diff --git a/sbysrc/sby_core.py b/sbysrc/sby_core.py
index 90e22c2..77378d9 100644
--- a/sbysrc/sby_core.py
+++ b/sbysrc/sby_core.py
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@
 import os, re, sys, signal
 if os.name == "posix":
     import resource, fcntl
+else:
+    import win_killpg
 import subprocess
 import asyncio
 from functools import partial
@@ -116,12 +118,11 @@ class SbyTask:
                 self.job.log("{}: terminating process".format(self.info))
             if os.name != "posix":
                 # self.p.terminate does not actually terminate underlying
-                # processes on Windows, so use taskkill to kill the shell
-                # and children. This for some reason does not cause the
-                # associated future (self.fut) to complete until it is awaited
-                # on one last time.
-                subprocess.Popen("taskkill /T /F /PID {}".format(self.p.pid), stdin=subprocess.DEVNULL,
-                    stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL)
+                # processes on Windows, so we resort to using the WinAPI to
+                # kill the shell and children. This for some reason does
+                # not cause the associated future (self.fut) to complete
+                # until it is awaited on one last time.
+                win_killpg.win_killpg(self.p.pid)
             else:
                 try:
                     os.killpg(self.p.pid, signal.SIGTERM)
diff --git a/sbysrc/win_killpg.py b/sbysrc/win_killpg.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cfd7c3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sbysrc/win_killpg.py
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+from ctypes import sizeof, windll
+from ctypes.wintypes import DWORD, LONG, ULONG
+from ctypes import Structure, c_char, pointer, POINTER
+import os
+
+# relevant WinAPI references:
+# https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/tlhelp32/nf-tlhelp32-createtoolhelp32snapshot
+# https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/tlhelp32/ns-tlhelp32-processentry32
+# https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/tlhelp32/nf-tlhelp32-process32first
+# https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/tlhelp32/nf-tlhelp32-process32next
+
+TH32CS_SNAPPROCESS = 0x00000002
+INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE = -1
+
+
+class PROCESSENTRY32(Structure):
+    _fields_ = [
+        ("dwSize", DWORD),
+        ("cntUsage", DWORD),
+        ("th32ProcessID", DWORD),
+        ("th32DefaultHeapID", POINTER(ULONG)),
+        ("th32ModuleID", DWORD),
+        ("cntThreads", DWORD),
+        ("th32ParentProcessID", DWORD),
+        ("pcPriClassBase", LONG),
+        ("dwFlags", DWORD),
+        ("szExeFile", c_char * 260),
+    ]
+
+
+def _all_children(pid, lookup, visited):
+    if pid in lookup and pid not in visited:
+        visited.add(pid)
+        for c in lookup[pid]:
+            if c not in visited:
+                visited.add(c)
+                visited |= _all_children(c, lookup, visited)
+        return visited
+    else:
+        return set()
+
+
+def _update_lookup(pid_lookup, pe):
+    cpid = pe.contents.th32ProcessID
+    ppid = pe.contents.th32ParentProcessID
+    # pid 0 should be the only one that is its own parent
+    assert (
+        cpid == 0 or cpid != ppid
+    ), "Internal error listing windows processes - process is its own parent"
+    if ppid not in pid_lookup:
+        pid_lookup[ppid] = []
+    pid_lookup[ppid].append(cpid)
+
+
+def _create_process_lookup():
+    handle = windll.kernel32.CreateToolhelp32Snapshot(TH32CS_SNAPPROCESS, 0)
+    if handle == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE:
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            "Could not snapshot running processes - invalid handle returned"
+        )
+    pe = pointer(PROCESSENTRY32())
+    pe.contents.dwSize = sizeof(PROCESSENTRY32)
+    pid_lookup = {}
+    if windll.kernel32. (handle, pe) != 0:
+        _update_lookup(pid_lookup, pe)
+        while windll.kernel32.Process32Next(handle, pe) != 0:
+            _update_lookup(pid_lookup, pe)
+
+    return pid_lookup
+
+
+def win_killpg(pid):
+    """
+    Approximate the behaviour of os.killpg(pid, signal.SIGKILL) on Windows.
+
+    Windows processes appear to keep track of their parent rather than their
+    children, so it is necessary to build a graph of all running processes
+    first and use this to derive a list of child processes to be killed.
+    """
+    pid_lookup = _create_process_lookup()
+    to_kill = _all_children(pid, pid_lookup, set())
+    for p in to_kill:
+        try:
+            # "Any other value for sig will cause the process to be
+            # unconditionally killed by the TerminateProcess API"
+            os.kill(p, sig=-1)
+        except PermissionError as pe:
+            print("WARNING: error while killing pid {}: {}".format(p, pe))