Print spooler service not running, what to do
The Print Spooler is the Windows service that accepts print jobs, queues them, and feeds them to printers. When it is not running, Windows shows errors such as "The print spooler service is not running" and the printer list can appear empty. Starting it again is trivial; the useful question is why it stopped, because a spooler that crashes will keep crashing on the same corrupt job or faulty driver until that cause is removed.
The fix, in order
- Start the service. Open services.msc, find Print Spooler, and Start it. Set its Startup type to Automatic so it returns after reboots. If it starts and stays up, try printing before doing anything else.
- Clear the spool folder if it stops again immediately. Stop the service, delete everything inside C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS, then start the service. Files waiting there are queued jobs; a single malformed job in that folder crashes the spooler every time it tries to process it.
- Set recovery options. In the service's Properties, Recovery tab, set First failure and Second failure to Restart the Service. This does not fix the cause, but it turns a dead printing day into a brief hiccup while the cause is hunted.
- Check the service's dependency. The spooler depends on Remote Procedure Call (RPC), which is almost always running. If the spooler refuses to start with a dependency error, note the exact message; it points at system damage rather than printing components.
- Hunt a crashing driver. If clearing jobs does not stop the crashes, a printer driver is at fault. Remove printers and driver packages one at a time via Print Server Properties, Drivers, restarting the spooler between removals. Third-party and very old drivers are the usual crashers; reinstall what is needed from the manufacturers' sites.
- Repair system files if the service itself is damaged. Run
sfc /scannow, then DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth from an admin Command Prompt. Rare, but a spooler executable or its libraries can be damaged like any other system file.
If it still happens
A spooler that stops only when printing from one application is being handed a job that application generates badly: try printing the same document to PDF first, then print the PDF. If the PDF prints, the application and driver combination is the fault, and updating that driver or the application is the lasting fix.
Common questions
Why did all my printers disappear? The printer list is presented by the spooler service. With the service stopped, Windows has nothing to present, so the printers look deleted. Starting the service brings the list back; nothing was uninstalled.
Is it safe to delete the files in the spool PRINTERS folder? Yes, with the service stopped. Those files are pending print jobs and their control data. Deleting them loses the pending jobs, which is the point when one of them is crashing the service.
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