The Windows Printer Spooler Service is a key operating system component that manages all printing on your computer. It is started when your PC boots and runs unattended, 24×7 as a Windows Service. The service runs inside a process called spoolsv.exe.
The Spooler maintains a queue of requests (a print queue) for each printer on your computer. When you print a document, the Spooler adds a new item (a print job) to the print queue. It sends the print job to the printer (when the printer is ready) and monitors the printer as it produces pages.
To restart the Print Spooler service in Windows 10, you can follow these steps:
- Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box.
- Type services.msc and hit Enter.
- In the Services window, scroll down the list of services and right-click on Print Spooler.
- Select either Stop or Restart option from the pop-up menu1.
- Alternatively, you can also reset or restart Print Spooler Windows 10 in Command Prompt.
To restart the Print Spooler service in Windows 10 using Command Prompt, you can follow these steps:
- Press Windows + R to open Run window. Then, input cmd and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to run Command Prompt as an administrator.
- When you receive a User Account Control (UAC) window, click OK to confirm the operation.
- In the command console, input net stop spooler and press Enter key to stop print spooler.
- Then input net start spooler and press Enter key to start print spooler.