Print spooler service consists of many different components and depends on other system services. The print spooler failure might occur if any of the components or dependent services is somehow corrupted, disabled, or disconnected. If the print spooler error message box appears on the network printer server, it is definitely better to contact your network administrator who knows the particular network architecture well and can professionally solve the problem with minimal risk to the whole network and the department productivity. When the print spooler error occurs on a home computer or on a workstation with a local printer connected to it, you can try to solve the problems yourself if you know how to fix your print spooler.
What can you do for fixing a print spooler error or other malfunction? Here is a sequence of fixing processes that can help you to repair the print spooler service instead of calling a computer technician or taking your system to some computer shop. You can start from the top of the following guide and test your print spooler service after each one procedure in a row is completed. One or another solution will help you to fix common problems that counts up to 90% of the print spooler service malfunctions.
The print spooler error might be caused by minor interruptions that occur in the network during data transfer or processing. Power spikes and resulted system memory corruption or some unexpected software failure might also cause print spooler problems. You can easily fix these problems by restarting your operating system. Alternatively, you can restart your print spooler service without restarting your computer; however, the system reboot will help you to fix more possible problems caused by the operating system unexpected malfunction.
Try to print different document and see if it helps. A single document might cause print spooler malfunction when the printer driver cannot handle some special formats used in the application that sent a document for print. Some old printer drivers cannot work properly with newer application programs.
If you use an old printer with applications for graphics or with a new version of MS Office trying to print a document with embedded graphics, then you need to make sure that the image placed in the container for graphics in these applications do not exceed the boundaries of a printable area on the page sent to the printer.
You need to correct this problem by the editing your images to fit the printable area before such a document can be printed. You also need to update the driver to your printer if your printer is set to the driver provided by the printer manufacturer instead of a driver installed automatically by the operating system and updated with system updates.
The print spooler service as the most of Windows services depends on Remote Procedure Call system service. This service let different processes to communicate with each other, and the print spooler service needs this communication with printer drivers and services that handle system resources to make the print spooler operations possible. The connection of print spooler service to the RPC is set in the system registry that sometimes might get corrupted and the connection of the print spooler to Remote Procedure Call service might be broken.
For fixing this problem you need to start CMD utility, type CMD /K SC CONFIG SPOOLER DEPEND= RPCSS in the input box and press Enter. After this, you need to restart your computer and test your print spooler service.
Note: There is no space between DEPEND and equals sign in the command as shown above.
Corrupted file placed in the print queue can freeze print manager and cause print spooler error. Then you need to clear the print queue to eliminate possible corruptions. To fix this problem open C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\PRINTERS folder, remove all the files in this folder, and restart your computer or the print spooler. Try to print some document to find if clearing print spooler document queue helps to fix the problem. If you try to clear a print queue on the network printer, then inform all the people that sent documents for print about this action and advise them to save these documents on local computers. Otherwise, these documents will be impossible to print after print queue problem is fixed.
The printer driver corrupted by improper installation, or by some other process, might cause print spooler error. If you installed a new printer and the attempt to print some document causes print spooler error, then try to reinstall your printer drivers. If your System Restore is set to save the system settings each time when a new program is installed, then you can restore your system and try to install the printer again with various installation options.
If you install printer drivers provided by the printer manufacturer, then try to use printer driver that your system automatically installs during printer installation process. On the other hand, if the system cannot automatically find a printer driver that fits your printer, then try to install printer drivers provided by the printer manufacturer. Some print spooler issues might be fixed this way.
To reinstall your printer drivers, stop the print spooler if it is running. Open C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers folder and delete all files and folders placed in this folder. Disconnect your printer from computer by unplugging the cable. Plug it back after couple of seconds and restart your computer. Try to print some document.
Malicious programs can corrupt print spooler files and printer drivers. They also can replace some of print spooler files with malicious replicas to hide themselves inside. On the other hand, your antivirus software can remove infected print spooler files. You can fix this kind of problem by reinstalling print spooler service or replacing corrupted and infected print spooler files with the normal ones copied from the similar operating system.
First, you need to scan your system with your antivirus software. This should remove the malicious program that caused problems, and infected print spooler files might be also removed by the antivirus program. Then, you can use a list of print spooler components to replace corrupted files with new ones copied from the system that is not infected.
The guide for fixing common print spooler problems
What can you do for fixing a print spooler error or other malfunction? Here is a sequence of fixing processes that can help you to repair the print spooler service instead of calling a computer technician or taking your system to some computer shop. You can start from the top of the following guide and test your print spooler service after each one procedure in a row is completed. One or another solution will help you to fix common problems that counts up to 90% of the print spooler service malfunctions.
Reboot Your Computer or Restart a Print Spooler
The print spooler error might be caused by minor interruptions that occur in the network during data transfer or processing. Power spikes and resulted system memory corruption or some unexpected software failure might also cause print spooler problems. You can easily fix these problems by restarting your operating system. Alternatively, you can restart your print spooler service without restarting your computer; however, the system reboot will help you to fix more possible problems caused by the operating system unexpected malfunction.
Make Sure that Print Spooler Error is Not Caused by a Single File
Try to print different document and see if it helps. A single document might cause print spooler malfunction when the printer driver cannot handle some special formats used in the application that sent a document for print. Some old printer drivers cannot work properly with newer application programs.
If you use an old printer with applications for graphics or with a new version of MS Office trying to print a document with embedded graphics, then you need to make sure that the image placed in the container for graphics in these applications do not exceed the boundaries of a printable area on the page sent to the printer.
You need to correct this problem by the editing your images to fit the printable area before such a document can be printed. You also need to update the driver to your printer if your printer is set to the driver provided by the printer manufacturer instead of a driver installed automatically by the operating system and updated with system updates.
Make Sure that RPC (Remote Procedure Call) Service is Connected to the Print Spooler
The print spooler service as the most of Windows services depends on Remote Procedure Call system service. This service let different processes to communicate with each other, and the print spooler service needs this communication with printer drivers and services that handle system resources to make the print spooler operations possible. The connection of print spooler service to the RPC is set in the system registry that sometimes might get corrupted and the connection of the print spooler to Remote Procedure Call service might be broken.
For fixing this problem you need to start CMD utility, type CMD /K SC CONFIG SPOOLER DEPEND= RPCSS in the input box and press Enter. After this, you need to restart your computer and test your print spooler service.
Note: There is no space between DEPEND and equals sign in the command as shown above.
Make Sure that Corrupted Print Queue Doesn’t Block Your Print Spooler
Corrupted file placed in the print queue can freeze print manager and cause print spooler error. Then you need to clear the print queue to eliminate possible corruptions. To fix this problem open C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\PRINTERS folder, remove all the files in this folder, and restart your computer or the print spooler. Try to print some document to find if clearing print spooler document queue helps to fix the problem. If you try to clear a print queue on the network printer, then inform all the people that sent documents for print about this action and advise them to save these documents on local computers. Otherwise, these documents will be impossible to print after print queue problem is fixed.
Reinstall Drivers for your Printer to Fix Possible File Corruptions
The printer driver corrupted by improper installation, or by some other process, might cause print spooler error. If you installed a new printer and the attempt to print some document causes print spooler error, then try to reinstall your printer drivers. If your System Restore is set to save the system settings each time when a new program is installed, then you can restore your system and try to install the printer again with various installation options.
If you install printer drivers provided by the printer manufacturer, then try to use printer driver that your system automatically installs during printer installation process. On the other hand, if the system cannot automatically find a printer driver that fits your printer, then try to install printer drivers provided by the printer manufacturer. Some print spooler issues might be fixed this way.
To reinstall your printer drivers, stop the print spooler if it is running. Open C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers folder and delete all files and folders placed in this folder. Disconnect your printer from computer by unplugging the cable. Plug it back after couple of seconds and restart your computer. Try to print some document.
Scan Your System for Viruses and Replace Corrupted Print Spooler FIles
Malicious programs can corrupt print spooler files and printer drivers. They also can replace some of print spooler files with malicious replicas to hide themselves inside. On the other hand, your antivirus software can remove infected print spooler files. You can fix this kind of problem by reinstalling print spooler service or replacing corrupted and infected print spooler files with the normal ones copied from the similar operating system.
First, you need to scan your system with your antivirus software. This should remove the malicious program that caused problems, and infected print spooler files might be also removed by the antivirus program. Then, you can use a list of print spooler components to replace corrupted files with new ones copied from the system that is not infected.
0 comments:
Post a Comment