Fix Printer Spooler Errors in Windows 10 : Are you troubled with your printer as you are facing print spooler errors? Therefore, you are looking forward to learning how to fix the issue. Then you must already be aware of print spooler errors occurring in Windows 10, right? Well regardless of the application that you print from print spooler errors can occur in many different ways such as;
- The print spooler keeps stopping
- The printing service stops running
- Print jobs are hung up in the print queue
- The deleted print jobs do not appear
- The printer is not working at all
These types of issues generally appear right after you try to send the print job to the printer and then you realize that the printer is not responding. Therefore figuring out printer spooler errors is only a smaller subset of print troubleshooting.
NOTE: You may face these print spool errors occurring on Windows 10, 8, 7, and Vista. However, the solution provided below should work for all these versions of Windows.
What causes the Print Spooler Errors to occur in Windows 10?
There are several issues that can be the cause of print spooler errors this includes print spooler settings, a failed print job, other non-working printers and printer driver-related issues.
Moreover, it would be good to start practicing with the more straightforward more common causes and then work your way toward the most complicated ones to isolate the error.
Fix Printer Spooler Errors in Windows 10, 8, 7 & Vista versions:
Now it is best if you start with the automatic printer troubleshooter and then work through the printing process on the computer systematically to isolate as well as Fix Printer Spooler Errors in Windows 10.
- You would need to begin by running the printer troubleshooter. You can find it if you search for ‘Troubleshooting Settings and then select the ‘Additional troubleshooters’ option. This will walk you through a wizard that might potentially isolate and fix the print spooler error.
- After that, if you see an actual error code from your print spooler then you need to make sure that you look up ‘What that specific error code means’. This is because the error code can explain what the issues are and will let you skip to the appropriate step below to fix it.
- Next, if you stop and restart the print spooler it will typically resolve many of the printing issues that you’re facing or print jobs struck in the print spooler. You must try this step before you move on to any of the more complicated steps below. If you want you could also use the ‘Net command’ that is at the ‘Command prompt’ to stop and start drivers. Now to do this, you would need to navigate in the command prompt to C:\Windows\System32 and then use the command ‘Net Stop Spooler’ followed by the ‘Net Start Spooler’ option.
- You now need to set the ‘Print Spooler service’ to ‘Automatic’. The ‘Print Spooler’ service is a ‘Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service’ which you can look up by running ‘msc’. After which you should see the ‘Print Spooler’ service in the process list also. You then need to make sure that you set it to ‘Automatic’ instead of ‘Manual’.
C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS (depending on the operating system that you’re using)
- After doing so, you have to remove all printers and install only install the ones that you are using. This is because when you have a clutter of old printers installed on your computer it can at times cause print spooler conflicts and other errors. Moreover, it makes it confusing as well to tell which one is the correct printer that should be selected. You can do this step in Windows Settings by selecting ‘Devices > Printers and Scanner’.
- Now you must also update or reinstall the printer drivers. Many times the print spooler issues are also caused by missing or corrupt driver files. Therefore you should first try and update your existing printer drivers. And if that does not work then you can choose to download the latest printer drivers from the manufacturer’s website and install the latest drivers.
NOTE: You should remember that if you are using an older printer such as older printer drivers, then those drivers may not be compatible with Windows 10. Hence in such cases, you would need to run the drivers using Windows Compatibility mode.
- When you are done with the above steps you will need to reset the print spooler registry keys. This registry contains important information which makes the print spooler connect to your printer without any problem. If you delete old information here then it can help to reset the spooler and resolve any issues that occur. So to do this step, you will need to first back up the existing registry and then go to open the registry and delete all the folders that are inside the following registry directory. However, except for the ‘Winprint’ entry, you would need to use the following;
//HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Print/Environments/Windows NT x86/Print Processors/ for 32 bit Windows, or //HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Print/Environments/Windows NT x64/Print Processors/ for 64 bit Windows.
- Finally, in case you still face the same problems with the print spooler errors then you should try installing the latest Windows Updates and then perform a scan with your antivirus software in order to clean out any malware or virus infections that could be the cause for the issue with the print spooler.
Now that you have finished following the above given steps and instructions we hope that you find this blog helpful and have your issues resolved. Nevertheless, if you come across any sort of glitches related you can feel free to contact the well-equipped technicians who are capable of tackling any related issues effectively.
Related Article: How to quickly scan from Printer to computer?