Spooler is Stuck, A Print Driver will not Delete from the Printer Window

There are print jobs stuck in the print spooler. The Windows test page from the General tab on the driver can print because it bypasses the spooler. To free up the spooler and let print jobs through or allow for the print driver to be deleted, clear out the files in the spooler.

To delete the spool files in Microsoft Windows XP

Stop the spooler

Click Start, Control Panel, ADMINSTRATIVE TOOLS, COMPONENT SERVICES, and then SERVICES.

Scroll down the list of services for Print Spooler.

Right click Print Spooler and Stop.

Delete the spool files.

Click My Computer.

Go to C:WINDOWSsystem32spoolPRINTERS .

Delete all of the files inside this folder.

NOTE: If the spooler is working correctly, this folder should be empty when the computer is not printing. It normally deletes these files out of this folder after they have been sent to the printer. Deleting files that are stuck can free up the spooler and allow it to continue normal operation.

Restart the spooler.

Click Start, Control Panel, ADMINSTRATIVE TOOLS, COMPONENT SERVICES, and then SERVICES.

Scroll down the list of services for Print Spooler.

Right click Print Spooler and Start.

To delete the spool files in Windows 2000

Stop the spooler.

Click Start, Settings, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, then Services.

Scroll down the list of services for Print Spooler.

Right click Print Spooler and Stop.

Delete the spool files.

Click My Computer.

Go to C:WINNTsystem32spoolPRINTERS .

Delete all of the files inside of this folder.

NOTE: If the spooler is working correctly, this folder should be empty when the computer is not printing. It normally deletes these files out of this folder after they have been sent to the printer. Deleting files that are stuck can free up the spooler and allow it to continue normal operation.
Restart the spooler.

Click Start, Settings, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, then Services

Scroll down the list of services for Print Spooler.

Right click Print Spooler and Start.

To delete the spool files in Windows NT 4.0

Stop the spooler.

Click Start, Settings, Control Panel, then Services

Scroll down the list of services for Spooler.

Highlight Spooler in the list and click Stop.

Delete the spool files.

Click My Computer.

Go to C:WINNTsystem32spoolPRINTERS.

Delete all of the files inside of this folder.

NOTE: If the spooler is working correctly, this folder should be empty when the computer is not printing. It normally deletes these files out of this folder after they have been sent to the printer. Deleting files that are stuck can free up the spooler and allow it to continue normal operation.
Restart the spooler.
Click Start, Settings, Control Panel, then Services

Scroll down the list of services for Spooler.

Highlight Spooler in the list and click Start.