If you cannot manage or add/remove printers and the print spooler service continuously stops, you may have a corrupt print spooler or a corrupt printer driver crashing the print spooler. This can be a very frustrating problem for both the Technician and the User.
To fix this issue, follow these steps:
1. Click on the start button and right click on either My Computer or Computer (for XP or Vista/7) and then click on manage.
2. Expand Services and Applications and select services. Choose the Print Spooler service and then stop it and restart it.
3. Exit Computer Management and test to see if you can print or add/remove and manage printers.
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This rarely fixes the issue, or usually only fixes it temporarily. If this fix did NOT work, then please follow the remaining steps. I strongly recommend that you follow the remaining steps anyway because the above steps rarely work for the long term. This part of the fix will remove all of your printers and you will have to re-add those printers.
1. Restart the computer and start pressing the “F8″ key on you keyboard. Don’t worry if it beeps at you, just keep pressing it until the menu appears.
2. Choose Safe Mode and Press Enter.
3. Delete all files contained within these two folders (but not the folders themselves):
- C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Printers
- C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Drivers\w32x86
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The next part of the solution involves working with the Windows Registry. If you are not familiar with the registry, please seek assistance because the registry is very complex and any mistakes can cause your system serious problems!
1. Start the Registry editor by clicking the Start button, and then by typing in regedit in the Search Box (Windows Vista/7), or by selecting Run and then typing in regedit in the Run Box (Windows XP).
2. Find and expand this registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows NT x86
3. There should be only two subkeys or subfolders:
- Drivers
- Print Processors
If there are any other subkeys or folders, then Delete them by right-clicking on them and selecting Delete.
4. Expand the Drivers subkey from the above step and then Expand the Version-X subkey. (the “x” could be different numbers depending on the version) Now, delete the printer entries by right-clicking and selecting Delete on each printer.
5. Expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Monitors key. Here is a list of the subkeys that need to stay:
- BJ Languagle Monitor
- Local Port
- PJL Language Monitor
- Standard TCP/IP Port
- USB Monitor
If there are any other subkeyes in the list besides the ones above, Delete them.
6. Expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers subkey. Delete the printers within the folders (excluding Fax and Microsoft Document Writers).
7. Exit the registry editor. Then detach any printer cables from the computer and restart the computer.
8. Access Computer Management just like from earlier in the article, and right click on the Print Spooler service and click on start if it isn’t already running. Exit computer management.
9. Next add your printers back onto the PC. Add any network printers you have from the Wizard, or reinstall the print drivers/software and connect the local printers back up for any local printers that you may have. After adding the printers, you shouls be able to print and manage your printers again.
You are now finished!