Printer Toolkit Spooler Reset What It Fixes and When It Is Not Enough
The spooler reset button fixes the most common printing failure in under a minute. But when the spooler stops again an hour later, the reset was treating a symptom — here is the deeper hunt.
✍️ Technical Anshu🪟 Windows 10 / 11⏱️ 9 minute fix
🎥 Watch the video — the toolkit spooler tools shown live, and what happens after the reset
Every printer toolkit has a spooler reset button, and it earns its place: the Print Spooler is the Windows service that holds every print job, and when it stops, all printing stops. What the button does is the classic three-step repair — stop the service, delete the job files it was choking on, start it clean. This page shows what that reset genuinely fixes, how to run the same reset by hand, and — more important — what it means when the spooler keeps dying anyway, because then something else is killing it and resetting forever will never cure it.
Event Viewer Shows Why the Spooler Really Stopped
The Print Spooler service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 3 time(s). The following corrective action will be taken in 60000 milliseconds: Restart the service.
Where to lookEvent Viewer → Windows Logs → System
Repeated terminations in one daySomething is crashing it — usually a driver
One stop can be a corrupt job. The same stop again and again is evidence — a driver or add-on is crashing the service each time it loads.
1
What the Reset Button Actually Runs
The toolkit's reset is the documented manual method, automated:
Stop the service — the same as net stop spooler in an admin Command Prompt
Delete every file in C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS — these are the queued job files, and a corrupt one crashes the spooler each time it loads
Start the service again — net start spooler — and confirm the startup type is Automatic
If printing works after this and stays working, the cause was a bad job file and you are done. Send a test page and one real document to confirm.
2
Run the Same Reset by Hand When You Have No Toolkit
The manual version takes two minutes and needs no software:
Open Command Prompt as Administrator
Run net stop spooler
Run del /Q /F /S "%systemroot%\System32\spool\PRINTERS\*.*"
Run net start spooler and set the service to Automatic with sc config spooler start= auto if it was changed
This is identical to the button — which is exactly why the button is safe. It is your commands, minus the typing.
3
If the Spooler Dies Again — Hunt What Is Killing It
A spooler that stops repeatedly is a victim, not the culprit. The usual killer is a faulty printer driver that crashes the service whenever a job uses it.
Open Event Viewer → Windows Logs → System and find the spooler termination entries — note the time, then print to one printer at a time to see which printer's job triggers the crash
Remove the suspect printer, then remove its driver completely through Print Server Properties (printui /s /t2) — removing only the printer icon leaves the crashing driver in place
Restart the spooler with no printers installed and confirm it stays up, then install the maker's latest driver for the exact model
Check the Dependencies tab in the spooler's properties — if the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service it depends on is disabled, the spooler cannot stay running
4
Make It Restart Itself So One Crash Is Not a Dead Printer ⭐
While you hunt the cause, set the service to recover on its own so a single crash does not stop the whole office:
Open services.msc, double-click Print Spooler, open the Recovery tab
Set First failure and Second failure to Restart the Service
Or from admin Command Prompt: sc failure spooler reset= 86400 actions= restart/60000/restart/60000/restart/60000
Recovery is a safety net, not a fix — if the log shows restarts every day, the driver hunt in the previous step is still owed.
5
The Last Stop — Damaged Windows Files
If the spooler fails on a clean machine with fresh drivers and an empty queue, its own files may be damaged:
Run sfc /scannow from an admin Command Prompt and let it finish — it repairs protected system files including the spooler
Restart and test again
Honest limit: if SFC reports corruption it cannot repair, the Windows installation itself is damaged and a Windows repair install is the real cure — no toolkit button will hold against that
🔴 Resetting forever is not a repair. If you press the spooler reset every morning, write down which printer was used just before each crash. That pattern — not another reset — is what finds the guilty driver.
🎥 Complete Knowledge and Installation in the Video
See the spooler reset and the follow-up checks performed live in the complete toolkit video.
No. The reset only deletes temporary job files waiting in the spool folder. Your original Word, Excel or PDF files are untouched — you simply send the print again after the service restarts.
The spooler stops again every time I print to one printer. Why?
Because that printer's driver is crashing the service when it loads. Remove the printer and its driver package completely through Print Server Properties, restart the spooler, then install the latest driver for the exact model from the manufacturer's website.
Is the toolkit reset different from restarting the service in services.msc?
It adds the step most people miss: emptying the spool folder while the service is stopped. A plain restart reloads the same corrupt job file and crashes again. The folder clear-out is what makes the reset hold.
This guide is based on the Printer Toolkit GUI video by Technical Anshu • Stuck on a step? Ask in the video comments — you will get an answer there 🙏