How to Clear or Unfreeze Your Printer Spool

As referenced in our Blog Posting of Printer Terms on August 3, 2012.

Sometimes when you are printing - there can be an error and nothing will print.  You may or may not see an error message, but when there is an error, documents in the queue (in line) for printing will freeze and nothing will print. You may think that something is wrong with the printer, but the problem is caused by the Print Spooler. The problem can be solved rather easily and removing the jam in the printer will only take a few seconds.

Right-click on "Computer" or "My Computer" and a drop-down menu will appear. Click on "Manage."

Click on "Services and Applications" and then click on "Services" to view all the services on your computer.

Scroll down to "Print Spooler" and right-click on it. A drop-down menu will appear, on which you will click on "Stop" to temporarily halt the service.

Shrink the window and click on "Computer" or "My Computer."

Click on the primary hard drive on the computer, which is normally the "(C:)" drive.

Click on the "Windows" folder.

Click on the "System32" folder.

Click on the "Spool" folder and the "Printers" folder inside it to view the print jobs you want to clear.

Press the "Ctrl" and "A" key simultaneously to select everything and press the "Delete" key to clear the Print Spooler. Close the window.

Restore the "Services" window, right-click on "Print Spooler" and click on "Start" so your printer can schedule print jobs again.