How to Stop Printer Spooling on a Windows Computer

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Fix printer spooling issues with these simple steps

Co-authored by Luigi Oppido and Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: November 4, 2025 Fact Checked

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• Using Services.msc
|
• Using Command Prompt
|
• Using Task Manager
|
• Video
|
• Q&A

|Show more |Show less

Many Windows printing problems can be fixed by stopping and restarting the print spooler. "Print spooler" is the term given to the system on your computer that receives and orders print commands. If you need to stop the print spooler, you can do so easily from the Windows Services panel, the command prompt, and using the Task Manager. Read on to learn how to stop printer spooling on a Windows computer. We'll also cover how to delete the print jobs in the queue that might be clogging up the spooler.

Quick Steps

1. Type "services.msc" into the Windows search bar and press Enter.
2. Right-click Print Spooler and click Stop.
3. Open File Explorer.
4. Paste this into the address bar and press Enter: %WINDIR%\system32\spool\printers
5. Delete all the files in the folder.
6. Return to the Services window.
7. Right-click Print Spooler and click Start.

Steps

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Using Services.msc

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1. 
   1
   Open the Services panel. To do this, press the Windows key (or click the search bar), type services.msc, and press ↵ Enter. This displays a list of services on your computer.
2. 
   2
   Right-click "Print Spooler" and select Stop. This will stop the print spooler, preventing any documents from printing.

   • If you have trouble finding the Print Spooler option, press the p key to jump to the P section, then scroll down until you see "Print Spooler."
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3. 
   3
   Clear the print queue. While the print spooler is stopped, you can clear up errors by deleting print jobs from the queue. To clear the print queue:

   • Press Windows key + E to open File Explorer.
   • In the address bar at the top, type or paste this address: %WINDIR%\system32\spool\printers
   • If prompted, click Yes or Continue to open the folder.
   • Press ↵ Enter.
   • Select all the files inside the PRINTERS folder.
   • Press Delete and confirm.
4. 
   4
   Restart the print spooler. Return to the services.msc window, right-click the same Print Spooler option, and click Start. Your printer should now be ready to accept new print jobs.

   • If stopping and restarting the print spooler doesn't fix your printing problems, see How to Fix a Print Spooler.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Using Command Prompt

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1. 
   1
   Open Command Prompt as an administrator. You can stop and restart the print spooler in Windows using simple commands in Command Prompt. To open Command Prompt as an administrator, follow these steps:

   • Press the Windows key or click the Search box.
   • Type cmd.
   • Right-click Command Prompt.
   • Select Run as administrator.
   • Click Yes to confirm.
2. 
   2
   Type net stop spooler and press ↵ Enter. You will see a line saying, "The Print Spooler service is stopping." After a bit of time, you will see "The Print Spooler service was stopped successfully."
3. 
   3
   Clear the print queue. While the print spooler is stopped, you can clear up errors by deleting print jobs from the queue. To clear the print queue:

   • Press Windows key + E to open File Explorer.
   • In the address bar at the top, type or paste this address: %WINDIR%\system32\spool\printers
   • If prompted, click Yes or Continue to open the folder.
   • Press ↵ Enter.
   • Select all the files inside the PRINTERS folder.
   • Press Delete and confirm.
4. 
   4
   Restart the printer spooler. Once the print jobs are deleted, you can return to the Command Prompt window to restart the spooling service. Type net start spooler and press ↵ Enter to do so. If successful, you will see "The Print Spooler service was started successfully."
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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Using Task Manager

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1. 
   1
   Open Task Manager. Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete, then click Task Manager.

   • You can also open the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Esc, or by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Task Manager.
2. 
   2
   Click the Services tab. If you're using Windows 11, you'll see it on the left side of the Task Manager. On Windows 10, the tab is at the top. This displays a list of all services on your computer.
3. 
   3
   Stop the "Spooler" service. The services are listed in alphabetical order, so you'll need to scroll down to the S section to find it. Once you find Spooler, right-click it and select Stop from the menu.

   • If you have trouble finding the Spooler service, press the s key to jump to the S section.
4. 
   4
   Clear the print queue. While the print spooler is stopped, you can clear up errors by deleting print jobs from the queue. To clear the print queue:

   • Press Windows key + E to open File Explorer.
   • In the address bar at the top, type or paste this address: %WINDIR%\system32\spool\printers
   • If prompted, click Yes or Continue to open the folder.
   • Press ↵ Enter.
   • Select all the files inside the PRINTERS folder.
   • Press Delete and confirm.
5. 
   5
   Restart the spooler. Return to the Services area of Task Manager, right-click the Spooler option again, and select Start. The print spooler will restart.
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Community Q&A

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• Question

  What if I got in trouble for printing too much on the school printer?

  

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  Apologize and tell the school staff it won't happen again. They may ask you to refrain from using the printer for a week or so as punishment, but that's about the worst that will happen.

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