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Not mentioned in all the other answers is a case where kill -9 doesn't work at all, when a process is <defunct> and cannot be killed:

How can I kill a <defunct> process whose parent is init?

[What is defunct for a process and why it doesn't get killed?][1]

So before you attempt to kill -9 a <defunct> process run ps -ef to see what his parent is and attempt the -15(TERM) or -2(INT) and lastly -9(KILL) on his parent.

_{Note: [what ps -ef does][2].}

_{Later edit and caution: Proceed with caution when killing processes, their parent or their children, because they may leave files opened or corrupted, connections unfinished, may corrupt databases etc unless you know what kill -9 does for a process, use it only as a last resort, and if you need to run kill use the signals specified above before using -9 (KILL)} [1]: https://askubuntu.com/questions/201303/what-is-defunct-for-a-process-and-why-it-doesnt-get-killed [2]: http://explainshell.com/explain?cmd=ps%20-ef

Not mentioned in all the other answers is a case where kill -9 doesn't work at all, when a process is <defunct> and cannot be killed:

How can I kill a <defunct> process whose parent is init?

What is defunct for a process and why it doesn't get killed?

So before you attempt to kill -9 a <defunct> process run ps -ef to see what his parent is and attempt the -15(TERM) or -2(INT) and lastly -9(KILL) on his parent.

_{Note: what ps -ef does.}

_{Later edit and caution: Proceed with caution when killing processes, their parent or their children, because they may leave files opened or corrupted, connections unfinished, may corrupt databases etc unless you know what kill -9 does for a process, use it only as a last resort, and if you need to run kill use the signals specified above before using -9 (KILL)}

Not mentioned in all the other answers is a case where kill -9 doesn't work at all, when a process is <defunct> and cannot be killed:

How can I kill a <defunct> process whose parent is init?

What is defunct for a process and why it doesn't get killed?

So before you attempt to kill -9 a <defunct> process run ps -ef to see what his parent is and attempt the -15(TERM) or -2(INT) and lastly -9(KILL) on his parent.

_{Note: what ps -ef does.}

Not mentioned in all the other answers is a case where kill -9 doesn't work at all, when a process is <defunct> and cannot be killed:

How can I kill a <defunct> process whose parent is init?

[What is defunct for a process and why it doesn't get killed?][1]

So before you attempt to kill -9 a <defunct> process run ps -ef to see what his parent is and attempt the -15(TERM) or -2(INT) and lastly -9(KILL) on his parent.

_{Note: [what ps -ef does][2].}

_{Later edit and caution: Proceed with caution when killing processes, their parent or their children, because they may leave files opened or corrupted, connections unfinished, may corrupt databases etc unless you know what kill -9 does for a process, use it only as a last resort, and if you need to run kill use the signals specified above before using -9 (KILL)} [1]: https://askubuntu.com/questions/201303/what-is-defunct-for-a-process-and-why-it-doesnt-get-killed [2]: http://explainshell.com/explain?cmd=ps%20-ef

Not mentioned in all the other answers is a case where kill -9 doesn't work at all, when a process is <defunct> and cannot be killed:

How can I kill a <defunct> process whose parent is init?

What is defunct for a process and why it doesn't get killed?

So before you attempt to kill -9 a <defunct> process run ps -ef to see what his parent is and attempt the -15(TERM) or -2(INT) and lastly -9(KILL) on his parent.

_{Note: what ps -ef does.}

Not mentioned in all the other answers is a case where kill -9 doesn't work at all, when a process is <defunct> and cannot be killed:

How can I kill a <defunct> process whose parent is init?

What is defunct for a process and why it doesn't get killed?

So before you attempt to kill -9 a <defunct> process run ps -ef to see what his parent is and attempt the -15(TERM) or -2(INT) and lastly -9(KILL) on his parent.

_{Note: what ps -ef does.}