Last updated on April 4th, 2024 at 12:56 am
Printer spooler service not running
Let’s face it, things go wrong with printers, and then we need a technician to fix it. But when the printer driver is corrupt, the computer may spur the following error message: ‘’ Spooler subsystem app stopped working’’. It could be gargantuan, too, like:
‘’Faulting application spoolsv.exe, version 6.0.6000.16386, time stamp
0x4549b734, faulting module localspl.dll, version 6.0.6000.16386, time stamp
0x4549bcf7, exception code 0xc0000005, fault offset 0x00070a15, process id
0x5e8, application start time 0x01c753cf82366c15.’’
Whatever the displayed message, it points to the fact that something is wrong with the necessary software driver(s). By the way, software drivers are pieces of software that are responsible for making hardware communicate with computer. For example, the first time you insert an external hard drive to a computer, the driver will automatically install on the computer. That is necessary to make the computer and hardware communicate.
That’s a general picture. Let’s narrow it down to drivers that allow computers and printers to communicate. Whenever there is a hardware error, the following quick fixes may help:
- Did you just update the printer driver? If so you may want to roll back to the old driver ( control panel -> device manager-> look for your printer-> double click on it-> go to driver-> click on roll back driver)
- You could as well update the driver by following step 1 and clicking on update driver instead of roll back driver.
If that doesn’t solve the problem, we have a collection of possible solutions. Check to see which method works for you.
Method one
Deleting everything in C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS and restarting spooler would make the problem go away but it will reappear each time you print large files.
Method two
Since a corrupt registry key usually causes the problem, follow the steps below:
Click on Start button
Click on Run and type in Regedit
Click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM
Click on ControlSet001
Click on Control
Click on Print
Click on Environments
Click on Windows NT x86
Click on Drivers
Click on Version -3
Look for the name of the printers, right-click on each of them, one at a time, follow the drop down menu, and click delete.
Start the printer spooler and install the printer drivers again.
Method three
Click on start -> go to Control Panel->Go to programs and features in control panel -> click on turn Windows features on or off-> click + sign of Print services -> Select LPD and LPR, remove Internet Printing Client -> restart the system to ensure there is no error of spooler service.
Method four
Download and install ”HP print diagnostic utility”. You can search for ‘‘HP print diagnostic utility” on Google. Download and install the file on your computer.
You may record a repeat of the incident after installing and running the utility for a couple of times. From my personal experience, while the problem may occur repeatedly for a couple of time, it will end at some point. Just run the utility each time you have a problem.
Method five
Go to http://support.microsoft.com; look for FIX IT. Use the tool to search for your spooler and printer error message, click ”Fix it for me”. That action will automatically download a patch to your computer. Run the patch and try to see if you can reproduce the error message.
To restart your spooler service, simply go to the control panel and click on the administrative tools. Go to services, open the function, and search for the print Spooler service. Right-click and select start.
Method six
Go to C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS and delete all the contents. Make sure you do not delete the folder.
Try to start the spooler by clicking on the stat button -> Go to Run-> and then type ”netstat spooler”.
Now create a bat program with notepad and save it as ”netstartspooler.bat”. That should fix the problem.
Method seven
Go to printer properties, under advanced and chose print directly to the printer. If that doesn’t resolved the problem, try a different method.
There you go. The methods I have tried and found to be useful in my many years as a computer technician. Try the methods to see which one will work for you.
Guest Post by Ed who runs small business in US and own the website custom flash drives
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I tried all suggested methods and none worked. System Win7, 64bit. I7-975 w/ 24GB ram. All printers disappeared on Devices page and right click to add printer says Error 1075: The dependency service does not exist or has been marked for deletion.
Thanks, Michael