diff --git a/client/ayon_core/cli.py b/client/ayon_core/cli.py
index e97b8f1c5a..0a9bb2aa9c 100644
--- a/client/ayon_core/cli.py
+++ b/client/ayon_core/cli.py
@@ -43,7 +43,8 @@ class AliasedGroup(click.Group):
               help="Enable debug")
 @click.option("--verbose", expose_value=False,
               help=("Change AYON log level (debug - critical or 0-50)"))
-def main_cli(ctx):
+@click.option("--force", is_flag=True, hidden=True)
+def main_cli(ctx, force):
     """AYON is main command serving as entry point to pipeline system.
 
     It wraps different commands together.
@@ -55,17 +56,24 @@ def main_cli(ctx):
             print(ctx.get_help())
             sys.exit(0)
         else:
-            ctx.invoke(tray)
+            ctx.forward(tray)
 
 
 @main_cli.command()
-def tray():
+@click.option(
+    "--force",
+    is_flag=True,
+    help="Force to start tray and close any existing one.")
+def tray(force):
     """Launch AYON tray.
 
     Default action of AYON command is to launch tray widget to control basic
     aspects of AYON. See documentation for more information.
     """
-    Commands.launch_tray()
+
+    from ayon_core.tools.tray import main
+
+    main(force)
 
 
 @main_cli.group(help="Run command line arguments of AYON addons")
diff --git a/client/ayon_core/cli_commands.py b/client/ayon_core/cli_commands.py
index 9d871c54b1..8ae1ebb3ba 100644
--- a/client/ayon_core/cli_commands.py
+++ b/client/ayon_core/cli_commands.py
@@ -13,12 +13,6 @@ class Commands:
 
     Most of its methods are called by :mod:`cli` module.
     """
-    @staticmethod
-    def launch_tray():
-        from ayon_core.tools.tray import main
-
-        main()
-
     @staticmethod
     def publish(
         path: str,
diff --git a/client/ayon_core/tools/tray/lib.py b/client/ayon_core/tools/tray/lib.py
index e13c682ab0..20770d5136 100644
--- a/client/ayon_core/tools/tray/lib.py
+++ b/client/ayon_core/tools/tray/lib.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import subprocess
 import csv
 import time
 import signal
+import locale
 from typing import Optional, Dict, Tuple, Any
 
 import ayon_api
@@ -50,7 +51,8 @@ def _get_server_and_variant(
 def _windows_pid_is_running(pid: int) -> bool:
     args = ["tasklist.exe", "/fo", "csv", "/fi", f"PID eq {pid}"]
     output = subprocess.check_output(args)
-    csv_content = csv.DictReader(output.decode("utf-8").splitlines())
+    encoding = locale.getpreferredencoding()
+    csv_content = csv.DictReader(output.decode(encoding).splitlines())
     # if "PID" not in csv_content.fieldnames:
     #     return False
     for _ in csv_content:
@@ -344,12 +346,20 @@ def is_tray_running(
     return state != TrayState.NOT_RUNNING
 
 
-def main():
+def main(force=False):
     from ayon_core.tools.tray.ui import main
 
     Logger.set_process_name("Tray")
 
     state = get_tray_state()
+    if force and state in (TrayState.RUNNING, TrayState.STARTING):
+        file_info = get_tray_file_info() or {}
+        pid = file_info.get("pid")
+        if pid is not None:
+            _kill_tray_process(pid)
+        remove_tray_server_url(force=True)
+        state = TrayState.NOT_RUNNING
+
     if state == TrayState.RUNNING:
         print("Tray is already running.")
         return