The print job is currently running. Force clearing the print queue

Printer is a peripheral device that comes with almost every personal computer. When buying a computer, every person thinks about what else he might need for full-time work. And the choice often falls on the printer. But, with a new device, strangely enough, new problems come, in the form mistakes or just The printer does not print

There are a lot of such errors and of different nature. For example, having finished working on a document, coursework or abstract, you must print it, but when you click on the “print” button, the printer does not show any signs of starting work, and the document hangs in the queue without disappearing. Also, there are completely opposite situations when, when sent for printing, a document disappears in the queue, but nothing happens. More, lately, I often come across such an error as: “ Print handler does not exist».

One of the simplest reasons why the printer does not print is: the USB cable has fallen out of the socket, or the print service has failed. Solutions can be just as banal, if everything is connected, both power and USB connection, sometimes it is enough to simply restart the computer, which will lead to a restart of the “Print Queue” service.

But, if this doesn’t help, then I’ll tell you how to clean the scheduler program spooler, namely, what needs to be removed in the corresponding folders and system registry. In most cases, this option helps to figure out why the printer is not printing.

Spooler– a program that saves documents sent by the user and sends them in the form of a queue to the printer for printing.

Cleaning the registry of old printers

So, we will start our cleaning with the system registry.

Be careful when performing further actions You will remove all installed printers from the system, so after completing the cleaning procedure, you will need to.

In the “Run” window, draw the command regedit which will bring up the registry window.

The first step is to check the components on which the spooler service depends; to do this, go to the branch HKEY _LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Spooler, where for the parameter DependOnService value must be specified RPCSS. Also, other values ​​can be specified, there is no need to delete them, the main thing for us is that it would be RPCSS If everything is in order then move on.

Next, we remove all printing devices that are in the system. Let's move along the branch HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers, where by clicking on the arrow the entire list of printers will appear. To delete them we can use the “Delete” key

The second point is to clear all drivers. Expanding the thread KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\WindowsNTx86\Drivers\Version-3(in x64 bit operating systems need to open …\Environments\Windows NTx64\Drivers\Version-3) delete the entire list of drivers installed on the system.

In the thread HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Monitors, the list of entries should look like this.

• BJ Language Monitor
• Local Port
• PJL Language Monitor
• Standard TCP/IP Port
• USB Monitor

We delete everything else.

This completes the work with the registry, now let's move on to cleaning the Spool folder

Cleaning up the Spool folder

In standard mode, we will not be able to clean this folder, since the Print Spooler service uses it and we simply will not have access to delete the contents. Therefore, we restart the computer and boot into safe mode using F8 in Windows 8 and XP, and in Windows 8 using the methods described.

Entering safe mode go to disk “C:\” –> Windows –> System32 –> Spool. In this folder we are interested in the following contents:

C:\Windows\System32\spool\ prtprocs\w32x86– we delete all contents except the winprint.dll file, since its deletion may lead to the emergence of new problems related to printing ( V x64 the folder is named accordingly)

C:\Windows\System32\Spool\ Printers– delete all data about installed printers

C:\Windows\System32\Spool\ Drivers\w32x86– clean the folder from all files previously installed drivers (on x64 systems the path Drivers\x64 ).

After clearing the Spool folder, reboot in normal mode and reinstall the drivers and printer on the computer. After which, we are glad that the printer has resumed operation. By the way, do not forget to reboot again after installation for the device to function correctly.

Some of the jobs we send to the printer for printing can cause the printer's print queue to become stuck. If this happens, even restarting the computer may not help resume printing. However, there is a way out of this situation and it is very simple.

If you often have to use a printer when working on a PC, then most likely you have encountered a situation where jobs sent to the printer for printing, especially when there are, say, more than one or two of them, block the printer’s print spooler and no longer allow you to print anything.

To clear the printer's print queue, it is not enough to simply cancel jobs; the stuck queue will not be cleared even if you restart the computer. What to do then, you ask, how to get the printer to print again. There is a way out of any situation; today we will tell you how to clear the printer’s print queue, spending very little time on it.

Clearing the printer's print queue using the command line

Run Windows Command Prompt as an administrator. To do this, click on the “Start” button and in the menu that opens, enter the command “cmd” in the search bar, then in the search results, right-click on the corresponding shortcut (cmd.exe) and in the context menu select “Run as administrator” .

In the console window that opens, enter the command “net stop spooler”. Now find it on the system partition hard drive, usually this is the C: drive, the “Printers” folder and delete all DHD and SPL files from it, be sure to delete them all. By the way, the default path to the “Printers” folder is: C:\Windows\System32\Spool\.

Go again to the console window running with administrator rights and enter the new command “net start spooler” in it.

Close the console window and open window Windows Explorer.

That's all, now you can send jobs and print again, and we hope you will no longer have the question of how to clear the printer's print queue. Good luck!

I think many people have encountered a situation where a document is “stuck” in the print queue... does not want to be deleted, and because of it, other print jobs are not printed.

First, a little theory USEFUL for us! Let's expand vocabulary on the one hand, and understand the essence of what is happening on the other...

What is a print queue, print spooler, etc. ?

spool– upload/download data;
SPOOL– abbr. from Simultaneous Print Operations On Line – simultaneous online processing of print jobs;
spooler (print spooler)– spooler, print spooler – 1) print spooler – program-scheduler, which accepts documents, sent by the user for printing, saves them (on disk or in RAM)and sends in order of priority to selected printer. The disk address of the Print Spooler (Spooler SubSystem App) is \Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe; 2) the printing subsystem receives, processes, dispatches and distributes documents sent for printing. Disk address of the Print Subsystem (Spooler SubSystem DLL) – \Windows\System32\spoolss.dll;
spool file– spool file, spool file – a file into which the contents of the print job are dumped during the spooling process;
spooling– 1) spooling (the process of processing documents sent for printing, which are stored on disk or in RAM until the printing device can process them); 2) swapping (data); pumping out (data) (simultaneously with solving the problem);
print spooling– output of a print job with (preliminary) pumping;
print queue– print job queue (print queue) – list of documents waiting to be printed. The print queue (Windows Vista and XP) is created in the \Windows\system32\spool\PRINTERS folder;
Print Buffering– creating a print queue allows the computer processor to speed up the processing of a print job by temporarily saving it on the hard drive before sending it to the printer. As a result, the processor can return control to the program from which it is printing much more quickly than if the program itself processed the entire job and sent it directly to the printer.

Let's now look at how to cancel a print job.
– XP: click Start –> Settings –> Printers and Faxes (Vista/W7: Start –> Control Panel –> Printers);
– in the Printers and Faxes (Printers) dialog box, double-click the left mouse button to open the window of the desired printer (or right-click the desired printer and select Open from the context menu that opens);
– In the print queue, right-click the item you want to stop printing and select Cancel (to cancel all jobs, select Clear Print Queue from the Printer menu).

Notes
1. If you are unable to cancel a print job using these steps, press the Cancel button on the printer itself.
3. To quickly view a list of current print jobs, double-click the printer icon in the notification area of ​​the Taskbar (next to the clock).
3. The user can only cancel their own print jobs. To cancel another user's print job, you must have permission to manage documents on the printer.

Problems canceling print jobs
If you cancel print jobs on the fly (while printing is already in progress), you will not be able to clear the print queue right away. Sometimes it is possible to cancel a print job only after a reboot (and sometimes after a reboot, the printer starts printing a print job that we seem to have already canceled).

In such cases, you can try manually clear queue folder print ( \Windows\system32\spool\PRINTERS). True, this is not always possible, because... This folder has the attributes Hidden, System, Read-Only, so Windows will not allow you to do much mischief in this folder.

You can try to clear the print queue using an alternative file manager, for example, FAR or Total Commander (the Show hidden and system files checkbox must be checked in the settings).

There is another method that has been proven more than once:
– complete all print jobs;
– stop the print spooler;
– create a special folder for print spool jobs (for example, C:\spool);
– specify its location in the print server settings (or through the Registry);
– start the print spooler;
– now if you have problems canceling printing, launch Services (or Task Manager);
– unload the print spooler spoolsv.exe;
– open the folder C:\spool and delete all temporary files(each print job, as a rule, is “formatted” by a pair of spooling files - *.SPL, *.SHD, for example, 00012.SHD and 00012.SPL (or FP00031.SPL and FP00031.SHD). For some printers, in the folder print queues, in addition to *.SPL, *.SHD files, *.tmp files are also created);
– start the print spooler.

How to unload (stop) the Print Spooler (print spooler)
- click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services (or Start -> Run... -> in the Open drop-down list of the Run a program dialog box, enter services.msc -> OK);

– click Stop service.

How to start the Print Spooler
- click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services (or Start -> Run... -> in the Open drop-down list of the Run a program dialog box, enter services.msc -> OK);
– in the Services dialog box, find Print Spooler;
– click Start service.

That's it... no big deal!

Let's imagine this situation: You “send” some document to the printer, but it doesn’t want to print. Sound familiar? This article will cover all possible reasons, as well as correction methods so that the document is printed and everyone is happy.

So, first, let's look at the possible reasons for this behavior of the printer and the computer as a whole.

1) The printer may simply be turned off. Look at it and make sure that the power and standby light is on.
If not, then turn it on via the button. If even after this it does not light up, then you need to look at the connection wires (network and to the computer). Maybe they have moved away or even fallen and are not connected.

2) See if there is paper in the printer. Yes, this happens too.

3) It may be that you have several printers or the settings have been changed and the document is sent to another printer. To make sure the settings are correct, look where the document is being sent. Typically, all printing programs have a choice of where the document will be sent for printing. For example, this is what it looks like in Notepad:

If this was the problem, then so that you don’t have to worry about choosing your printer every time, you can find “Devices and Printers” in the Control Panel and in this settings set the printer that will always be used by default by right-clicking on it and selecting "Set as default"

For a number of other reasons, the computer or printer may tell you the problem directly. For example, make a sound or display a message about a paper jam, damaged cartridge, low ink, etc. Often they will also show how to solve this problem.

Have the reasons been identified? Did you solve the problem? No? Then we move on to another most common problem - this is when you sent a document to print, but it remains “hanging” in the Print Queue (the printer status window in which all documents are displayed) and either writes “Printing” or “Error”, but in reality nothing happens.
Often in this case, many users resend the same document or others for printing. They think, “What if it helps,” and then dozens of documents appear in the Queue for printing, but it still doesn’t happen.

Let's finally consider what needs to be done with clearing the print queue using methods, starting with the simple one.

1) The easiest and fastest solution is to restart either the printer or the computer. Usually it turns off the printer, but it’s a pity for the computer. You can generally turn both off and on again.
Here you should know that if you turn off the printer and then turn it on (preferably after 10 seconds), then you do not need to print the document again, because it will already be in the queue (provided that the computer was not turned off) and can be printed several times.

2) In the window, right-click on the document and select Cancel

3) Go to Start - Control Panel - Printers and Faxes
This is for Windows XP

In Windows 7 and 8, this item is called “Devices and Printers” (if View is set to Large/Small icons)

Here we find our printer and either right-click on it and select the item Clear print queue:

or open this printer and in the window Print queues select the Printer menu and the “Clear print queue” item:

Didn't it work out? Then let's get serious about deleting the print queue.

4) Right-click on the My Computer icon (in the Start menu or on the Desktop) and select Manage:

Here, on the left side of the window, double-click on the “Services and Applications” item, then double-click on the “Services” item, and then on the right side look for the “Print Spooler” item. Select it, right-click and select “Stop”:

In Windows 7 it looks a little different and the items have different names, but the meaning does not change:

Now we need to go to the folder C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\PRINTERS
and delete all files and folders from there:

If your Windows is not on drive C, then you can paste into the address bar of Explorer %systemroot%\system32\spool\printers\

For those who found all the steps above (in point 4) too difficult, I have prepared for you good decision- this is a file that will do everything for you - stop the service, delete files, start the service.
All you need to do is download it, unzip it (

Probably, many users have encountered a problem when, when trying to output a document or image to a printer, printing is impossible. The printer's LED blinks, signaling that the process seems to be about to begin, but nothing happens. Re-sending the document for printing does not lead to anything. This is where the question arises of how to clear the printer’s print queue. Below are some simple methods.

Printer print queue: why does it fail?

The reasons for a printer freezing can be completely different - from a banal voltage drop in the electrical network to failures associated with incorrectly installed drivers.

Some of this type of failure can be attributed to large number documents in the queue (especially for network printers rather than local ones), too long waiting time set in the printer settings, problems in the operation of the print service itself, etc. But is there anyway to solve this problem? Next, we will consider questions regarding how to clear the print queue of a Windows 7 printer or any other system. Which OS is used is not of fundamental importance.

How to clear a printer's print queue: the easiest ways

When a document is sent for printing, a printer icon appears in the system tray. If there is a cross on the icon, the system may be referring to an unavailable or missing printer. It will need to be reinstalled in the appropriate computer settings.

In the case when everything is fine, but printing does not start, you should click on the icon and call up the menu, where in the “Printer” section, from the list of actions, select the line to clear the list or a separate document. This usually helps, but not always.

If the system signals that there are no documents in the queue (the printer list is empty), but the printer itself still does not return to its original state (the LED is still blinking), you just need to reboot the system, which is what everyone usually does. However, in this case, upon restart, printing starts in normal mode. That is, the user does not clear the queue, but deletes temporary printer files.

Deleting print files

In the case when you need to solve the problem of how to clear the print queue of a Windows 10 printer, you can do it a little differently. Manual intervention will be required.

First, in the “Task Manager” process tree, you need to shut down the print services (spooler.exe and spoolsv.exe), and then independently delete the temporary printer files with the .spl and .shd extensions, which are located in the Printer folder of the Spool directory, which in turn is located in the System32 directory of the Windows system folder.

Force restart of the print service

There is another solution to the question of how to clear a printer's print queue, although it is more complex. In this option, you need to call the services section (services.msc command in the “Run” menu), find “Print Manager” there and select the stop line from the right-click menu.

Then turn off the printer's power, unplug the power cord and wait about 60 seconds, then turn on the device again. After this, in the same section you can restart the corresponding service.

Actions via the command line

More advanced users can solve the problem of how to clear the printer's print queue using the command line, called from the Run console with the command "cmd" (without quotes).

Here you will need to write the following sequence:

In principle, this set of commands is analogous to restarting the Print Manager while simultaneously deleting the printer’s temporary files.

What can be used additionally?

If all the methods described above seem complicated to someone or do not give the desired effect, you can use third-party utilities, among which the HP Print and Scan Doctor program seems to be the most interesting.

The application is able to automatically detect and fix some printer-related errors. As a rule, after the failure handling process is completed, most printers begin to operate normally.

If for some reason the printer still does not respond to requests, you can reinstall or update the device driver, temporarily disable the firewall, or log in under a different account and print the necessary documents.

Instead of a total

In principle, any of the proposed methods has its pros and cons. However, in the actual simple case, when you still need to print documents, but the printer does not work, it is best to simply reboot the system, because after a restart, printing usually starts as if nothing had happened. As a last resort, you can use a combined forced restart of the print service and deletion of temporary files (for this, the best option is command line, since you don’t have to rummage through services and look for files in Explorer).