You mainly encounter print spooling errors soon after sending a print job to the printer and find the printer is not working properly!
Printer spooler error can occur in many ways. The Printer spooler may stop running or keeps stopping.
Sometimes the deleted print jobs keep appearing or the print job gets hung up in the queue.
Here we have given a complete set of solutions on how to fix this error. So keep reading you are facing this error.
What Does Spooling Mean On Printer?
A spooler program manages all your printing jobs in a queue. Spooling on a printer enables you to send a large number of files to a printer without waiting for the current task to finish.
This system will send the documents in the same order they were received to the printer. This was designed to improve speed and efficiency.
All your documents will get lined up in a queue and get ready to be printed after the previous printing task gets completed.
Also see what to do when printer is printing crooked.
How To Fix Print Spooler Error?
If your printer spooler is not working properly and showing your errors then follow the methods described below to fix the things and get your printing job done without further issues.
1) Restart The Printer Spooler
When you get printer spooling errors, first of all, stop the printer spooler and restart it. Often a fresh restart can fix the temporary issues.
So, before moving on to any advanced step, try this to fix the problem.
To stop the spooler, follow the steps given below:
- Shut down all other programs related to printing like Microsoft Word. Click on the Windows Start button and enter Services in the Search box.
- Select the Services app.
- In the services window search for the Printer Spooler. Right-click on the service and select the Stop option.
- Next, go to This PC and double-click on the installation folder of the Pinter Spooler.
- Delete all the print jobs from the Printers folder.
- Again open the Services Window and right-click on Printer Spooler. This time click on the Start button to restart the service.
Now check if you can print without having any issues. If the issue persists, go to the next step.
2) Connect Your Printer Properly
You can get printer-related errors if the printer is not correctly connected to the internet.
Make sure that you have a stable network to make the printer print correctly.
Also, ensure that both the computer and the printer are connected to the same network.
If you are using a USB cable to connect the printer, check for any sign of damage on the cable. If you find that the cable is damaged, replace it.
You can also test the cable by connecting it to another port.
The manufacturers always recommend connecting the printer directly to the wall outlet.
3) Run The Printer Troubleshooter
Windows has some in-built troubleshooters to fix most of the problems. So, when you are getting printer spooler errors, run the Pinter trouble-shooter.
To do so, follow the instructions given below:
- Enter Troubleshoot. From the next window, click on the Additional troubleshooters option.
- Click on the Printer option and select the Run the Troubleshooter option.
- Follow the instructions given on-screen to finish the process.
4) Set Printer Spooler Service To Automatic In The Process
If the above steps did not work to fix the Printer error, set the Print Spooler service to Automatic.
- To do so, open the Services window and right-click on the Print Spooler service.
- Open properties and set the start-up type to Automatic.
- Check if it is working fine now else move on to the next step.
5) Clear The Printing Queue
If the above steps did not work, clear everything in the printer queue. To do so, follow the steps given below:
- Enter Control Panel in the Windows search bar and enter Control Panel. Set the view by the option to Large icons or Small icons.
- Click on the Devices and Printers option.
- Right-click on your Printer and select See what’s printing option. Cancel each item from the printing queue.
6) Remove Other Printers
If you have so many old printers cluttered in your device then this can also cause the printer spooler error.
So, remove all other unnecessary printers and keep the one you need.
- To do that open Control Panel and click on the Printers and Devices option.
- Right-click on your printer and select the Remove device option. Do this for each old, unnecessary printer.
7) Update & Reinstall The Printer Drivers
Sometimes the printer drivers may get corrupted. To fix this update the printer drivers. Follow the steps to do so:
- Right-click on the Search button and select the Device Manager option.
- Expand the Print Queues section by double-clicking on it.
- Right-click on your printer and select the Update driver option.
- Click on Search automatically for the drivers option.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.
Check if your printer is working fine now. If not then reinstall the printer drivers.
- To do so, open Device Manager. Expand the Pinter queues section and right-click on your printer.
- This time select Uninstall device option. Follow the on-screen prompts to finish the process.
- Restart your device and your PC will download the drivers automatically.
8) Tweak The Registry Keys
If none of the above steps have worked for you, reset the print spooler registry keys. This process will delete the old information and reset the spooler.
But before making any changes to your registry, back up everything. Now follow the steps given below:
- Enter Registry Editor in the Windows search box and choose the top option.
- Navigate to the following path as per your system:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64
Or
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x32
- Delete all the files there except the winprint entry. Now, this should resolve the problem.
Frequently Asked Questions [FAQs]
Here are some questions asked by the users who came across the printer spooler problem:
- How do I fix the printer spooler error?
To fix printer spooler error, restart the printer spooler, run the printer troubleshooter, update or reinstall the printer drivers, teak registry keys, etc.
- What causes print spooler error?
Most of the time the print spooler error is caused by the corrupted driver files.
So, you can update your printer driver. If this does not work, uninstall the previous drivers and install the latest drivers.
- How do I restart my spooler?
To restart the spooler, press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Windows Task Manager. Then go to the Services tab and find Spooler. If the service is running, right-click on it and click on the restart button.
Closing Up
So, that was all about fixing the printer spooler errors. For any further queries, contact us in the comments section provided below.