Almost always a print spooler service issue or a stuck job — here’s how to clear it
A printer that shows documents spooling — jobs queuing up and appearing to process — but never actually printing is one of the more frustrating computer peripherals problems. The job seems to be going somewhere but nothing comes out.
The cause is almost always a stuck print job corrupting the spooler queue, a crashed print spooler service, or a connection issue between the computer and printer.
Here’s how to diagnose and fix it systematically.
What the Print Spooler Is
The print spooler is a Windows service that manages print jobs — it receives documents from applications, queues them, and sends them to the printer in order. When it works correctly it’s invisible. When it fails, jobs pile up in the queue and nothing prints.
The spooler can fail in several ways — a corrupted print job that the spooler can’t process, a crashed spooler service that’s no longer functioning, a corrupted spooler database, or a communication breakdown between the spooler and the printer driver.
Clear the Print Queue
A stuck or corrupted print job is the most common cause of spooling without printing. One bad job at the top of the queue blocks everything behind it — the spooler keeps trying to process the corrupted job and nothing else can print.
The simple way:
Go to Start → Settings → Bluetooth and Devices → Printers and Scanners. Select your printer and click Open Print Queue. Right-click every job in the queue and select Cancel. Wait for all jobs to disappear.
If jobs won’t cancel through the interface — which often happens with stuck jobs — use the manual method below.
The reliable way — manually clearing the spooler:
Open Command Prompt as administrator — search for cmd, right-click, Run as Administrator. Run these commands in order:
net stop spooler
This stops the print spooler service. Then navigate to the spooler files folder and delete the stuck jobs:
Press Windows + R, type %systemroot%\System32\spool\PRINTERS and press Enter. Select all files in this folder and delete them. Don’t delete the PRINTERS folder itself — only delete the files inside it. These files are the queued print jobs. Deleting them clears the stuck queue.
Return to Command Prompt and restart the spooler:
net start spooler
Try printing again. This method clears even jobs that won’t cancel through the normal interface.
Restart the Print Spooler Service
If the spooler service itself has crashed, clearing the queue alone won’t fix it — the service needs to be restarted.
Press Windows + R, type services.msc, and press Enter. Scroll down to Print Spooler in the services list. Right-click it and select Restart. If Restart isn’t available, select Stop and then Start.
After restarting the service, check whether your print jobs process. If the spooler crashes again shortly after restarting, a deeper issue — corrupted driver or corrupted spooler files — is causing it.
Check the Printer Connection
A spooler that’s processing jobs but not printing them can also indicate a communication problem between the computer and the printer — the spooler sends jobs but they never reach the printer.
For USB printers: Unplug the USB cable from both the computer and the printer. Wait 30 seconds. Plug it back in. Check that Windows recognizes the printer after reconnecting.
For network printers: Confirm the printer is connected to the network — print a network configuration page from the printer’s own menu. Verify the printer’s IP address matches what’s configured in Windows. Try pinging the printer’s IP address from Command Prompt:
ping [printer IP address]
If the ping fails, the network connection between the computer and printer is broken — check network cables, Wi-Fi connection, or router configuration.
For wireless printers: Turn the printer off and back on. Reconnect it to the Wi-Fi network through the printer’s own settings menu. Ensure the printer and computer are on the same network — not one on 2.4GHz and another on 5GHz if they’re not set up to communicate across bands.
Restart the Printer
A simple printer restart clears the printer’s own internal queue and processing state. Turn the printer completely off using its power button — not just sleep mode. Wait a full 60 seconds. Turn it back on and wait for it to fully initialize before attempting to print.
This clears any jobs stuck in the printer’s own buffer — separate from the Windows spooler queue — and resets the printer’s connection state.
Check for Printer Errors
The printer may be stuck in an error state that prevents it from accepting jobs even when the spooler sends them. Common printer error states include:
Paper jam — even a small piece of torn paper left inside can cause a persistent jam error. Open all access panels and check carefully for any paper fragments.
Out of paper — check that paper is loaded correctly in the tray.
Out of ink or toner — some printers refuse to print at all when ink or toner is critically low, not just when it’s empty.
Offline status — the printer may show as offline in Windows even when it’s physically on. Go to Printers and Scanners, select your printer, and look for Use Printer Online if it shows as offline.
Check the printer’s own display panel for any error messages — these often give the most direct indication of what’s wrong.
Set the Correct Default Printer
Windows sometimes sends jobs to the wrong printer — a previously used printer, a virtual printer like Microsoft Print to PDF, or a network printer that’s no longer available. The spooler queues the job for the wrong printer and it never reaches your physical printer.
Go to Settings → Bluetooth and Devices → Printers and Scanners. Check which printer is set as default — it has a checkmark or a “Default” label. If the wrong printer is set as default, select your actual printer and click Set as Default.
Also check whether Let Windows Manage My Default Printer is enabled — this setting changes the default printer to whatever was last used, which can cause jobs to go to the wrong printer. Disable it if you want a consistent default.
Update or Reinstall the Printer Driver
An outdated or corrupted printer driver causes spooler failures — the spooler processes the job but the driver can’t translate it correctly for the printer, causing the job to stall.
Go to Device Manager by right-clicking the Start button. Expand Print Queues and find your printer. Right-click it and select Update Driver → Search Automatically for Drivers.
For a more thorough fix, uninstall the driver completely and reinstall fresh:
Right-click the printer in Device Manager and select Uninstall Device. Check the box to Delete the Driver Software for This Device. Restart your computer. Download the latest driver from the printer manufacturer’s website and install it fresh.
Run the Printer Troubleshooter
Windows includes a built-in printer troubleshooter that detects and automatically fixes many common spooler and printing issues.
Go to Settings → System → Troubleshoot → Other Troubleshooters. Find Printer in the list and click Run. Let the troubleshooter complete and apply any fixes it suggests. Restart the computer after the troubleshooter finishes and test printing.
Check for Corrupted Spooler Files
If the print spooler crashes repeatedly after restarting — returning to a non-functional state within minutes — the spooler’s own files may be corrupted. Run the System File Checker to repair them.
Open Command Prompt as administrator and run:
sfc /scannow
Let the scan complete. If it finds and repairs corrupted files, restart your computer and test the spooler. Also run:
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
This repairs the Windows image that sfc uses as a reference, ensuring any replaced files are clean.
Check Spooler Dependencies
The Print Spooler service depends on other Windows services to function. If any of these dependent services are stopped or in an error state, the spooler fails even when it appears to be running.
In services.msc, check these services are running:
Remote Procedure Call (RPC) — must be running. The spooler depends on it directly.
DCOM Server Process Launcher — must be running.
RPC Endpoint Mapper — must be running.
If any of these are stopped, start them. If they won’t start or crash immediately, a deeper Windows system issue is present — running sfc /scannow and DISM addresses most of these.
For Network Shared Printers
If you’re printing to a printer shared from another computer on the network, the spooler on both computers is involved — your computer spools the job and the host computer’s spooler processes it.
Check that the host computer (the one physically connected to the printer) is on and not asleep. Verify the printer is still shared — go to the host computer and confirm sharing is still enabled in printer properties. Check that your user account has permission to use the shared printer.
If the host computer restarted or updated since you last printed, the share may need to be re-established.
A Quick Checklist
Work through these in order:
- Cancel all jobs in the print queue through Printers and Scanners
- Stop the spooler, delete files in the PRINTERS folder, restart spooler — the manual queue clear
- Restart the Print Spooler service in services.msc
- Restart the printer — full power off for 60 seconds
- Check printer for error states — paper jam, out of paper, low ink, offline
- Check USB or network connection between computer and printer
- Verify correct default printer is set in Printers and Scanners
- Run the Printer Troubleshooter in Settings → Troubleshoot
- Update or reinstall the printer driver
- Run sfc /scannow if spooler crashes repeatedly
- Check dependent services (RPC, DCOM) are running in services.msc
The Bottom Line
A printer spooling but not printing is almost always a stuck job in the queue or a crashed print spooler service. The manual queue clear — stopping the spooler, deleting files from the PRINTERS folder, restarting the spooler — resolves the majority of cases and takes about two minutes.
If the spooler keeps crashing after a restart, a corrupted driver or corrupted spooler files are almost always the cause — reinstalling the driver and running sfc /scannow together fix most persistent cases.
The spooler is trying to print — something is blocking it from getting the job to the printer. Clear the queue, restart the service, and the blockage almost always clears.
Meet Ry, “TechGuru,” a 36-year-old technology enthusiast with a deep passion for tech innovations. With extensive experience, he specializes in gaming hardware and software, and has expertise in gadgets, custom PCs, and audio.
Besides writing about tech and reviewing new products, he enjoys traveling, hiking, and photography. Committed to keeping up with the latest industry trends, he aims to guide readers in making informed tech decisions.