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Timeout for Power Automate Desktop Flows

In Power Automate Desktop (PAD) there’s no built-in “auto-kill after X minutes” setting, so you have to enforce the 10-minute limit yourself. Here are the three reliable ways, from best practice to more advanced.


Best practice: Control it from a Cloud Flow (recommended)

This is the cleanest and safest approach.

How it works

  • A Cloud flow starts the Desktop flow

  • You set a timeout of 10 minutes

  • If the desktop flow runs longer → it gets terminated automatically

Steps

  1. Create a Cloud flow

  2. Add action: Run a flow built with Power Automate for desktop

  3. Click … (three dots) on the action → Settings

  4. Set Timeout to:

    PT10M

  5. Enable Run in unattended mode if needed

  6. Save

If the desktop flow exceeds 10 minutes, Power Automate will force stop it

Pros

  • Official, supported

  • No hacks

  • Best for production



Option 2: Build a timeout watchdog inside the Desktop Flow

Use this if you must run PAD standalone.

Basic logic

  1. At the start of the flow, store the current time

  2. During loops or long actions:

    • Check elapsed time

    • If > 10 minutes → Terminate flow

Example logic

  • Action: Get current date and time → StartTime

  • Inside loops:

    • Get current date and time → Now

    • Subtract datetimes

    • If ElapsedMinutes > 10:

      • Use Terminate flow action

Pros

  • Works offline

  • No cloud flow needed

Cons

  • Only stops at checkpoints (not mid-action)


Option 3: Force-kill the process (advanced / last resort)

You can externally kill PAD if it hangs.

Method

  • Use another flow / scheduled task to run:

    taskkill /IM PAD.Console.Host.exe /F

    or

    taskkill /IM PAD.DesktopPlayer.exe /F

Cons

  • Abrupt stop

  • Can corrupt sessions

  • Not recommended unless recovery automation is required

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