You send a document to the printer, nothing comes out, and the queue shows it sitting there as Printing or Error - Printing. New jobs line up behind it, and Cancel does nothing or leaves the job stuck on Deleting. Usually one damaged or interrupted job is blocking the line. This guide moves from a simple cancel in the queue window to emptying the folder where Windows stores waiting print jobs.
What you might be seeing
- Documents sit in the queue as Printing or Error - Printing
- New jobs line up behind the first one and never start
- Canceling a job leaves it stuck on Deleting
- The printer itself looks idle and ready
Common causes
- One damaged job blocking the line
- Windows prints jobs in order, so one corrupted or half-sent file at the top holds up everything behind it.
- Connection lost mid-job
- If the printer slept, lost Wi-Fi or was switched off while receiving data, the job can be left half finished.
- Queue paused or offline
- The pause and offline options hold every job until they're turned off.
- Spooler holding stale files
- The service that manages printing sometimes won't release job files until it's restarted.
How to fix it, step by step
Work through these in order and test a print after each one. Most people are done within the first few steps.
Only delete the files inside the PRINTERS folder, never the folder itself or anything else in System32.
Cancel the job at the top of the queue
On Windows 11, open Settings › Bluetooth & devices › Printers & scanners, select your printer and choose Open print queue. On Windows 10, go to Settings › Devices › Printers & scanners, select the printer and choose Open queue. The oldest job, at the top, is usually the one causing the blockage. Right-click it, choose Cancel, and give it a minute. If the jobs behind it start moving, you're done.
Make sure the queue isn't paused or offline
A paused queue looks almost identical to a stuck one. In the older-style queue window, open the Printer menu and make sure Pause Printing and Use Printer Offline have no check mark. On the newer Windows 11 queue screen, look for Resume or Resume all in the menu at the top. Clearing either setting releases the jobs without deleting them.
Restart the printer, then the computer
Switch the printer off, wait about 30 seconds and turn it back on; a restarting printer usually discards a half-received job. If the queue still doesn't move, use Start › Power › Restart rather than shutting down, because Fast Startup can bring services back in their old state after a normal shutdown. Check the queue once both are running again.
Restart the Print Spooler service
Press Windows key + R, type
services.mscand press Enter. Scroll to Print Spooler, right-click it and choose Restart, approving the permission prompt if one appears. This resets the spooler's working state and often releases a job that refused to cancel. If the stuck document is still listed afterwards, the next step deletes the leftover file by hand.Empty the spool folder by hand
In Services, right-click Print Spooler and choose Stop, leaving the window open. Open File Explorer, paste
C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERSinto the address bar and press Enter, approving the administrator prompt. Delete every file inside, usually ending in .SPL and .SHD, but keep the folder itself. If a file won't delete, the spooler is still running. Finally, right-click Print Spooler and choose Start.Use the command line if jobs stick often
If the queue sticks regularly, the same reset takes seconds from the command line. Right-click Command Prompt in the Start menu search results and choose Run as administrator. Run
net stop spooler, thendel /q %systemroot%\System32\spool\PRINTERS\*, thennet start spooler. These stop the service, delete the waiting job files and start printing again. Type carefully, since the delete command doesn't ask for confirmation.Find out whether one document is the problem
On Windows 11, open your printer in Printers & scanners and choose Print test page; on Windows 10, select the printer, then Manage › Print a test page. If the test page prints, the original document is the likely culprit. Try printing it from another app, print a smaller page range, or save it as a PDF and print that. A file that jams the queue every time usually contains a damaged image or font.
How to keep it from happening again
- Let a job finish before switching the printer off
- Cancel unwanted jobs instead of unplugging the printer
- Use a cable if the printer's Wi-Fi signal is weak
- Install printer driver updates from Windows Update
Common questions
Will clearing the spool folder delete my documents?
No. The files in the spool folder are temporary copies Windows makes while a job waits to print. Your original documents stay exactly where you saved them. You only lose the pending job itself, so print anything you still need again once the queue is clear.
Why does the stuck job come back after a restart?
Windows saves waiting jobs to disk so they survive a restart. If a job file is damaged, the spooler reloads it every time it starts and gets stuck again. Stopping the spooler and deleting the files in the spool folder removes it for good, which is why that works when a restart doesn't.
Is it safe to stop the Print Spooler service?
Yes, for the few minutes it takes to clear the queue. While it's stopped, nothing can print and printers may vanish from print dialogs, which is expected. Start it again as soon as you're done, and never set its startup type to Disabled.
This guide is general information written for common home and office printers. Menus and button names vary between models, so check your printer’s manual where a step differs. Printer Problems Solved is independent and not affiliated with any printer manufacturer. See our disclaimer.