General discussion

Print spooler not running

by falcorostrum | December 5, 2005 9:58 AM PST

My printer, a Brother HL1230 laser, will not print. I get the message "print Spooler not running. I went into Control Panel>performance>admin tasks> services and turned it back on, as suggested in the Help in XP, but it keeps turning itself off again. My printer is not malfunctioning - I did a diagnostic on it, and again got the message the the "Print Spooler not running". How can I turn the print spooler on, and make sure the settings are not turned off. Do I need to download something to do this?
Over to the helpful geniuses out there.

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Comments
26 Posts
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spollier not working
by bettied68 | December 5, 2005 10:21 AM PST

When mine did that twice on my hp it was the built in modem they sent me new ones

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Go to Start/Run
by retired | December 5, 2005 10:29 AM PST

and type msconfig, services tab, make sure Print Spooler has a checkmark.

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Print spooler
by falcorostrum | December 5, 2005 7:13 PM PST

Thank you for replying. I did as you suggested. The print spooler was ticked, but in the message line it was "stopped".
This was immediately after I had gone into services in Control Panel, and started it up. After leaving msconfig, I went back into Control panel, and it was listed as "running"
I'm beginning to think I ought to go back to Win98SE - I never had this much trouble. I have only had this system for 2 months, and have had to post help questions 3 times already.

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print spooler not running
by falcorostrum | January 16, 2006 8:28 PM PST

I have finally solved the problem. I went to Microsoft into the newsgroup forums, and got the answer
Briefly :
Go to start - my computer - c drive - Windows folder - system32 folder - spool folder - printers folder. Then delete the contents of the Printers folder.
Close that, then go to Start - Control Panel - Admin tools - Services - Scroll down to "Print Spooler" and open it and click on "start"
This solved my problem for me.
Hope it helsp others.
Thank you all for your suggestions.

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Thanks!
by guerilla1906 | November 15, 2007 4:13 PM PST

yo thank you very much for that advice. i did it and it worked like a charm. such a simple fix for so much agony. thanks again!

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print spooler not running
by rrelco | February 6, 2008 6:21 AM PST

Thanks to falcorostrum who gave up the info on the printer spooler problem. That worked like a charm. Thanks Again!!!!

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print spooler not working
by mtsakate | March 28, 2009 4:15 AM PDT

I followed the directions and it worked flawlessly!

Thank You.

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Years later, still good advice.
by Bribyh | April 16, 2009 6:15 AM PDT

Thank you so much for solving this problem and sharing it with others. I couldn't figure it out and then I found this. I works great! I have no idea why it went bad, but glad I found your help. Thanks again.
Brian

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print spooler???
by edorando | September 16, 2010 2:58 PM PDT

If I do what you are discussing, doesn't that delete important stuff?

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A MILLION THANK YOU'S!!!!
by jennthnik102767 | July 5, 2009 4:45 AM PDT

Thank you to the person who found the fix to this problem. HP's website was a waste of time. I'm glad I joined CNET for free!
Thanks again!

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100% working
by nine_tailed | July 13, 2009 2:38 AM PDT

Thanks for sharing your very nicely idea, I'm glad that I finally found the correct FORUMS and you ofcourse. I tried many times to solve this problem, but I can't. Thanks again and I hope you still sharing your knowledge to everyone. ^_^

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Printer Spooler
by John McA | January 19, 2010 6:12 AM PST

Wow....I just spent an hour with our Help desk.....They gave up and will send a tech.....never mind . I followed your instructions..it worked like a charm...many thanks

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Thank you so much!
by 2301HeatherM | April 3, 2010 2:57 PM PDT

I am a decidely non-techie grandmother who got sick of whining at her husband every time her laptop played up. CNET has now helped me with two obscure and very irritating issues in two days, including the totally mysterious and murder-provoking print spooler thing. I awestruck by everyone's willingness to help, have joined up just so I could say "thank you" and am looking forward to solving many more issues with your help on my way to geek-dom.

HeatherM

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THANK YOU!
by frich99 | June 4, 2010 6:51 AM PDT

Worked perfectly! I tried several other "fixes" that came up first when I Googled the problem but none worked. After a sleepless night worrying about whether I was going to be able to fix the problem, I tried your suggestion and was up and running in seconds. Thanks so much for your post.

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print spooler not running
by jerseyjanet | June 8, 2010 5:17 AM PDT

Falcorostrom - Many, many thanks for your suggestion. Four and one-half years later, it is still perfect advice. Too bad I didn't search this site five days ago.

May you enjoy a thousand years of health, love and success!!!

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Problem solved
by Rob8Taylor | June 25, 2010 7:02 AM PDT

I've had this problem for several weeks and have tried numerous "fixes". This solution worked first time. Thank you so much - sometimes the Internet isn't such a bad place. Cheers, Rob.

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wow...
by judyreno | August 22, 2010 9:41 AM PDT

you rock. that DID solve it and it is in easy to understand explanation. Thank you.

PS. Why did this happen in the first place?

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good advice :)
by webkruzer1 | April 17, 2009 12:19 PM PDT

That;s it.

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Print spooler
by falcorostrum | December 5, 2005 7:09 PM PST

I have a separate modem for ADSL. What did they send you that was new? A new built in modem, or a patch for the spooler?

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PLEASE HELP i can't afford a new pc, lol-(windows xp)
by Silforrin | November 18, 2008 1:21 AM PST

I tried this and it gave me an error message saying:

Could not start the Print Spooler Service on local computer.
Error 1068: The dependency service or group failed to start.

so what do i do? i tried your earlier suggestion about going to run, then typing msconfig, finding print spooler, etc. but if i put a check mark in the print spooler box or not it doesnt change anything?!

confused and frustrated.....................

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The following has worked for me.
by Joe_in_MD | August 23, 2010 9:56 AM PDT

I've had this problem a lot with both Windows 7 (64-bit) and Window XP.

There is only one solution that has worked for me, and it's not going to the "Services" and starting the Print Spooler, because the Print Spooler will just stop again within seconds or minutes.

What has worked for me (in both XP & Window 7), is to delete the contents of the following folders:

C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS

and

C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers

Once I do this, I do not have to reinstall my printers. I just physically disconnect my local printer (unplugged the USB cable), wait a few seconds, and then reconnect it.

Hope this helps. Let me know.

If it does, spread it around.

- Joe

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print spooler service not running error message
by mapajabo | December 4, 2010 11:15 AM PST

Help anyone. My print spooler service is not running. I did what everyone suggested but when I got in to the administrative, services, etc. and looked under print spooler I am getting an error message: coul not start the print spooler service on local computer: Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified. Any help is much appreciated!

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Tagging a five year old post
by R. Proffitt Forum moderator | December 4, 2010 11:39 AM PST

Buries your plea for help. Try making a new discussion all your own.
Bob

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thanks a lot
by mapajabo | December 4, 2010 1:32 PM PST

i would love to, but how do i do that, i am new at this! i am just trying to see if any one knows how to start the print spooler service status to start it won't do it by hitting the start button?

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It's easy.
by R. Proffitt Forum moderator | December 4, 2010 1:48 PM PST

Click on the forum name you want to use at http://forums.cnet.com/ then use the create new discussion button.
Bob

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(NT) thank you!
by mapajabo | December 4, 2010 11:04 PM PST
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