Recently when I was setting up a client’s computer with Windows Printer Sharing, I ran into an issue where a document was stuck in the print queue and was brining the system down to a crawl. First I tried deleting the document from the queue the “traditional” way by opening “Printers and Faxes” and launching the stuck printer and right-clicking the document name and selecting “cancel.” With that process, the document was stuck in cancel-mode for hours and obviously didn’t work.
I found the process for fully deleting the document from the queue and the steps are listed below:
- Launch the SERVICES program. There are a couple of ways to do this:
- Go to Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Services
- Got to Start > Settings >Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services
- Look for the “Print Spooler” service. Click on it and select STOP. Make sure that the services shows as “Stopped”
- Open Windows Explorer (a shortcut for launching Windows Explorer is to hit the Windows Key – if your keyboard has it – and E at the same time)
- Navigate to: “c:/windows/system32/spool/printers”
- Note: You may have to allow Windows Explorer to show system folders. You can do this in Explorer by going to Tools > Folder Options and selecting the VIEW tab.
- There should be a check box (that might be unchecked) labeled “Display the contents of system folders” –> Check this box and click OK
- Once you can view the contents of that folder, you will (hopefully) see 1 or more documents. You are viewing your printer queue at that point.
- Select the file(s) and delete them
- Go back to the Services program (see step #1) and restart the Print Spooler service
- Check the printer queue (see the first paragraph) and confirm that the Spooler is now empty
Did you find this solution useful? If so: [paypal-donation reference=”printer queue”]
Hope that helps! Why, in my case, the Shared Printer created docs that caused the queue to stall is a topic for another discussion someday.
126 comments
Lisa Snuggs
Frickin AWESOME!!!!!!!!
George Thomas
Solution worked perfectly.. Thanks Michael for sharing this… Cheers !
Amanda
This was great info. Worked just like it said it would!
kei
Does it also work for some PDF printing application (e.g. doPDF)?
I do a printing with doPDF and it got stuck in the printer queue. When I did the #5 step the files shown are FP00000.SHD and FP00000.SWF. What should I delete?
hightechdad
Not sure about that one. Test it out and let me know!
La
The solution to unstick a document in the printer queue was great. The step by step instructions were most helpful.. Thank you.
Richard Ross
God bless you hi tech dad. You just saved my computer and printer’s life because I was going to replace both if instead of paying someone to fix them. Lexmark was going to charge me over $100 to fix this and with your help I fixed it in minutes. NEVER BUY LEXMARK! THEY ARE THIEVES!
Lewis
There are a few extra printer troubleshooting steps here that I found useful: http://public.madeinengland.co.nz/printer-stuck-on-printing-deleting-spooling-and-wont-cancel/
Clake
Wow! It worked! I had been struggling with this for days before finding these instructions. I will definitely bookmark this page in case this should happen again. It just took me a little while to find Adminitrative Tools, because on my version of Vista I had to go to Start, Control Panel, System & Maintenance, and then Administrative Tools, and; Services. Thanks so much! Appreciate it!
Debi
it worked! I feel like a genius, but then, could not have done it on my own. Thank you!!!!!!!!
SACHIN KADAM
THANK YOU
Tony
Excellent, I know ) about computers and this exactually fixed my problem, tks.
Claudia
Thank you ! Problem solved and I am able to print again !
Grumps
Brilliant. It worked as written. Many, many thanks!!
Jdeyemom
Thank you!!!
Madhup Bhatnagar
It worked magically!!! I was struggling to delete that stucked document with all Administrator permissions and through different machines on LAN. But finally, your solutions helped and all the users could start using this printer again.
Carnur
thanks, that worked, we had a document waiting to be printed from a printer that we no longer had but couldn’t get rid, because of this it was crashing our computer when we tried to print to another printer – all works now
Me
Do not follow this persons advice – you will never be able to print again!!!!!!!!! I followed to the letter and now I really regret it
MJC
Wow, amazing, didn’t think i was going to figure that out, but it seems to have worked. Hopefully I’ll be able to print now. Thanks so much for sharing!!!!!!!
Mabsnk4
I restarted my laptop and it worked Lol :P
Infamousfiddler
Auuugh, thank you. I was trying to reinstall my printer driver and this old “deleting” document was giving me so much trouble. Thank you so much.
Shakuni63
just right click on the printer which u using in Device and Printer and select Troubleshoot.
jacy
thank you it helped~~~
Domingos service
gratos pela ajuda, pois que deu td certo. obrigado
Domingos Service
Mjbuxton
Best advice I’ve seen yet on cancelling and print document that is stuck. Thanks so much!
levlitichev
That was super useful. Thanks a lot!
kim t
thanks you so much, you are a big help >.<
Andy Taylor
Highest of high fives for this golden nugget of knowledge!
Barbara
yOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW FRUSTRATED I WAS UNTIL I CAME TO YOUR ADVICE. mAHALO FROM MAUI, HAWAII
Kelseyaccount
You are amazing. Thank you so much!
Lilleo2000
I LOVE YOU
Pobedina1750
My system is Windows Vista Home.
In my case using only 2 steps was enough for fully deleting the document from the queue
and restart PC after that.
I am bookmarking your address for future reference.
Thank You very much!!
Marina
Knowbody
OMG that worked . my system is vista home, i followed and found everything, and it deleted the stuck doc, superduperwooperman…thankYOU
Holly Dunn
Thank you! This was perfect and your directions were precise and easy to follow. Phew!
Kyle Andrew Hartman
it wont allow me to delete the files in the qeue after i got to windowssystem32……. that address. it says they r open in spoolsv.exe which is not open
hightechdad
Have you rebooted? Are you logged in as admin?
Karen
You are my hero! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I am bookmarking your address for future reference.
Guy Tremblay
Amazing – Just saved me a lot of time speaking to my printer IT support!
Leknowlton
I tried this on a networked pc and it will not clear it out. Access to the user’s ..printers folder is denied. Stopped and re-started the net spooler. Re-booted to no avail. I’m thinking I’ll need access to the server command line to get it cleared out.
hightechdad
It is definitely possible that it is stuck within the print server
queue. Unfortunately, I don’t have an environment to test that. Let us
know what you eventually figure out.
Getsimple123
I love this! Seriously, I have used this twice and have it saved on my bookmarks. Thanks so much for sharing.
Susan
Yes – awesome! Thank you!
ka
it took a while for the document to clear, but this worked! Even unplugging and shutting things off didn’t work. thank you soooo much
neeshah
actually the good news is that my printer is working now, although the status never came up as stop in the Print Spooler…
neeshah
When I try to STOP my Print Spooler, it says “loading files to memory for later printing” as the description. This persists for a very long time. How do I fix this?
Njford5139
How can I get a documet off of my printer that is deleting and is holding other documents back. I can cancel the others but when it says deleting it is like froze.
efor310
Thanks. Now I have a way for myself (and others) to fix those stupid print que errors without restarting the computer.
Emiller182
Thank You!!! I’ve been struggling with this for the past 3 days and nothing was working. Oh, maybe I’d eventually get the corrupt file out only to have it show up again the next time I printed. Your way worked and I am again a happy printer!!
Xlozx2000
saved me
Thanks
Thank you sooooo much!!!!! I couldn’t find a detailed solution anywhere!!!!!!!!!!!
hannah
thanks! this actually worked. first time I think I have found something that actually works from the net!!
Julie
THANK YOU SO MUCH, YOU FIXED MY PRINTER!!!!!!
It’s rare to find something on the internet that’s actually helpful in troubleshooting, I appreciate it!
hightechdad
Glad that it worked for you!
Michael
I’ve had real problems with documents getting jammed in the print queue, so this solution ws brilliant. Thank you so much.
Just one comment. Some of the terminology seemed a bit dated. On my Vista PC, I eventually found Administrative Tools in Control Panel > System and Security. Once I’d got there, everything was as described.