Print Spooler not Running error message

[sweagles]

I have been going nuts trying to fix a printing issue from my wireless laptop. At times I keep getting the error mssg: "Operation could not be completed. The print spooler service is not running." Other times my print job will be displayed in the print queue but eventually the same mssg above will show up. I even get a similar mssg when I try to open my printers properties, "Your printers properties can not be opened. The print spooler service is not running".

This started happening months ago but prior to that I was always able to send my print jobs thru my wireless router to my HP 2175 which is connected directly to my other PC.

On both my laptop & PC I have removed & reinstalled the drivers. reinstalled the printer software, removed & re-added the printer and even tried to get help from HP but they couldn't figure it out. I have also gone into the service window to stop and restart the spooler, made sure the RPC files were set to automatic.

Could it be a corrupted registry file?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[stevenamills]

Just a thought.

Have you blown out the actual spool and let it rebuild?

Steve

 

[sweagles]

I don't know how to do that.

 

[dave-northoaklandtech]

If you are printing through the wireless to a shared printer on the PC, check the print spooler service on the PC. Also check your connection to the PC by browsing to a network share on it. My bet is that the spooler there is not running.

 

[robert152]

I have ran into this on numerous occasions. Every time I have seen it happen it has been narrowed down to a firewall problem. Check your firewall settings and make sure you allow your home network range.

 

[Jory]

Go to the command windows and type:

net stop spooler

Then open up your file explorer and go to:

%SystemRoot%\system32\spool\printers\

Delete anything in there, and then go back to the command window and type:

net start spooler

 

[sweagles]

Thanks everyone for trying to help. I tried what Jory suggested and still cannot get the printer to work. I even verified my firewall settings were OK but that didn't help either.
Is there anything else I could try?

 

[MHCG]

Are you able to print from the PC that's sharing out the printer?

 

[sweagles]

MHCG, yes I can. That's never been a problem. Last night I tried to add the printer again (which showed up in the add print wizard screen) and I got a different mssg that said something about the directory not being available. This morning I tried to add again and now the wizard can't find the printer.

 

[Checkmate]

What OS you running? Have a client that has Vista on her office machines and it keeps dropping the network printer. Won't even show up in the add printer unless pc is restarted.

AVG 8 has had some issues of blocking wireless print capability too. Never did figure that one out. Client got fed up and ripped AVG out of his machine.

 

[koonter]

I have used this utility to determine whether the printer is recognized on the lan

http://www.softsea.com/review/NetResView.html

i have also used this utility successfully:

http://www.download3k.com/Install-Printer-Anywhere-Inc.-Printer-Anywhere.html.

these should be used as a last resort because they're a bit buggy but I have gotten good results