What Is Printer Spooler and How to Fix It? : 5 EASY Steps!!


Printers are one of the most common and important things found in any office. In large businesses, a lot of documents get printed but have you ever wondered how does the printer print all the documents one by one in a controlled manner without creating any chaos?

This intelligence that the printer uses to get the documents printed in an orderly manner is done by the printer spooler.

So, What is a Printer Spooler?

A printer spooler is a software program that helps in managing the access to printers by many computers. It also helps in getting all the prints done by sending the printing request from the computer to the printer and keep adding them to the queue. With printer spooler software, a user can delete the print requested or even monitor the print queue.

In case you have noticed an error such as “Print spooler is not working” or “Print spooler won’t start” then don’t get tensed because there are ways to fix it.

How to Fix Print Spooler?

There are two ways of fixing your print spooler. The first one is by running the Services.msc command the second option is by going into the Administrative Tool in Windows. Here is how you can use both these methods.

Method 1: Fix Print Spooler with Services.msc

  1. Shut down all the programs or documents which you have opened to get a printout
  2. Now click on the Windows key and press R to open the Run dialogue box
  3. Here start by typing “services. msc” and click on ok
  4. Now go to the Printer Spooler service and right-click on it
  5. Now go to properties and click on the general tab
  6. Click on Spooler and select stop and click ok
  7. Go back to open the Run dialogue box by pressing on Windows and R
  8. Search for “services. msc” and then to Printer Spooler
  9. Right-click on it once again then properties and click on the General tab
  10. Click on Spooler and change the startup type by selecting “automatic” and click on ok. Doing this will ensure that the spooler service will start automatically whenever you start the computer
  11. Once all the steps are completed restart your computer and reinstall the printer again to see if the problem is fixed.

Method 2 : Restart Printer Spooler

  1. Shut off all the programs that have been running in the system and you had requested printouts
  2. Click on the search button
  3. Look for Administrative tools by typing on it and then click on Services
  4. once the drop-down list appears of all the services, scroll down and go to print spoolers
  5. Right-click on Print Spoolers and click on Stop
  6. Now go to my computer and open Local Disk C
  7. Click on the Windows folder & scroll down to select System 32 (this is mainly the folder created for all the printing work)
  8. Open the folder and go to Spool and then go to Printer
  9. Now delete all the print jobs that you see in this folder
  10. Go back to services again under Administrative tools and look out for Print Spooler
  11. Right-click on it and select start now
  12. Now try and print the documents that you were trying to print earlier and see if the problem is fixed

Once you have tried both Method 1 and Method 2 to solve the Print Spooler issue and both were unsuccessful, then you might want to repair the Print Spooler service once.

How to repair printer spooler using print spooler repair tool?

To repair the Printer spooler using a Print spooler repair tool, you have to follow the below steps,

  1. Download the print spooler repair tool and run it
  2. Now click on the Repair button which will start the repairing process which might take a few minutes
  3. Once completed you will receive a message saying Successfully finished. Click on OK
  4. Restart your printer and try printing something

The print spooler is now repaired. Restart your computer and the printer and try printing the pages once again.

Frequently Asked Questions about Print Spooler

What causes problems in the Print Spooler?

The print spooler at your office or home can stop working as the spooler gets corrupt and due to this, the spooler cannot translate data to the printer which is why the print spooler stops working.

Another reason why the print spooler not working could be because the computer or the spooler software might have crashed while there was a transfer of information happening between the spooler and the printer. at times the document that you may have sent for printing might have some issue with it due to which the prints in the queue get stuck.

Why do I need a printer spooler?

While working with a printer it is important to have a printer spooler as it helps in managing the number of prints that are given on a printer at one point in time. Without the help of the print spooler, it would have been difficult for the printer to manage all the prints and there would be a lot of chaos.

The printer spooler helps in letting the printer decide in what order the documents given for print should be printed depending on which user clicked on the print button first. Hence, it is important to have the print spooler installed in your computer to have a smooth functioning of the printer.

Conclusion

We hope you have enjoyed reading this article today and found it interesting. We have tried our best in keeping all the methods simple so that it is easy for you to understand and refer to. So the next time you have a problem with your print spooler don’t forget to head to this article and follow the instructions.

Hopefully, the methods we have provided will be able to resolve the issue for you.

Mark Manson

Mark Manson is the Founder, Senior Editor here at UP3DUSA blog. Apart from being a geek, he loves playing and watching football!

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