I am getting a message "before you can print a doc you must install a printer" then I click on install printer and it says "printer spooler not running". How do I fix this?1 person needs an answerI do too

I am getting a message "before you can print a doc you must install a printer" then I click on install printer and it says "printer spooler not running". How do I fix this?You can turn the print spooler back on with the following:Open a Command Prompt windows (Start > Run > cmd > OK)In the Command Prompt window type net start spooler {press enter}Once the printer is installed, your installed printers will re-appear (or you can install a printer). However, it's likely that whatever caused the print spooler to stop in the first place will just cause it to stop again. So do the following:Open a Command Prompt window and type the following, pressing Enter after each line: net stop spooler del "%windir%\system32\spool\PRINTERS" *.* {type Y when prompted} net start spoolerClose the Command Prompt window and follow the directions here: http://www.coribright.com/windows/Article_One.htm

If print spooler is not enabled via command prompt, do the following:- Click the Start Menu, click run, type in "services.msc"- In the Services pane, click "Alerter" and scroll down until you see "Print Spooler"- Click "Start service" or "Restart service" as appropriate.The print spooler should be enabled.Check to see if printing is enabled.Hope this helpsPost back if needed____________________If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.

I got further in the process and tried to start the printer spooler...then i got a message " could not start the printer spooler service on local computer. Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified"WHAT DO I DO NOW??Also I cannot restore the computer to an earlier date, it's my pos at work and I would have to re-enter inventory from the past 2 weeks, that's just not an option. Any other way to fix this?

Hi maria placencio, Method 1: Try running the troubleshooter from the link given below and check if it helps in fixing the issue: http://support.microsoft.com/mats/printing_problems/ If the troubleshooter does not help in fixing the issue, follow this method. Method 2: Try these steps in order: Step 1:a. Click Start, Run and type the following:CMD /K SC CONFIG SPOOLER DEPEND= RPCSSAlternately, to accomplish this using Registry Editor:Step 2:Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:322756 a. Click Start, Run and type Regedit.exeb. Navigate to the following branch HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ Spoolerc. In the right-pane, double-click the DependOnService valued. Delete the existing data, and then type RPCSSe. Close Regedit.exeRegards,Divya R – Microsoft Support.Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

This suggestion may help.Quote from: http://snipurl.com/1mdayq [www_eventid_net]From a newsgroup post: "It appears that the Print Spooler has failed, and was unable to (or not configured to) restart itself. When the Print Spooler is not running, printers will not be visible in the Printers folder, and you will be unable to add any new printers. Any number of things could cause the Print Spooler to fail. These include corrupt print jobs, incompatible or problematic printer drivers or port monitors, file or disk corruption, and even other applications or processes interfering with the spooler in memory. If you attempt the restart the Print Spooler manually and it immediately fails, it may be trying to process a corrupt print job after starting. This is one common cause for Print Spooler failures that occur immediately. If the Print Spooler starts and printing functionality returns for some time before failing again, then a driver or port monitor is likely the cause of the problem.To remove spooled print jobs that could be causing this problem, simply remove (or delete) files with extensions of ".spl" or ".shd" from the Spool location while the Print Spooler is stopped. This location is generally "c:\<windows directory>\system32\spool\printers" (it could have been manually changed). Once any existing spool files have been removed, try restarting the Print Spooler again to see if it runs normally. If there are no spooled print jobs (.spl or .shd files), or if removing existing spooled print jobs does not change the behavior, then a driver or port monitor may be to blame. M260142 provides more in-depth information that will be helpful while troubleshooting further".Hope this helps, Gerry Cornell

First, it helps to understand what Error 2 means.Error 2 means "file not found".If you recreate the problem, you will appreciate these things:Running the Microsoft Automated Troubleshooting Services tool will not help you (it is too stupid)The error message is inconsistent with a dependency problemReassigning dependencies will not help youEditing the registry to assign dependencies will not help youRunning sfc /scannow will not help you since that is not what sfc /scannow doesTrying to start the Print Spooler Service you see a message like this:Could not start the Print Spooler service on Local Computer.Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified.If you look at the Print Spooler Service in the Services applet, it shows the Print Spooler Service set to Automatic, but it is not running and will not start.If you look in the Event Viewer System log you will see a message similar to this:Event Type: ErrorEvent Source: Service Control ManagerEvent Category: NoneEvent ID: 7000Description:The Print Spooler service failed to start due to the following error: The system cannot find the file specified. An Error 2 means that the specified file could not be found. In the case of the Print Spooler Service, the mot likely file to be missing is:c:\windows\system32\spoolsv.exeSomehow you must replace the missing or corrupt file.There should be backup copies of the missing file in other places on your hard disk. When you find a copy of the missing file, copy it andpaste it into the c:\windows\system32 folder where it belongs.When copying the file, respond in the affirmative if asked to replace or overwrite the existing file.The most likely places to look for backup copies of missing system files are:c:\windows\system32\dllcachec:\windows\ServicePackFiles\i386If you can't find the file there, search your hard drive(s) and see if you can find a copy. You could also copy the missing file from a working system using a floppy or USB device, email the file to yourself etc.If you still can't find a copy of the spoolsv.exe file, you someone can put one on heir SkyDrive and you can download it to your system.Deleting the spoolsv.exe file manually would require some extra effort since it is one of the 3498 files that Windows XP automatically looks after. Windows File Protection should automatically replace the file quickly and silently if it ever disappears.Replacing the file may provide immediate relief for the symptom of the problem but does not actually fix the real problem... which is how did the file ever come up missing in the first place? It is important to fix the actual problem and not just treat the symptom of the problem.If there is not a copy of the spoolsv.exe file in the dllcache folder, there needs to be. That is where Windows File Protection looks for copies of the 3498 files that is monitors. If the a file is missing from the dllcache folder, Windows File Protection will not be able to replace the file if it ever comes up missing.Possibilities are some malicious software has afflicted your system or your antivirus or antimalware programs thought the file was infected (maybe is really was) and quarantined/deleted the file.Do, or do not. There is no try.I decided to save up points for a new puppy instead of a pony!

First, it helps to understand what Error 2 means.Error 2 means "file not found".If you recreate the problem so you can actually see it, you will appreciate these things:Running the Microsoft Automated Troubleshooting Services tool will not help you (it is too stupid)The error message is inconsistent with a dependency problemReassigning dependencies will not help youEditing the registry to assign dependencies will not help youRunning sfc /scannow will not help you since that is not what sfc /scannow doesTrying to start the Print Spooler Service you see a message like this:Could not start the Print Spooler service on Local Computer.Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified.If you look at the Print Spooler Service in the Services applet, it shows the Print Spooler Service set to Automatic, but it is not running and will not start.If you look in the Event Viewer System log you will see a message similar to this:Event Type: ErrorEvent Source: Service Control ManagerEvent Category: NoneEvent ID: 7000Description:The Print Spooler service failed to start due to the following error: The system cannot find the file specified. An Error 2 means that the specified file could not be found. In the case of the Print Spooler Service, the mot likely file to be missing is:c:\windows\system32\spoolsv.exeSomehow you must replace the missing or corrupt file.There should be backup copies of the missing file in other places on your hard disk. When you find a copy of the missing file, copy it andpaste it into the c:\windows\system32 folder where it belongs.When copying the file, respond in the affirmative if asked to replace or overwrite the existing file.The most likely places to look for backup copies of missing system files are:c:\windows\system32\dllcachec:\windows\ServicePackFiles\i386If you can't find the file there, search your hard drive(s) and see if you can find a copy. You could also copy the missing file from a working system using a floppy or USB device, email the file to yourself etc.If you still can't find a copy of the spoolsv.exe file, you someone can put one on heir SkyDrive and you can download it to your system.Deleting the spoolsv.exe file manually would require some extra effort since it is one of the 3498 files that Windows XP automatically looks after. Windows File Protection should automatically replace the file quickly and silently if it ever disappears.Replacing the file may provide immediate relief for the symptom of the problem but does not actually fix the real problem... which is how did the file ever come up missing in the first place? It is important to fix the actual problem and not just treat the symptom of the problem.If there is not a copy of the spoolsv.exe file in the dllcache folder, there needs to be. That is where Windows File Protection looks for copies of the 3498 files that is monitors. If the a file is missing from the dllcache folder, Windows File Protection will not be able to replace the file if it ever comes up missing.Possibilities are some malicious software has afflicted your system or your antivirus or antimalware programs thought the file was infected (maybe is really was) and quarantined/deleted the file.Do, or do not. There is no try.I decided to save up points for a new puppy instead of a pony!