Print spooler error fix: clear a stuck print queue

This print spooler error fix is for the moment when a document is stuck in the print queue, cancelling does nothing, and every new job piles up behind it. Sometimes Windows also says “The print spooler service is not running” or the service stops by itself again and again. The spooler is the Windows service that collects print jobs and feeds them to the printer; when it gets stuck, clearing it by hand is the reliable fix.

If the queue is empty and the printer shows offline, the spooler is not your problem; use the printer offline fix instead. If you are not sure what is wrong, the printer troubleshooting guide helps you narrow it down.

Signs the spooler is the problem

• Jobs stay in the queue with the status “Error”, “Deleting” or “Printing” but nothing comes out.
• Cancel All Documents does nothing, or the jobs come back.
• Windows says the print spooler service is not running.
• Printers disappear from Printers & scanners, or the page loads very slowly.
• Every app freezes for a moment when you open its Print dialog.

Method 1: Restart the spooler and clear the queue (Services)

1. Press Windows key + R, type services.msc and press Enter.
2. Scroll to Print Spooler, right-click it and choose Stop. Leave the Services window open.
3. Open File Explorer and go to C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS. Windows asks for administrator permission; click Continue.
4. Select all files inside the PRINTERS folder and delete them. Do not delete the folder itself or anything in the other spool folders.
5. Go back to Services, right-click Print Spooler and choose Start.
6. Double-click Print Spooler and check that Startup type is Automatic.

Now open the print queue again. It should be empty. Send a test page from Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners > your printer > Print test page.

Method 2: The same thing from Terminal

If you prefer commands, right-click the Start button, choose Terminal (Admin) and run these lines one at a time. They work in the default PowerShell tab:

Stop-Service -Name Spooler -Force
Remove-Item -Path "$env:SystemRoot\System32\spool\PRINTERS\*" -Force
Start-Service -Name Spooler

The first line stops the service, the second deletes only the queued job files, and the third starts the service again.

If the spooler keeps stopping

A spooler that crashes repeatedly is nearly always caused by a printer driver that fails when it loads, or by a damaged job that the spooler retries at every start.

1. Clear the queue with Method 1 so no old job is retried.
2. Note which printers are installed. If you have printers you no longer use, remove them in Printers & scanners.
3. Open Print server properties (under Related settings on the Printers & scanners page), go to the Drivers tab, and remove the drivers for printers you no longer use, choosing Remove driver and driver package.
4. For the printer you do use, reinstall its driver as described in printer driver is unavailable. Many current printers work with the built-in Microsoft IPP Class Driver, which tends to be stable.
5. Run the printer troubleshooter from the Get Help app.

To see which driver is crashing, open Event Viewer and look under Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > PrintService. Errors there often name the driver or printer involved.

If you still cannot delete a job

• Restart the computer, then repeat Method 1 straight after start-up, before opening any app.
• Turn the printer off while you clear the queue, so it does not request the job again.
• If the job belongs to a shared or network printer managed by another computer or server, the queue must be cleared on that computer.

Spooler problems that look like something else

Some errors appear in the queue but have their own causes and fixes:

• The job prints, but as pages of random characters or code. The spooler is working; the driver is producing data the printer does not understand. See printer printing gibberish, and clear the queue first so the bad job stops reprinting.
• Error 0x00000709 when setting the default printer, or errors connecting to a printer shared from another PC. This is a Windows settings and permissions problem around the spooler, covered in error 0x00000709.
• Only PDF files stick in the queue or fail half-way through. A complex PDF can take the spooler a long time to process, and some PDF features trip up older drivers. See printer won’t print PDF.
• The queue is empty, but the printer shows Driver is unavailable. The spooler is fine and the driver is missing; go to printer driver is unavailable.

A note on spooler security updates

The Print Spooler runs with high privileges, and Microsoft has released several security fixes for it over the years, some of which changed how shared printers and drivers are installed. Keep Windows up to date rather than avoiding these updates. If an update stops a shared printer from working, the reliable fix is to install a current driver on each computer, or add the printer directly by its network address, not to roll back the security change.

Clearing a stuck queue on a Mac

macOS uses its own printing system, but jobs can get stuck too.

1. Open System Settings > Printers & Scanners, select the printer and click Printer Queue.
2. If you see Resume in the toolbar, the printer is paused; click it.
3. Select any job with an error and click the cancel button (the X) next to it.

To cancel every job for every printer at once, open Terminal and type cancel -a, then press Return. If the queue still misbehaves, use Reset Printing System: Control-click the printer list in Printers & Scanners and choose it. This deletes all printers and presets, so add your printer again afterwards. For other macOS printing problems, see printer not working on Mac.

Keep it from happening again

• Do not send the same document several times when it does not print straight away; each copy joins the queue.
• Keep only the printers and drivers you actually use.
• Install Windows updates and printer firmware updates from the manufacturer.
• If printing is slow rather than stuck, see printer printing slowly, and if Windows shows “Error” next to the printer, see printer in error state.