What to do when a print job crashes your printer spooler service

Often times printers do not work the way we expect them to. Sometimes when print jobs get stuck in the queue or cause the Windows printer spooler service to crash we need to step in to help. Here are a few quick steps that will take care of most scenarios that a simple reboot won’t fix.

 

On a side note, it is usually best if your computer is running the latest driver software from your printer’s manufacturer. This can generally be downloaded from the manufacturer’s website.

  1. Disconnect the printer from the PC. As long as Windows sees the printer connected it will try to print any jobs in the printer’s queue, including the job causing the problem. You can accomplish this by unplugging the printer’s data cable (usually USB) from either the back of the computer or from the back of the printer.
  2. Restart the Print Spooler service. Open a command prompt (with admin rights if using Windows 7) and type the following command followed by the <Enter> key:
    net stop spooler & net start spooler

    The spooler service should restart and bring you back to the command prompt.
    NOTE: For more on this step, see my post on How to Open the Command Prompt with Admin Rights.
  3. Open the printer’s queue and delete any stuck jobs.
  4. Reconnect the printer to the PC. Windows will reconnect the printer and make it available. Try printing a test page to make sure it is working OK.

 

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Robert Borges

About Robert...

I have been in the IT industry since 1993 focusing mainly on networking. Though I got an early start as an amateur computer enthusiast and wrote my first database app at age 12, I started my professional career working in the MIS department of one of the largest liquor distributors in the northeast. I started out there as a systems operator on the company’s two mainframe systems. From there I moved into PC support, and help design and implement the company’s first client-server network… This was back in the days of Win NT 3.51 when I worked on my first migration to Windows NT 4.0 server.

From there I went on to work with Novell 3.x and 4.x along with Windows domains and Microsft's brand new Active Directory. Working my way up from technician to specialist, to an administrator, and eventually all the way up to Sr. Engineer. I spent many years working for MSPs/consulting firms, 9 of which I owned and operated my own firm.

Over the years, I have worked with (at an expert level) various versions of Windows client and server operating systems (including Windows 11 and Windows Server 2019); various virtualization technologies (Hyper-V, VMware, etc.); MS-SQL server 6.5- 2014 R2; Exchange 4-2019, and much more.  Over the years I have built a lot of experience around the Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 cloud environments.

I am now CTO at Infused Innovations where our team is focusing on helping clients build a Secure Intelligent Workplace through InfoSec (Zero Trusts Framework), Modern Workplace, and Business Intelligence.

I have been heavily involved in the IT user group community, including serving as president of the board of Boston User Groups, Inc., and president of IT-Pro User Group. In 2017/2018 Microsoft awarded me the Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) Award, with a focus of Microsoft Azure cloud, for my efforts in the IT community.

I am in a constant state of learning about new products, and new versions of products. Many of which we end up implementing in lab environments and sometimes for our clients. I have a very broad range of expertise and experience. It is my goal to share some of this experience on this blog to help enrich the IT community.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.robertborges.us/2012/06/windows/what-to-do-when-a-print-job-crashes-your-printer-spooler-service/

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