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 Directory
- Print Service Manager
- Stalled Printer Repair
- Send Print jobs over the Internet
- Print Management Software
- Fix Dead Or Stuck Pixels
- Fix stuck messages in Windows Mail Outbox
- Rearragning and making any website print friendly
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.
Going through the steps it appeared not to work because it still wouldn’t let me delete the stuck job…however, I “restarted” the Print Spooler and the printer suddenly began printing and the stuck job magically disappeared! Thanks for your help!
any chance of an explanation as to why these print jobs are sticking
We have a couple print servers supporting around 1000 users and this happens continually. is a high profile banking environment with so much printing that can’t just bounce the spooler.
300+ Printers are all HP and I have tried about everything
new drivers, processor to winprint.
Microsoft has been working on it for about a month.
but I don’t think anything is actually broken
I am seeing the issue stabilize when I change 3 settings on all the queues: disable snmp on each port, change print processor to winprint and set to use spooler on server as appose to print directly to the printer. have suspected a network issue but not finding any network errors on the server, printer or switches.
any thoughts?
Whoever wrote this, thank you. You are a lifesaver my printer was backed up for the longest time.
Thanks so much for this post! I was utterly clueless how to get that damned stuck print job to clear.