How many times you had wanted to print a document, and it never printed because it was stuck in the printer pool. Now, if you are wondering why it is stuck, even your tech guy will have a hard time figuring out why print jobs get stuck in the queue?. The problem is that some of these jobs do not get deleted from the Printer Queue. In this post, we will share how to Clear Printer Queue in Windows 11/10 (Stalled Print Jobs)
What Is The Printer Queue In Windows?
Print Queue is the memory space reserved in your Windows computer for managing all the print jobs. In the Print Queue, you’ll find all the essential details regarding the print job like the document name and location, the current status of the job, the time the job started, printer details, and others. The printer queue also allows you to pause and cancel certain jobs. Once the job has started, it is better not to cancel it, as the printing process can get stuck, causing greater troubles.
What is Stuck Printer Job?
This situation is called a “stuck printer job,” Many times, I have seen that it has not allowed printing any other document until it was cleared. Though Modern algorithms should handle this well, if you ever get into this kind of technical issue, below are the solutions.
You may have often encountered stalled printing jobs, meaning that you cannot command your printer to print anything from your Windows PC. This issue primarily occurs due to the piling up of print jobs, these jobs can be corrupt, or the file which was supposed to be printed may not exist anymore. In such a case, these will create a blockage and won’t allow you to print anything momentarily.
How to Clear Printer Queue in Windows 11/10 (Stalled Print Jobs)
There are multiple ways of clearing the Printer Queue, each applicable in a particular scenario. Let’s have a look at the methods.
- Clear Printer Queue From Windows Settings
- Clear Printer Queue From Windows Terminal
- Clear Printer Queue From Services Menu
Let’s now look at the detailed steps for each of these.
1] Clear Printer Queue From Windows Settings
Clearing Printer Queue from Windows settings is the most basic method for fixing this issue; this should work if the print spooler service is working fine. Here’s how to do it:
- Open Windows settings by pressing Windows+I keys on your keyboard.
- In the settings, head over to the Bluetooth And Devices settings from the left pane.
- In the Bluetooth And Devices settings, open Printers and Scanners and select the printer, you wish to clear the print queue for.
- Now, you’ll see an Open Print Queue option for the respective printer. Click on it to open the Print Queue.
- You’ll see all the jobs listed there; click on the triple-dot button next to any job and click on Cancel All to clear the print queue.
2] Clear Print Queue From Windows Terminal
The Windows Terminal is the utility software preinstalled with each copy of the latest Windows used to give commands to the PC using the command line interface. If the Print Spooler service is not working, you’ll be unable to access the Print Queue and clear it from the settings. You can stop Print Spooler from the Windows Terminal, this will also clear the Print Queue, and the service automatically starts when you take a new print. Here’s how to do it:
- Open elevated Windows Terminal (Windows Terminal with admin privileges) by right-clicking the Start icon and then selecting Windows Terminal (Admin) from the menu.
- Now, paste the following command in the Windows Terminal and hit enter:
net stop spooler
This should stop the Printer Spooler service. You’ll get a confirmation saying the Printer Spooler service was stopped successfully; if not, please try it again.
3] Clear Printer Queue From Services Menu
This method also deals with stopping the Printer Spooler service, but this is apparently, the more manual way of doing so. Here’s how to clear Printer Queue from the services menu:
- Open the Run dialog box by pressing Windows+R keys on your keyboard.
- Type Services.MSC in the Run dialog box and hit enter.
- Now, this will open the Services menu, scroll down to find Printer Spooler, and right-click it.
- From the right-click menu, click on Stop to stop the Printer Spooler service.
Conclusion
Well, this was all from our article on how to clear Print Queue in Windows 11/10. The Printer Spooler service and the Print Queue are the primary components responsible for sending print commands and instructions from your PC to the printer.
If there is any issue regarding the printing, and you believe it has not originated from the printer itself, then the issue is most probably in one of these. We hope you found the article helpful; please make sure you share it with everyone.
How To View The Print Queue For A Printer In Windows?
Before clearing the printer queue and erasing all the assigned jobs, you may first want to look at them and check whether it is an error caused by stalled jobs in the printer queue or something else. Here’s how to view the printer queue for a printer in Windows:
- Open Windows Settings from the Start menu or by pressing the Windows+I keys on your keyboard.
- In the Windows Settings, head over to the Bluetooth and Devices Section from the left pane.
- In Bluetooth and Devices, open Printers and Scanners and open the printer you wish to view the Print Queue for.
- Now, in the Printer Settings, click on the first option of Open Print Queue. This will open a new window displaying all the current jobs assigned to the printer.
Why Would You Want To Delete A Print Job?
You may want to delete a print job for various reasons, the primary one being that you don’t want to print the respective document anymore. There can also be instances of your printer being low on ink while you assigned it a job. Clearing the Printer Queue will solve the error of you being unable to out new prints from your printer.
Why Print Queue Gets Stuck?
The Print Queue can get stuck for various reasons. Some of those reasons include outdated drivers, which can hamper the communication between your computer and the printer. Also, there can be times when you may have plugged in the printer cable or wirelessly connected to it, but the connection is not correctly established or is breaking. There can also be hardware issues with the printer, like stuck paper, no paper in the tray, or low ink density.
Is It Safe To Stop Running Services In Windows?
It is generally safe to stop running services in Windows. But you should only stop service when it is either functioning wrongly, or needs to stop, as each service is related to the functioning of a certain element in your PC.
Why Is My Printer Not Printing In Windows?
If your printer is not printing, there can be many reasons for this. You may have many print jobs pending in the printer queue, which can be the reason. Other than that, issues can also be with your printers like low ink, stuck paper, and others.
