If you have a long list of hung or corrupt print jobs in Microsoft Windows 10, 8, or 7, you can clear the print queue easily by using either of these methods.
Command Method
You can clear the print queue using commands like this.
- Select Start.
- Type
Command. - Right-click “Command Prompt” and select “Run as administrator“.
- Type
net stop spoolerthen press “Enter“. - Type
del %systemroot%\System32\spool\printers\* /Qthen press “Enter“. - Type
net start spoolerthen press “Enter“. - The print queue on your Windows should now be cleared. Type
exit, then press “Enter” to exit the command window.
GUI Method
You can clear the print queue using this the Windows GUI.
- Hold down the Windows Key and press “R” to bring up the Run dialog.
- Type
services.msc, then press “Enter“. - Find the “Print Spooler” service in the list. Right-click it, then select “Stop“.
- Leave the Services window open. Hold down the Windows Key and press “R” to bring up the Run dialog.
- Type
%systemroot%\System32\spool\printers\, then press “Enter“. - Select all of the files by holding “CTRL” and pressing “A“.
- Press the “Delete” key to delete all of the files.
- Go back to the Services window, right-click “Print Spooler“, then select “Start“
FAQ
Some files remain in the “printers” folder and will not allow me to delete them. How to I get rid of these?
Make sure the Print Spooler is stopped. If you’re sure it’s stopped, you might want to try opening a command prompt and running “chkfdsk /f /r” to run a check on the hard disk. Once complete, attempt to delete the file.
John R Janovich says
Followed above steps and worked like a charm on Win 7
Elaine Pruncutz says
how do I sign on as “Administrator”?????
Harmony Rose says
Thank you so much – I’ve been trying to sort out these stuck print jobs for monrths now. This finally worked.
Nanang Taten says
Thanks the first step work folr met
Thank you very much again.
lafield says
thank you for making this so very easy!
Laurie Turnbull says
Thank you, the first method above worked for me on an old HP p1005 printer
Sr. Betty Preston says
am new with this old printer HP 6600
I do not understand nor can I find the COMMAND nor the WINDOWS KEY
Mitch Bartlett says
When followed properly, these steps should have absolutely nothing to do with causing missing DLL files or background information.
Jesse Lockhart-Krause says
This is VERY DANGEROUS!!!, after following these instruction a number of my programs are no longer working!!!!!, with missing .dll files.
I just wanted to clear the print queue!!!, Not delete all of my background information.
Mitch Bartlett says
That would probably be an admin rights issue.
Ginger Tuttle says
This didn’t work even remotely for my computer. All I got was “Access is denied” with every step of the way. And it didn’t fix the issued of either duplicating print jobs or just not printing anything.
RWild says
Just dawned on me this is to clear the files in the queue. I’m want to delete the queues themselves. Sorry but the thing that pointed me here sounded like that was what this was about.
RWild says
Just tried this on Windows 8.1 and …\spool\PRINTERS directory is empty. View is set to show hidden files.
Ray Tryhorn says
I have tried all of the above, the response I get is
System error 1721 has occurred.
Not enough resources are available to complete this operation.