It happens from time to time that a print job is not processed by Windows and that it cannot be deleted at the same time; A stuck print job so to speak which will block all the other print jobs from being processed. Even a restart of the computer system will not get rid of the stuck print job. There is however a fast and efficient method to remove the stuck print job from the print queue. All that basically needs to be done is to stop the Print Spooler service, delete the stuck print jobs manually and restart the Print Spooler service afterwards.
This can all be done in the Windows command line for maximum effectiveness or in the Windows Explorer interface for users who prefer to click their way through the process. To use the GUI approach you press [Windows R], type [services.msc] and look for the Print Spooler service. Right-click that service and select [Stop] from the context menu. This will stop the Print Spooler which will make it possible to delete the print jobs in the print queue. Keep the window open as we need it again to start the Print Spooler service.
Now use Windows Explorer to open %systemroot%\system32\spool\printers\ and delete all files that are found inside. Once that has been done it is time to start the Print Spooler service again. This is done in the same menu where it was stopped. a right-click will not show an option to [Start] the Print Spooler service again. All print jobs should be gone and it should be possible to run new print jobs again.
If you prefer the command line you can run the following four commands for the same effect. It is probably a good idea to add them to a batch script.
net stop spooler
del %systemroot%\system32\spool\printers\*.shd
del %systemroot%\system32\spool\printers\*.spl
net start spooler
The script does exactly the same as the manual method.
Related posts:
Change the Print Spooler DirectoryPrint Service Manager
Stalled Printer Repair
Send Print jobs over the Internet
Print Management Software
Fix stuck messages in Windows Mail Outbox
Rearragning and making any website print friendly
Print Multiple Document Types at once
13 Responses to “How To Deal With Stuck Print Jobs”
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[...] | GHacks Up? Something to [...]
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[...] Fuente: GHacks [...]
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[...] already mentioned how you can manually deal with stuck print jobs which basically involved stopping the Print Spooler service in Windows and deleting the stuck print [...]
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[...] already mentioned how you can manually deal with stuck print jobs which basically involved stopping the Print Spooler service in Windows and deleting the stuck print [...]
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[...] How To Deal With Stuck Print Jobs [...]
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[...] photo printing software is the ease of use. It does not take longer than a few seconds to start the print job whereas it usually takes longer to do the same in non-specialized software [...]
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[...] A few things happen to go badly every now and then when working with printers in the Microsoft Windows operating system. Most users have experience stuck print queues with undeletable print jobs. This can be very frustrating for the user as there is no apparent way of fixing that problem. Many inexperienced users uninstall and install their printers again to be able to print. Experienced users tend to know that it often helps to disable the print service and enable it again after deleting the stuck print job (read: Stalled Printer Repair and How To Deal With Stuck Print Jobs). [...]
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[...] en Google di con la solución gracias al sitio ghacks que da una serie de pasos muy simples para eliminar a los trabajos rebeldes. Los coloco a [...]
Merry Christmas Ghacks.net all the best !
Feeling dumb, I was doing that manually for ages and never thought about making it into script. :)
Thanks! A very informative post. Printer issues can be among the most annoying!
This doesn’t solve the problem that I have. Printer job is still stuck.
didn’t work. still stuck.