The Print Spooler is the Windows service that queues print jobs and sends them to printers. When it stops, printers may vanish from settings, queues stop responding, and every print attempt fails.
Does this affect you?
Use this on Windows 10 or Windows 11 when you see Print Spooler service is not running, printers disappear, or nothing happens when printing.
Restart the Print Spooler service
This fixes many cases immediately.
- Open Start, type Services, and open the Services app.
- Find Print Spooler in the list.
- Right-click it and choose Restart. If it is stopped, choose Start.
- Wait until the Status column shows Running.
- Try printing again.
Clear the print queue, then restart spooler
Use this if the spooler stops again or a corrupted job keeps crashing it.
- Open Services, right-click Print Spooler, and choose Stop.
- Open File Explorer and go to C:WindowsSystem32spoolPRINTERS.
- Delete the files inside that folder if Windows asks for administrator permission.
- Return to Services and start Print Spooler.
- Print a fresh test page.
More control
Set startup to Automatic
In Print Spooler Properties, make sure Startup type is Automatic so the service returns after reboot.
Use recovery options
On the Recovery tab, setting failures to Restart the Service can reduce manual restarts, although it does not fix the root cause.
Bad drivers can crash the spooler
If the spooler stops with an empty queue, remove the printer and install the newest full driver from the manufacturer support site.
Sources
- Microsoft Support – Fix Printer Connection and Printing Problems in Windows (2025)
- Microsoft Learn – Services Overview and Print Spooler (2025)
- Microsoft Support – Clear the Print Queue (2025)