FIX: Print Spooler Service is not working on Windows

by Ivan Jenic

Author

October 10, 2019

Print Spooler service is your main connector with the printer, and if this service doesn’t work for some reason, you won’t be able to print your documents. And it happens that the Print Spooler service is not working on Windows for a variety of reasons.

So, we prepared a couple of workarounds in case you have problems with Print Spooler in Windows 10.

Since this can be a serious problem, we’re going to cover the following scenarios and error messages:

Print spooler service stops automatically in Windows 7 – Windows 7 users have reported in the past that the Printer Spooler service tends to stop occasionally.
Print spooler service not running Windows 10 – Issues with the Print Spooler service are also common in Windows 10.
Error 1068 Print Spooler – Error 1068 is one of the most common problems related to the Print Spooler service you can encounter.
Print Spooler keeps stopping – It’s also possible for Print Spooler to suddenly stops working, even if you’re able to run it in the first place.
Print Spooler Windows 10 not starting – On the other hand, you might not be able to run Print Spooler at all.

We’ve written extensively about Print Spooler issues before. Bookmark this page in case you need it later.

Solutions to fix Print Spooler service issues

Table of contents:

Restart Print Spooler service
Make sure all dependencies are running
Uninstall unnecessary printers
Update printer drivers
Run the Troubleshooter
Reset Internet options
Disable the “Allow service to interact with desktop” option
Set Prin Spooler on Automatic Startup

Solution 1 – Restart Print Spooler service

As Print Spooler sometimes stops working or has had an error occur, the first thing we should try to fix it is to simply restart the service. If you’re not sure how to do that, just follow these instructions:

Go to Search, type services.msc and open Services
Find the Print Spooler service
Right-click on it, and go to Restart as shown in the screenshot below.

This command will restart your Print Spooler service, and hopefully, it will get back to its working state. But, if restarting the service doesn’t work, try some of the following solutions.

Solution 2 – Make sure all dependencies are running

Print Spooler needs some other services to run in order to function, and if these services are stopped, Print Spooler service will be stopped too.

To find out which services are needed for Print Spooler to run, follow these steps:

Go to Services and find Print Spooler (as explained above)
Right-click on Print Spooler service and go to Properties
Go to Dependencies tab and find which services are needed for Print Spooler to Run
Now, search through Services, and make sure all ‘dependencies’ are running.

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Solution 3 – Uninstall unnecessary printers

If you have more than one printer drivers installed on your computer, drivers are very likely to interfere with each other.

So, the best thing you can do is uninstalling all unnecessary printers, so the one you’re currently using can work without any interruptions.

Here’s how to uninstall unnecessary printers in Windows 10:

Go to Search, type devicemngr, and open Device Manager.
Find the printer you want to delete, right-click it and go to Uninstall device.
Follow further on-screen instructions.
Restart your computer.

Solution 4 – Update printer drivers

If your printer drivers are outdated, there’s a great chance you’ll encounter some errors when trying to print documents.

To remove this possibility from the equation, we’re going to update the printer driver, and install the latest version of the software.

Here’s how to do that:

Go to Search, type devicemngr, and open Device Manager.
Find the printer you want to delete, right-click it and go to Update driver.
Let the wizard look for new drivers.
Follow further on-screen instructions.
Restart your computer.

Check out our guide to step-up your game and update drivers like a pro!

Update drivers automatically

If this method doesn’t work or you do not have the necessary computer skills to update/fix the drivers manually, we strongly suggest to do it automatically by using Tweakbit’s Driver Updater tool.

This tool is approved by Microsoft and Norton Antivirus. After several tests, our team concluded that this is the best-automatized solution. Below you can find a quick guide on how to do it.

Download and install TweakBit Driver UpdaterOnce installed, the program will start scanning your PC for outdated drivers automatically. Driver Updater will check your installed driver versions against its cloud database of the latest versions and recommend proper updates. All you need to do is wait for the scan to complete. Upon scan completion, you get a report on all problem drivers found on your PC. Review the list and see if you want to update each driver individually or all at once. To update one driver at a time, click the ‘Update driver’ link next to the driver’s name. Or simply click the ‘Update all’ button at the bottom to automatically install all recommended updates.

Note: Some drivers need to be installed in multiple steps so you will have to hit the ‘Update’ button several times until all of its components are installed.

Solution 5 – Run the Printer Troubleshooter

If none of the solutions from above managed to solve the problem with the Printer Spooler, we’re going to try with Windows 10’s troubleshooting tool.

Microsoft introduced this tool with the Creators Update for Windows 10, and you can use it for solving various system-related errors, including Printer issues. Here’s how to run the Windows 10 Troubleshooter:

Go to Settings.
Head over to Updates & Security > Troubleshoot.
Now, click Printer, and choose Run the troubleshooter.
Follow further on-screen instructions. Finish the procedure.
Restart your computer.

Solution 6 – Reset Internet options

The next thing we’re going to do is reset the Internet Options. Here’s how to do that:

Go to Search and type of internet options. Select Internet Options from the menu.
Go to the Advanced tab and click Reset.
Click the Reset button again to confirm.

Solution 7 – Disable the “Allow service to interact with desktop” option

And finally, if your Print Spooler is “allowed to interact with desktop”, you might encounter some problems. So, we’re going to disable this option. Here’s how:

Go to Search and type services.msc.
Open Services window and locate Print Spooler service. Right-click it and go to Properties.
When the Properties window opens, go to Log on the tab.
Locate Allow service to interact with desktop option and disable it.
Click Apply and OK to save changes.

Solution 8 – Set Printer spooler on Automatic Startup

If the service does not start automatically when you boot up your computer, this may explain why Printer Spooler service is not working on Windows.

Having to manually enable the service every time you start your computer is a time-consuming task. You can quickly solve this problem by setting the Printer Spooler service on automatic Startup. Here are the steps to follow:

Go to Search > type services.msc > open Services
Locate the Print Spooler service
Right-click on it > go to Properties >
Go to Startup type and set in on Automatic Startup.

That would be all, I hope these solutions helped you to solve the problem with Print Spooler service, if you have any questions, or comments, just reach for the comment section below. If the Print Spooler service is not working on Windows even after these steps, give us a shout in the comments and we’ll try and help you.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in November 2015 and has been since completely revamped and updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

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