Have you ever sent something to your printer, only for it to never actually make it onto the paper? This issue is most likely caused by a stuck job in the print queue. Fortunately, clearing the print queue is an easy task that can be done in just a few steps. So if you’re having trouble getting your documents to print, read on and learn how to clear the print queue in Windows 10! LearnHow to Clear the Print Queue in Windows 10?
How to Clear the Print Queue in Windows 10?
- Step 1: Stop Printing Services – The first step towards fixing a stuck print job is to stop any processes related to printing. To do this, type “Services” into the start menu search bar and select the “Services” app when it appears. Once you’ve opened Services, scroll down until you find “Print Spooler” and right-click on it. From there, select “Stop” from the dropdown menu. This will pause any jobs that are currently trying to enter or exit your printer.
- Step 2: Clear Out Your Printer Queue – Now that we have stopped all printing processes, it’s time to clear out your printer queue. First, open File Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS\. You should see a list of files with .spl or .shd extensions; these are all of your current printer jobs waiting in the queue. Go ahead and delete them all (you may need administrator privileges). By deleting these files you will clear out any documents that were stuck waiting for your printer’s attention.
- Step 3: Restart Print Spooler Service – Once everything has been cleared out of your printer queue we can restart our printing services by following Step 1 again but selecting “Start” instead of “Stop” this time around. Now that we have restarted our printing services our document should begin printing without any issues! If not, try repeating Steps 1-3 once more—sometimes multiple attempts are necessary for clearing up stubborn stuck jobs.
Conclusion
Clearing the print queue can be a frustrating process but with these three simple steps you can get back up and running in no time! If for some reason none of these solutions work then there may be an issue with your hardware itself; contact customer support if this is the case and they should be able to help you troubleshoot further! With correct usage of these techniques, Windows users should now know how to clear a print queue successfully! Good luck!