If you have ever tried to print an important document only to find your printer stuck in a queue, you are not alone. This is a common problem that can be very frustrating, especially when you have a deadline to meet. Fortunately, fixing a printer stuck in a queue does not require technical expertise.
Below are five simple solutions to help you clear the queue and get your printer back to work.
1. Restart the Print Spooler Service
The print spooler is a background service responsible for handling all the print jobs. Once the service gets stuck, your printer may fail to process any new job and lead to the printer stuck in queue situation. This error is often solved by restarting the service.
Steps to restart the print spooler:
- Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog box.
- Type services.msc and hit Enter.
- Look for Print Spooler in the list of services.
- Right-click on Print Spooler and click Restart.
Now check if your printer is working.
2. Cancel All Print Jobs
One single print job may be stuck that is blocking the entire queue. Thus, the following jobs get stacked. For the printer stuck in the queue problem, you might have to cancel all print jobs that are in the queue right now.
To cancel print jobs:
- Open the Control Panel and navigate to Devices and Printers.
- Right-click your printer and select See what’s printing.
- Click Printer in the top menu on this window. Now, select Cancel All Documents.
This will remove any jobs stuck in the queue, hopefully solving the problem.
3. Update Printer Drivers
These are outdated printer drivers or corrupt ones. Any time drivers become outdated, the printer may not be able to communicate well with the computer.
To update printer drivers:
- From the start menu, search for Device Manager.
- Find your printer listed under Printers, right-click on it
- Update Driver: follow the instructions to update your drivers
Upon updating your printer drivers, restart both your computer and printer to verify whether the issue has been fixed
4. Restart Your Printer
If the problem persists, the simplest thing to do might be a printer restart. Simply turn the printer off and then back on. This sometimes gets rid of minor problems that may have been causing it to get stuck.
Make sure your printer is correctly connected and print again.
5. Clear the Printer Queue Manually
If the steps above do not help, you may need to manually clean the print queue. This is a process that removes all files currently holding up the queue and causing the blockage.
Manually clean the printer queue
To print, do the following:
- Open File Explorer and navigate to C:\\Windows\\System32\\spool\\PRINTERS.
- Delete all files in this folder. The files represent your print jobs.
- Restart your computer and printer.
This will get rid of any remaining problems and allow you to print without further issues.
Conclusion
A stuck-in-queue printer issue can cause significant delay, but, using the easily outlined steps above, it can be solved quickly so that you do not have to experience such delays again. Restarting the print spooler, printing job cancellation, updating drivers, rebooting the printer, or clearing the queue manually are effects of ensuring that most printing problems are rectified.
If none of these solutions work, consider contacting a professional for further assistance.
For more tips on resolving printer issues, contact Printer Not Working.
Happy printing!