3 Ways to Enable or Disable the Print Spooler Service in Windows

By Timothy Tibbetts

on 06/15/2023

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The Print Spooler in Windows holds printing jobs in memory until you or the printer is ready. You may find situations where you need to start and stop the print spooler temporarily. If you're having problems, you might consider resetting and clearing the print spooler.

Video tutorial:

1: How to Enable or Disable Print Spooler Service - Services

Press the Windows Key + R, type in services.msc, and press Enter.

Double-click on Print Spooler.

Click on Start or Stop.

2: How to Enable or Disable Print Spooler Service - Command Prompt

Open the Command Prompt as an administrator. Powershell will not work.

Type in one of the following:

Stop: net stop spooler
If you want to clear the print spooler, type in DEL /F /S /Q %systemroot%\System32\spool\PRINTERS\* now.
Start: net start spooler

3: How to Enable or Disable Print Spooler Service - System Configuration

Press the Windows Key + R, type in msconfig, and press Enter.

Click on the Services tab.

Find Print Spooler. Clicking once on Service will list alphabetically.

Check the box next to Print Spooler and click on OK.

Reboot when prompted.

Similar:

How to Reset and Clear Print Spooler in Windows 10

How to Remove a Printer in Windows 10

How to Backup and Restore Printers in Windows

Fixing Printer Problems on Windows 10