Windows 10 Print Spooler Keeps Stopping: Stabilising the Service Behind Every Print Job

You restart the Print Spooler, send a document, and seconds later the service has stopped again. When the Windows 10 print spooler keeps stopping, printers vanish from the list and every print judolbet88 attempt fails.

The spooler is the service that holds print jobs and passes them to the printer. It is sensitive to faulty jobs and faulty drivers.

A single corrupted file in its queue is enough to crash it repeatedly, so clearing that queue is the central step.

The problem can affect every program at once, from word processors to web browsers, and a restart of the PC often brings only a few minutes of relief before the service fails again.

Possible Causes

The spooler crashes for these reasons:

• A corrupted print job is stuck in the queue folder.
• A printer driver is faulty or incompatible.
• Leftover drivers from old printers are conflicting.
• System files are damaged, or malware has interfered.

Each time the service starts, it tries to process the damaged job again, and that is why it keeps failing.

Quick Fixes to Try First

Clear the queue folder manually.

1. Press Windows + R, type services.msc, and press Enter.
2. Right-click Print Spooler and choose Stop, if it is running.
3. Open File Explorer and go to C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS. Approve the permission prompt.
4. Delete every file inside the folder, but not the folder itself.
5. Return to Services, right-click Print Spooler, and choose Start.

Now try printing something simple, such as a short text file.

Advanced Steps for Stubborn Cases

If the service still stops, look at drivers and recovery settings.

1. In Services, double-click Print Spooler, open the Recovery tab, and set First, Second, and Subsequent failures to “Restart the Service.”
2. Confirm Startup type is Automatic on the General tab.
3. Open “Print server properties” from Devices and Printers, go to the Drivers tab, and remove drivers for printers you no longer own.
4. Remove your current printer, reinstall it using the newest driver from the manufacturer, and test.
5. Run sfc /scannow in an administrator Command Prompt and perform a full malware scan.

If the crash happens only with one document or program, the file itself may be the trigger. Try printing it as a PDF first.

Safety and Data Warning

Deleting the files in the PRINTERS folder cancels all waiting print jobs, so they will need sending again. Do not delete anything else in the spool folder. Keep Windows updated, because past spooler vulnerabilities have been fixed through security patches.

Conclusion

A spooler that keeps stopping is usually choking on a bad print job or driver. Empty the queue folder, remove unneeded drivers, and reinstall the printer with a current driver.