Print Spooler is the scheduler for a print job. All of the deletion, queuing and restarting of a print job is done with the help of the print spooler. Messages from the computer to the printer or the print server are carried out by the print spooler. Certain problems have been seen to affect the print spooling in a computer. Like the problem of memory or disk space, where the unavailability leads to the stoppage of the print spooler. The sure fire way to solve this problem permanently is by increasing the memory and the hard disk space. An alternative way is to reduce the number of applications that run simultaneously, thereby freeing up some memory and valuable virtual memory.

Print spooler problems might arise from incompatibility to the operating system. One should clarify with the vendor if the printer is compatible with different versions of windows. Recently some printers have been found to give problems with windows vista. And with it the driver CDs should also be supported by the operating system.

A very irritating problem is when a printer can not be added to the computer. This usually occurs due to some third party drivers associated with the printer, which prevents the computer from adding new printers. Some printer services installed before the actual printer is installed may lead to such kind of problems.

A small check and modification of the registry will help solve this problem. Start the computer in safe mode by going to the Windows Advanced Option by pressing the F8 key while the computer starts an then selecting the safe mode option from there. The Microsoft Windows Explorer should then be started and the files in the following folders should be deleted.

C:\Windows\System32\Spool Printers and C:\Windows\System 32
\Spool\Drivers\w32×86.

Then start the registry editor by typing regedit in the Run dialog box. Find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\
Environments\Windows NT x86.
Check whether there are only two subkeys, Drivers and Print Processors. If anything else is present then click Export on the file menu; type the name that you would like to use in the File Name Box and then click Save.

It should be noted that the print spooling, if not functioning properly, then any addition or removal of printers can not be carried out. The option will not be visible in the control panel. Clanspl.exe is a utility that is found in the Windows Resource Kit tools easily available over the internet. This helps in completing the print spooler jobs and thereby facilitating in the addition or removal of printers to or from the computer.
This program can be used remotely to remove print spooler items on another computer of the network. Lexmark printer services are sometimes installed on the computer which may hinder the addition of a new printer. This can be solved by turning off the LexBce Server Service. For this click Manage after right clicking My Computer. Then follow Services and Applications > Services > LexBce Server(right click) > Properties> General > Startup type > Disabled > Service Status > Stop > OK. Then start the print spooler service if it is stopped.

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A print spooler is an application on Microsoft Windows that helps to mange the link between the computer and the printer. This application manages the printing of the papers, and controls whatever demands the user might have for the hardware device. For instance, one can delete print jobs, or pause them and then restart making necessary changes. The print spooler also helps to change priority of certain print jobs and organize the queuing system.

The print spooler organizes by creating a temporary file in the systemroot folder. Once the job has been done the file is then deleted. One of the many events that can cause a print spooler problem is the unavailability of disk space. High quality print jobs if done need large spaces for the printing of high resolution graphics. Easily the workstation configuration can be overtaken by the heavy print jobs.

Print spooler operations create two different files for a single print job. One is the actual file and the other a shadow file. In general, with the crash of a computer, the two files remain in the spool file until the computer or the application is restarted. But there may be times when, due to a problem in the drivers for the printer the files may get accidentally deleted. This might lead to the print job getting aborted. If the spooled files become corrupted they are singled out in the spool folder and that takes up quite an amount of space.

Print spooler can also be termed as the scheduler for print jobs. All the timings and the queuing up of the papers for the print and also maintenance for the order of the print jobs is done by the print spooler. Sometimes due to a large number of print jobs on different printers on a network, the load can become unbearable. Then the print spooler service can stop without any prior notice. The screen might go completely blank and the system restarts or the print spooler service just stops without any warning.

Print spooler problems on a large network of printers might be the result of different types of printers. For example there might be inkjet, DeskJet and dot matrix printers printing together on a network. Since various printers have different necessities, that might turn out to be a hindrance in each other’s way. This can certainly cause a print spooler problem.

Through research, it has been noticed that the print spooler problem is also related with the Internet. After the addition of an internet connection sharing scheme to a network, a problem could occur as the connection sharing uses a class C subnet with a particular address range. This will lead to printing not being done.

Lastly if the printer driver is not compatible with the computer operating system or some problem arose due to improper installation then the print spooler will not perform and nothing would be visible in the Printers and Faxes folder. One should always remember that no printers can be added or removed while any print jobs or the print spooler is in progress.

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