Anki from a command prompt – Startup Issues - Anki Manual . When you close it, the command prompt window may show what errors it is catching on.

3

Hello, if i try to close anki without task manager, it’ll stop responding, then take 1-2 minutes to actually shut down. I’m not that technically minded so not sure which processes are failing to end. For the versions, I’ve only ever used the past 2 versions. I’ll try to start this command prompt method to see what happens.

If it adds anything, the RAM used by anki gradually increases up until it uses >80% of my memory according to task manager.

4

C:\Windows\System32>taskkill /IM Anki.exe /F
SUCCESS: The process “Anki.exe” with PID 18984 has been terminated.

C:\Windows\System32>

taskkill /IM anki.exe
SUCCESS: Sent termination signal to the process “Anki.exe” with PID 43488.

C:\Windows\System32>Pomodoro_Integrated: Timer stopped and cleaned up.
Website_Sidebar: Cleaned up references.
AI Assistant: cleanup starting…
AI Assistant: cleanup done ✓
addons21\236979321\custom_background.py:472:night_mode() is deprecated: use theme_manager.night_mode
2026-10-08 16:45:23,558:WARNING:waitress: unhandled close event
ignored late js callback None
Ignored progress func as collection unloaded: <bound method AnkiQt.on_periodic_backup_timer of <aqt.main.AnkiQt object at 0x0000016385A0C0F0>>
Ignored progress func as collection unloaded: <bound method AnkiQt.on_periodic_sync_timer of <aqt.main.AnkiQt object at 0x0000016385A0C0F0>>
ignored late js callback None

These are the command prompt responses I got when attempting to close it via command prompt

5

The suggestion was to start Anki from a command prompt.

But from what you posted, it looks like you have lots of add-ons. I didn’t have you start with that because you said you’d already uninstalled them. So let’s nip that in the bud –

  1. Restart your computer, so nothing else is running.
  2. Start Anki from a command prompt as described at the link – but hold down Shift when you press Enter, and hold it long enough to see the confirmation message that you’re in safe mode.
  3. Use Anki normally for a few minutes, then close it the regular way, through the interface.

If it hangs – be patient (at least 10 minutes) and let it finish, then you can show us the output in the command prompt window – everything from when Anki started.

If it doesn’t hang – you can start checking what add-ons might be causing the problem – Troubleshooting Checklist #2.