How To Clear The Printer Spooler? Beginners Guide
You may have across a problem that you have given the print command, but the printer is not working; you have checked the power plug, ink, and all other related things but could not find the reason that why the printer is not working.
Many of us have been in this situation before and therefore can relate to it very well. When everything seems to be perfectly fine, the issue can exist in the printer spooler.
This problem can occur at any time; however, it mostly arises where you have a shared network printer.
The printer can get stuck in between when you are getting a print in a large quantity. Sometimes the experience can be embarrassing due to non-functionality and wastage of time.
You must know a way to solve this problem as soon as it occurs. Whether you are at home or in the office, save yourself from the discomfort, continue reading this article, and you will know exactly how you are going to address the issue.
Printer Spooler
For those who don’t know what a printer spooler is, we have tried to define it in simple words.
A printer spooler is defined as the software which stores the print instructions and file while waiting for the printer to print it. In short, we can say that the spooler puts the command in a queue.
Why Do We Need A Printer Spooler?
If you want to get a print of a large number of documents, the printer’s memory and speed are limited, and you will have to get your print one by one.
With the help of a printer spooler, you only need to send a command one time, and the printing instructions will be stored in a spooler while the printer will be working at its own speed.
It is very useful, especially when there is a large number of people using the same printer and want to print at the same time. so, Best Printers For Realtors is a good Read.
When you send a print command, and the printer does not print it despite the fact that everything is working fine, it means that the problem is in the printer spooler. To overcome this problem, you need to clear the printer spooler.
Fixing Printer Spooler Issue
The stuck problem in spooler can be solved in a number of ways; however, to save your time, we will only mention the most effective one. Read through it carefully, and your issue will be resolved.
- Whenever you encounter an error in any computer-related program, the first thing you try to solve the issue is to restart the system. If you are lucky, the problem will be resolved by restarting the printer and the computer, and if it is not resolved, then you need to try another method for it. Always remember to save your document before restarting, just in case it is required.
- Sometimes a single document can stick in a queue resulting in the printer’s failure to operate. It can be resolved if you can remove that particular document from the row which is blocked. Follow the steps to locate and delete the stuck file.
Select the printer in which you are facing a problem, right-click on it, and you will see an option stating “See What’s Printing.”
By clicking on it, you will see a list of documents in a queue, to see the documents in order, click on the submitted header shown on the screen. Usually, the last command is stuck in the queue; right-click on it and select the Restart option.
If the printer starts to work, you are good to go, and if not, then right-click on the document and select the Cancel option.
If that was the document that was creating trouble, then the problem will be solved by canceling it; otherwise, you may need to cancel the remaining documents until the printer starts.
If the methods mentioned above do not help, then you should try to restart the spooler by going into its properties. The steps are given below; follow them accordingly.
1) The first method includes restarting the spooler manually by changing the properties. You can do this easily in a few steps. If you are using Windows 8 or Windows 10, then click on the Start menu, type “Services” in the search bar area.
- The service icon will appear on the screen. Click on it to open, a list of services will be displayed on the screen. Lookout for Print Spooler; click on it to see its properties.
- Click on the General tab, and under the service status, you will see the stop button. Click on this button to stop the spool.
- After a few minutes, click on the start button. It will restart the printer spool. It will fix the issue; however, if the spool is still stuck, you can move onto the next step.
2) Generally, restarting the spooler manually solves the problem; nonetheless, there might be some other issues that need to be resolved for which you need to move on to this step.
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- After you have clicked on the Stop button under the service status, there are some other properties that need to be checked. On the above of the service status, you will see the startup type drop-down menu. Click on it and select the Automatic button.
- After that, click on the Recovery tab; here, you can set different recovery options. On the first and second failure drop down menu, select the “Restart the service” option, and set restart service time to one minute.
- There is another tab which is called Dependencies. Check the status of the services, and it will tell you the problem that needs to be fixed. It may ask you to update the drivers.
- After checking these tabs, go back to the General tab, and click on the Start button to restart the spool.
If there is no serious issue, the above method will solve it; if not, move to the next step.
3) This step involves deleting some cache files from the system folder. If you are at this step.
- First stop the spool service from the properties as mentioned in the above method and then go on further.
- To delete the files, you need to have access to the printers’ folder in the system files. Access System32 folder, there you will see another folder with the name “spool.”
- Once you are in the spool, you will see another folder with the “Printer” name. Open it, select all files in the folder, right-click the mouse and delete all files.
- Now move back to the properties screen, click on the Start button and close the window. If the steps are followed correctly, the queue will be refreshed, and the printer will start to function.
