TIP: Can't Delete Print Jobs

My daughter's in residence at university, a half-hour drive away. So it's not practical to zip over to fix her computer problems. Fortunately, she knows how to do a lot of computer maintenance herself. But yesterday's problem puzzled both her and me.

She wanted to print a document on her brand-new HP printer, but nothing came out. She called, and I told her to delete all pending print jobs. One print job, however, would not delete. I looked on the Internet, and found this is a problem common to Windows XP: the spooler chokes. (The spooler is software that allows printing in the background.)

This solution worked for her:

1. On the taskbar, click Start, and then click Run.

2. Enter the following:

net stop spooler (and hit enter)

3. Delete all files in the following folder:

C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Printers

4. Once the spool files are deleted, start the spooler again:

net start spooler

Comments

[Donovan]

Ralph an alternative to this is to go to Control panel>administrative tools, then select services. Find Print spooler, RMB and select stop, then RMB again and select start. Close services, and admin tools and then resume printing.

[Olivier]

Well. I had this exact problem with HP printer and XP. The solution is working, thanks a lot! I can now print all my things in time. Thank you.

[Andrei]

This worked for me too!

Question for Donovan, what is RMB???

I followed your directions to the letter except pretended the letters "RMB" did not exist in your directions. :-) That worked.

[Kelly]

RBM == right mouse button

[jm]

We were stuck for 3 days until your advice unblocked the printer. Thank you!!

[Layne]

5 Hours of pain.....one lucky search...problem solved in 20 seconds..

ThankYou...Thankyou..Thankyou

[Jim]

Hey, just wanted to add that this fix was a happy end to a very frustrating two days.

Thank you soooo much for posting this information! You are a life saver!

[KK]

Thank you soo much for helping me. I created 1 bat file to automatically clear up printing jobs.
URL:
http://khang685.googlepages.com/deleteprintingjobs.bat

Very very usefull informations, thanks a lot to all of you my friends!!

[DB]

Hmm. I have not been so lucky. I deleted the cancelled printing order but still could not print. I often find that the only way to resolve the problem is to shut down the machine and reboot. When Windows launches the printer prints the delayed print order.

Could you explain what is going on?

[zakaria]

Very Nice Solution...

[Edd]

well! i did all that but i still have 'empty' documents waiting to be printed!! i'm going maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad with this stupid print queue! everytime i try to print something, there's a new empty document that appears BEFORE the one i want to print! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[DW]

Thank You, Thank You, this worked perfect. I have had this problem many times before.

[Brie]

THANK YOU for the bit about the printer spooler. I was about to throw my printer through the window. I knew it could be fixed, but I couldn't figure it out. That worked! Thanks!

[rebeca]

You're the best. Thank you, thank you and thank you.

[olga]

Thank you a lot!

[TK]

Damnit now I have a new problem. It tells me that I have a document pending but I don't. I can print stuff fine now but the tray icon won't go away!

[Louie]

GREAT! after a week can print a single page!!!

[Chuck]

Instructions are clear and worked great! Many thanks from this end also.

[Paul]

The batch file posted at http://khang685.googlepages.com/deleteprintingjobs.bat won't work if there's anything in the Printers folder. Might be better off to just delete anything in there instead of removing the directory and recreating it.

[jahnbon]

Thanks a million!

[Fred Zuill]

Many thanks for the great little tip!

[Fred Zuill]

I put your tip on my personal blog at HP http://www.hp.com/blogs/photolink. Thanks again.

[Fred Zuill]

This blog does something funny with hyperlinks that are follwed by a period. My blog is at http://www.hp.com/blogs/photolink

[lplover2k]

wow one of the most useful tip!!! saved me a lot of time!!! thx very very much!

[Sheila]

Thanks. This was a great tip that saved me at least $32!!! I tried to get this info from HP but my printer was 6 days beyond warranty so they tried to sell me a one-tim fix at $32 or an annual warranty contract at $64. I'm not oppsed to the warranty but was very unhappy with the customer service reps. attitude and lack of helpfulness. BOO HP!!! Yea, you!!!

[Christy]

Awesome information! Thanks for posting it, seems this spooling/xp/hp problem is a pain in the butt for more than one of us!

[me]

i love the internet! thanks!!

[Salman]

Thanks a bundle, my print job was jammed since June!

[RPM]

This worked for me, too. Thank you for posting the solution. Now if only I could make the printer itself work better...

[collegestudent]

WOW!! THANK YOU!! without this, i couldn't print the project i have which is due 4 hours from now.

[Pesho]

Man, THANKS! I've been stuck for 2 years and couldn't delete that print job. should've used google earlier...

[Adam]

This worked smashingly! Thanks a million!

[QuestingElf]

This solution was very helpful. Thanks!!!

[Kathy]

Thanks loads. Heart stopped when I forgot to start spooler again and couldn't see any printers, but reread your directions , restarted spooler and Voila! no more stuck print job

KAT

[charlie]

ace info. thanks!

[Chris]

This was some awesome stuff! I can't recall the number of times this has happened to me in the past (let alone my parents). Surely this will save hours of frustration in the future.

[Brian]

Very Cool. thanks... - I also created a batch file to do it automatically, a little different than the one previously posted and it prompts the user to confirm.
See below:

@ECHO off
cd\
cls

echo.
echo This program batch file that will
echo 1) Stop the printer spool service
echo 2) Delete the files that are stuck in the printer spool folder
echo 3) Re-start the printer spool service
echo.
echo Any previously submited print jobs will NOT print and will need to be reprinted.
echo.

REM echo Type (Y)es if you want to continue...
echo.

set choice=
set /p choice=Type (Y)es if you want to continue...

if not '%choice%'=='' set choice=%choice:~0,1%

if '%choice%'=='Y' goto clear_spool
if '%choice%'=='y' goto clear_spool

ECHO Print Spool will not be cleared!
ECHO.
goto end

REM **************************************
REM Preform the actions to clear the Spool
REM **************************************
:clear_spool
echo.
net stop spooler
echo.

cd C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Printers

REM Show directory before the delete

dir

REM Delete in 'Quiet Mode' to avoid prompt
del * /Q

REM Show directory after the delete

dir

echo.
net start spooler
echo.
REM **************************************
REM End of delete spool actions
REM **************************************

:end

REM Wait for user to hit enter so they can observe the output

pause

[Joe]

Allow me to add my thank-you to the long list of thank-you's. The internet is wonderful!

[Jojo]

Thanks for the post, my wife had the same problem back home. Talked to her on the phone and guided her using your post it got the printer working again. Again cheers .....

[impulse]

thank you. Problem solved after two weeks in 1 minute thanks to you way of showing the solution.

[rv]

even micorosft website not giving me this kind of easy and very useful help.

thank you ver much

[Bever]

This info saved christmas greetings! Customer service from both HP and Microsoft is a shame... This post ROCKS!

[CMB]

The list cleared beautifully, but my document still wouldn't print... then I noticed that printing was still paused. Doh!
Thanks heaps, the fix worked beautifully.

[Michael Kinghorn]

Thanks for such simple, yet effective instructions. This is just what I needed!

[Rich]

It's a beautiful thing. Thanks.

[Duchess]

Unfortunately, this didn't work for me.

Stopping the spooler made the job disappear, but the job reappeared as soon as I restarted the spooler.

Any ideas?

[Alice]

Wow! Found some ghost job from JUNE mucking up the works and couldn't get it fixed til I found this tip. Thanks!

[Bridgette]

Thank you. We've been having this problem recurring for months, and so has my mom. Microsoft was a huge waste of time, even called their "help desk." You rock. You should go work for MS or HP!!! :)

[kittyblue]

great tip! i've been having this problem for months and would always have to reboot the damn computer just to print everythig i needed >,< so thank you!!! :3

[DavidE]

Thanks so much!!!! Perfect advice!

[Mike]

Nope, solution doesn't work all the time. Bottom line: Windows sucks. Simple as that. 100,000,000 bandaids on top of previous problems, none of which really work. Typical American junk. Nice work.

[Larry]

It worked for me. Thanks

[Terry]

Troubleshooting windows XP printer printing from Ubuntu, and had a stack of stuck, dodgy jobs. All cleared now... Cheers!!

[Luke]

Easy solution, great stuff!

[Sarah Holly]

I love you man. You saved my butt. I have been trying to figure this out all day and I had a paper due tonight.

[Geneva]

Thank you so much! I really needed to get these resumes printed - you rock!

[DVD Live]

Man, THANKS!!!!!!!!!

[LostUser]

Nice tip, worked great.

I made a batch job (see below) to do this. It stops the spooler, does a directory listing, then asks to delete the files in that directory. After the answer to that, it then starts the print spooler.

I added echo's in there just so the person running it can see what commands are being run.

copy the text between the * and paste into a text editor and save as a batch file (.bat). I named mine delprtjob.bat.

******
@echo off

echo.
echo net stop spooler
net stop spooler

echo.
dir c:\windows\system32\spool\printers\*.*
echo.
echo Delete files?
del c:\windows\system32\spool\printers\*.*

echo.
echo net start spooler
net start spooler
*****

[Tim M.]

Great tip. It deleted the "un-deleteable" file from my print queue.

Thanks a million!

[Ballspot]

This worked, finally. But I have my officejet connected to a US Robotics Wireless MAXg Router that connects to the printer. I found I have to unplug the router while running the bat file. Then it worked.

[Ali]

Man you rock!!! You are a Wiz! been struggling with this since hours, finally!!!! the Sales team wont eat me alive.

[Phil]

Yay! Thanks, I had a print job from a few night earlier when my HP Printer had packed up and could not get rid of it. Your advice fixed my problem.

[Paul]

Cool!

[Ryan]

Thanks so much. It also works in Vista x64

Why?!?!? (is this a problem in windows)

Thanks, that's going into a batchfile:

nukePrinter.bat

[Daniel]

Thanks for the tip.
It didn't work me in the first instance until I realised that I had to do it on the Small Business Server the printer is connected to. After doing that, the job cleared, so thanks again.

[Janet Zajdel]

Okay, I tried the spooler idea first and it did not work. So I started the spooler (I did start/run: net start spooler) and something is wrong. How long does it take to start??? All it keeps doing is repeating periods........ it will not stop! And, I have no printer now. Can I X out of the black box? I am afraid to.

[Aarti]

Ralph an alternative to this is to go to Control panel>administrative tools, then select services. Find Print spooler, RMB and select stop, then RMB again and select start. Close services, and admin tools and then resume printing.
-----------------------------------------
Thank you so much for this!! I too did not find the RMB part but everything else worked to the T...you are a lifesaver and I appreciate your help!

[jaymz]

has been an annoyance for a long time, much appreciated fix, thanks.

[gopi]

thank you thank you thank you.

[Janus]

Oh.my. gosh........ I was here struggling with my printer for the longest time and I decided to do a google search and came across this.... THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! You are a Godsend, you computer whiz. I have this problem all the time and sometimes pulling out the plug and even restarting doesn't work and you want to pull your hear out or drop the computer in the ground. Really thanks a million

[Ian]

Great! Thanks. The job did not delete,but then I could clear it from the printer queue through Printers control panel.

[ito]

thank's

[Dan]

I followed the instructions and it worked like a charm. Thanks!

[Cristiano Paris]

I wonder why do we have to bend to Microsoft's inefficiencies. We do have a GUI, we PAY for having that GUI, but it isn't working and people have to trick the system to do even the simplest things.

In a world where competition is the real driver among companies, things like these would never happen.

So a big thank to Microsoft and its monopolistic policies.

[zee]

OMG your awesomne dude thats for the helpp

[Bob]

Thanks.. I have my printer back.

[Michelle D]

THE FILES WON'T DELETE! HELP ME, PLEASE!

[Tareq]

Thank you for the GREAT HELP!!!! My hp deskjet 840c printer, started printing a command or something, and it was consuming both ink and paper very much, so when I googled my problem I found your great solution, and it HELPED A LOT!!!! thank you, GOD BLESS YOU!!!!!

[Computer Repairs Blackpool]

Thanks for that, great tip!

[mel]

thank you!

[Boris]

This works with Vista, too, BUT only if you start the command line as an administrator. Otherwise, it refuses to stop the service. So, type in "cmd" at the start menu, right click, then select Run as Administrator.

[Amalan]

Thank you so so so much. You are a God SEND!!!!!!!

[Wade]

Donovan's tip (quoted below) worked well for my system that runs Vista ... it's pretty sad though that we have to go through all of this just to print a document. Hopefully Microsoft and HP will work to resolve it.

"Ralph an alternative to this is to go to Control panel>administrative tools, then select services. Find Print spooler, RMB and select stop, then RMB again and select start. Close services, and admin tools and then resume printing."

thanx!

[Rina]

I was driven nuts not to speak of the time wasted. Thanks so much - like most great things - so simple once you know.

[kyleguy]

wow. thank you
i have been trying to figure this out forever

[steve roose]

i tried net stop spooler and net start spooler from the command line but it didnt work at first. I was doing it on teh local machines and then realized the printer was installed on the server. I went to teh server and completed the same tasks and printing was good to go.

thankssss greate work

[Phil]

From the United States Air Force, thanks for the tip; it worked perfectly!

[sdjklsdfklds]

Hello! Useful tip! But it appears I have to do this EACH and EVERY time I want to print something! Is there a way to permanently fix this issue? Thanks muchly.

[Joyce]

My print queue appears to be empty, but my printer continues to spit out page after page of nonsense. I have tried these tips for cancelling print jobs but the printer just keeps printing garbage everytime I turn it back on and give it some paper. Any suggestions?

[RJH]

11/30/2008 This rarely happens, and usually will correct after rebooting (XP 2002,SvPk2) but what a pain when it does flare up. I think it was a Shockwave file from an internet electronics site that choked my system. Anyhow, the tip at the top (2/22/06) worked like a charm. Thanks for the help! RJH

[angel]

i just came back with 35 cents worth of unleaded,, poured it on this prinetr laptop combo,, usb cable and all,, laid it out on my back yard,, set her ablaze,, lit a smoke,, and could not stop giggle-ing histerically,,, took care of that!!

[Cris]

This is a great tip

If you want a batch file that works whatever your Windows directory name is and wherever is located copy the below lines into your batch file:

net stop spooler
cd %windir%\system32\spooler\printers
del *.* /q
net start spooler

[Arizona]

Thank you so much!

[Nintendog66]

Thank you very much

[Cata]

AWESOME!!
you save my life...i was so close to smash the printer to death...
pffeewwww

[Tom Cook]

Did the trick! You rock, thanks

tom