Printer error 0x000006ba: how to fix 'Operation could not be completed'

Printer error 0x000006ba usually appears as “Operation could not be completed (error 0x000006ba)” when you open a printer’s settings, try to add a printer, or open the list of printers in Windows. Microsoft’s list of system error codes gives 0x6BA as RPC_S_SERVER_UNAVAILABLE, “The RPC server is unavailable”. In plain terms: the part of Windows that asked for printer information could not reach the Print Spooler service. Either the spooler is not running, it keeps crashing, or, with a shared printer, the computer that hosts it cannot be reached. This guide fixes each case in turn.

If you see a different code, error 0x00000709 is about setting the default printer and error 0x0000011b is about connecting to shared printers after security updates. For general spooler problems and stuck queues, see print spooler error fix.

Signs it is the spooler

• Printers & scanners shows no printers, or the list will not load.
• Adding a printer fails straight away with 0x000006ba.
• Printing preferences or printer properties will not open.
• The error comes back a short time after a restart fixes it, which points to a spooler that crashes.

Step 1: Start the Print Spooler service

1. Press Windows + R, type services.msc and press Enter.
2. Scroll to Print Spooler and double-click it.
3. Set Startup type to Automatic.
4. If the Service status is Stopped, select Start. Select OK.
5. Close any open Settings or Control Panel windows, reopen them and try again.

While you are in Services, check that Remote Procedure Call (RPC) is running. It is a core Windows service that should always run; if it is not, restart the computer and, if it still is not running, Windows itself needs repair (Step 6).

If the spooler starts and the error is gone, check again after printing a few jobs. If it stopped again, continue.

Step 2: Make the spooler restart itself

As a stopgap while you find the cause, Windows can restart the spooler when it fails:

1. In the Print Spooler properties, open the Recovery tab.
2. Set First failure and Second failure to Restart the Service.
3. Select OK.

This hides the problem rather than fixing it, so carry on with the next steps.

Step 3: Clear stuck print jobs

A damaged job in the queue can crash the spooler every time it starts.

1. In Services, select Print Spooler and choose Stop.
2. Open File Explorer and go to C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS. Accept the administrator prompt.
3. Delete the files inside the folder. Do not delete the folder itself.
4. Go back to Services and Start the Print Spooler.

Any jobs that were waiting are gone and need to be printed again. The same steps from a Terminal window are in print spooler error fix.

Step 4: Remove the driver that crashes the spooler

If the spooler keeps stopping, a printer driver is the most common cause, especially an old driver, one meant for an earlier Windows version, or one left behind by a printer you no longer use.

1. In Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners, remove printers you no longer use and the printer that shows the problem.
2. Scroll down and open Print server properties (on some versions under Related settings). You can also press Windows + R and type printui /s.
3. On the Drivers tab, select the driver for the removed printer and choose Remove, then Remove driver and driver package if offered. If Windows says the driver is in use, restart the spooler (Step 1) and try again.
4. Restart the computer.
5. Add the printer again with a current driver from the manufacturer’s support site or Windows Update. Printer driver is unavailable walks through a clean reinstall.

Also look for third-party print software such as PDF printers, print monitors or older printer utilities. Uninstalling one you no longer need, from Settings > Apps, removes another common cause of spooler crashes.

Step 5: Shared printers and other computers

If the printer is shared from another Windows computer, your computer has to reach that computer’s spooler.

• Make sure the host computer is on, awake and on the same network. A sleeping host gives connection errors.
• On the host, check that its own Print Spooler is running (Step 1) and that file and printer sharing is allowed for the network type in use.
• If the printer has its own network connection, connect to it directly by its IP address rather than through another computer. This removes the dependency altogether, and it is also the more reliable fix for error 0x0000011b.

On a work or school computer, printers shared from a print server are managed centrally. Report the error to IT with the exact message.

Step 6: Repair Windows files and update

If none of the above helps:

1. Right-click Start and open Terminal (Admin).
2. Run sfc /scannow and wait for it to finish.
3. If it reports problems it could not fix, run DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth, then sfc /scannow again.
4. Install all available updates in Settings > Windows Update and restart.

If the spooler still will not stay running after this, a restore point from before the problem started, or a repair install of Windows, are the remaining options.

Find out what crashes the spooler

If you want evidence before removing drivers, Windows records spooler crashes.

1. Right-click Start and open Event Viewer.
2. Go to Windows Logs > Application and look for Error entries from Application Error that name spoolsv.exe at the time the spooler stopped.
3. The entry often names the faulting module, a file that belongs to a printer driver or print utility. Searching that file name on your computer, or in Settings > Apps, usually shows which product it came from.
4. Under Windows Logs > System, entries from Service Control Manager confirm when the Print Spooler service terminated unexpectedly.

Remove or update the product that the faulting file belongs to, then restart the spooler. If the file belongs to Windows itself, go to Step 6 instead.

When a restart fixes it for a while

If 0x000006ba disappears after a restart and comes back hours later, the pattern is almost always a crashing spooler rather than a stopped one. The trigger is often printing from one particular app or to one particular printer. Note which job was sent just before the error returned; that printer’s driver is the first one to remove in Step 4.

Keep it from coming back

• Remove printers and drivers you no longer use.
• Install printer drivers from the manufacturer or Windows Update, not from unknown download sites.
• Keep Windows updated, since print spooler fixes are delivered that way.
• Clear the queue promptly when a job gets stuck instead of sending it again and again.

For other errors and symptoms, start from the printer troubleshooting guide.