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How to Clear a Stuck Print Queue in Windows

Steven
Nov 3, 2023
2 min read

Updated: Sep 27

Every office runs into this sooner or later. One print job gets stuck, and everything sent after it piles up behind it. You click print again, nothing comes out, and now there are six copies waiting. I deal with this all the time, and it's usually a two-minute fix.



Fix 1: Cancel the Jobs from the Print Queue


Start with the easy way. It works more often than you'd think.


  1. Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners (on Windows 10: Settings > Devices > Printers & scanners).

  2. Click your printer, then Open print queue.

  3. Click the ... menu (or the Printer menu) and choose Cancel all.


If the jobs disappear, you're done. If they sit there saying "Deleting" and never go away, move on to Fix 2.



Fix 2: Clear the Queue Manually


When a job is truly stuck, you need to stop the Print Spooler (the Windows service that handles printing), delete the stuck files, and start it again. You'll need an administrator account.


  1. Click Start, type Services, and choose Run as administrator. Sign in with an admin username and password if asked.

  2. Scroll down to Print Spooler, right-click it and choose Stop. Leave this window open; you'll come back to it.


Stopping the Print Spooler service in Windows Services
Stop the Print Spooler service

  1. Open File Explorer and go to this folder (click Continue if Windows asks for permission):


C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS

  1. Delete everything inside the PRINTERS folder. Don't delete the folder itself.

  2. Go back to Services, right-click Print Spooler and choose Start.


Starting the Print Spooler service again
Start the Print Spooler again

Send a test page. Your queue should be empty and printing should work again.



Fix 3: Make a One-Click Fix With a Batch File


If this happens a lot, make a small file that does all of Fix 2 for you.


  1. Open Notepad.

  2. Copy and paste these three lines:


net stop spooler
del /Q /F %systemroot%\System32\spool\PRINTERS\*
net start spooler

Batch file commands to clear the print queue in Notepad
The commands in Notepad

  1. Click File > Save As.

  2. Change Save as type to All files.

  3. Name the file something like Clear Print Queue.bat and save it to your desktop.


Saving the file as a .bat with All files selected
Save it as a .bat file

Next time the queue gets stuck, right-click the file and choose Run as administrator. It stops the spooler, clears the stuck jobs and starts it again in a few seconds.



If Jobs Keep Getting Stuck


  • Update or reinstall the printer driver from the manufacturer's website.

  • Restart the printer, then the computer.

  • On a network printer, make sure its IP address hasn't changed.

  • Check for Windows updates. Some past updates have caused printing problems that later updates fixed.



Still Stuck?


If your printer still won't cooperate, IT-Tech can connect remotely and get it printing again.


Book a remote support session and we'll get you sorted out.

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