An easy fix for a document stuck in print queue. This is a common problem with printers and means that the submitted document will not print – and stops any further documents from printing.
You will not receive an error message and the status of the document in the print queue will stay as ‘printing’ forever…
It is always worth trying to delete the document first but often that will not work – the status may change to ‘deleting in progress’ but never actually delete.
Until it is deleted properly, no further documents can be printed because they are in a queue (the first job submitted must be printed before any subsequent jobs can progress). So if you keep trying to print more to ‘test things’ you will just end up with lots more print jobs queued up.
How To Fix A Document Stuck In Print Queue
You will need to clear the print queue manually so that all the print jobs currently in the queue are deleted properly. Once the queue is empty you should then be able to print new documents without any problems.
To do this, follow the 5 steps below – they are the same for Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7 and Vista:
1. Click ‘Start’ and type CMD into the search box. Right click on the ‘CMD’ program in the search results and select ‘Run as administrator’.
2. You may now see a User Account Control message asking “Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to this computer?”. Click on ‘Yes’ to confirm.
This will open an elevated (Administrator) level Command Prompt window (as shown below, with all subsequent steps completed).
3. Type net stop spooler then press the Enter key.
[Tip: if you see a ‘System Error 5‘ error message then you didn’t choose ‘Run as administrator’ in step 1 – start over again]
4. Type del %windir%\system32\spool\printers\*.* /q then press the Enter key (Note: the only spaces in this command are a single space between del and %, and a single space between * and /q)
5. Type net start spooler then press the Enter key.
Close the Command Prompt window. This should have cleared the print queue (all print jobs have been deleted) and you can now submit new jobs for printing :-)
What Do These Commands Do?
The CMD program is a legacy program from the pre-Windows days of Microsoft DOS but it is still a very useful way to enter system commands:
‘net stop spooler’ – stop print spooler service (basically the ‘print queue’). We need to stop this service from running before we can delete any documents in it.
‘del’ command – deletes everything currently held in the print queue folder, including any ‘stuck’ documents.
‘net start spooler’ – restart print spooler service, so that it is ready to accept new print requests.
What If This Keeps Happening?
If you occasionally get a document stuck in print queue error, it is likely just due to an incompatibility with the actual data you sent to be printed.
This is especially common when trying to print a whole webpage because it may have unusual fonts or styles that the printer is unable to convert into printed output – run the above fix to clear the print queue.
Note: if you then try to print the same webpage again it will likely just get stuck again – because the printer still can’t convert it… Always look for a ‘print friendly’ or ‘click to print’ button on the webpage which will convert the page into a format more suitable for printing.
However, if you regularly encounter this error then it is most likely an issue with your printer drivers (software) – the ideal solution is to download/update new drivers direct from your printer manufacturer’s website.
If you have an old printer and there are no driver updates available, it may be the right time to upgrade to a new printer – about $50 buys a basic WiFi printer with good reviews.
Other causes of a document stuck in print queue may include a misconfigured printer e.g. trying to network print to an IP address that doesn’t exist – uninstalling the printer software then downloading the latest version and installing from scratch should fix this.
You could also try running a Windows Troubleshooter for printers – this could repeat our fix above but may also fix any other Windows errors that could stop printing, or at least inform you of the cause.
That’s brilliant, thank you so much! why does it let sh*t get jammed like that these days? thought PC’s would be more sophisticated???
thank you so much!!!! i have been googling options for days for this fix and finally something works. you are a genius!
This is great. Thank you! So can you explain…WHY does this happen? Why does a document get stuck in the print queue like that? We have a wirelss printer and two computers do fine but one seems to always get documents stuck…but only when printing from web-based email program. Any insight? Thanks!
Per Microsoft – “To prevent this problem in the future, always make sure that you have the most recent printer driver installed on the computer”.
Perhaps the one that gets stuck has an older driver than the others? Look for an update at the printer manufacturer’s website – and also make sure your browser is up to date
Awesome man, high five!
Ive got a printer on the server that wont print ive cleared the printing list and reset the print spooler but when the user go’s to print it just keeps sticking on the list any way to over come this?
you don;t say which server you use but if its 2003 maybe look at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/870968 and http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934885
these may not help your particular situation – for a server issue it would be best to let the server administrator investigate – to avoid downtime
Hi, quick question; how do I fix this problem if I’m using a network printer? The computer the printer is physically connected to prints beautifully, but all three of the other networked laptops just get stuck in the queue. Please help? Thanks.
I run Windows 7. I did exactly as the instructions say. Run As Administrator is **NOT** an option. When typing Command, no search options come up – just the command prompt box.
type ‘command’ and you ‘should’ see Command Prompt appear in the search results (listed under Programs). Right click on it and select ‘Run As Administrator’.
If it really doesn’t appear then click ‘Start’ then All Programs then Accessories and you will find Command Prompt there – right click on it and select ‘Run As Administrator’
Ah, as long as I don’t hit “enter” for the search, it does come up in a right-clickable way. It didn’t solve the problem until after I restarted the computer – but I did finally get a print. Thanks!
Blank status could be due to an empty ink cartridge – especially on HP printers. If not, there are others causes which may be why the doc became ‘stuck’ in the first place – see my answer to comment 3 and try the MS fixit to troubleshoot it
I tried this and it cleared it. However, I tried printing again and now the status is blank /:
Does this tip will work for Windows server 2003, its means stop spooler services will stop all printings? how about a particular printer queue ?
Sorry I don’t have Server 2003 to test on so can’t confirm either way
Worked perfectly. The best computer troubleshooting advice I have ever gotten. Thanks a million.
You could try the Microsoft automatic Fix It for printers – see https://techlogon.com/using-microsoft-fix-it-center-to-troubleshoot-problems/
It will repeat the above fix but may also flag up/fix any different Windows errors that stop printing
Other causes include a misconfigured printer e.g. network printing to an IP address that doesn’t exist – uninstalling and reinstalling the printer from scratch should fix
I followed the instructions above and all files were deleted, but when I tried to print again the new files are sitting there with the status “printing”. Is there any other suggestion as to what can be wrong?
This is the only thing that works for this horrible printing pause that happens……sweet…thanx!!!!
Glad it helped you Cam :-)
Does not seem to work in Windows 7. Get the response -System error 5 has occurred.
You get that error if you are not running an elevated (admin level) CMD prompt – see Step 2 again – you MUST choose ‘Run as administrator’ or you will get that error message.
If you still have problems try running Microsoft’s automated Fixit tool – http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/help/printer-problems-in-windows
I get no option to choose Run as Administrator
Hi Emma, if you have XP you don’t get/need that option and can ignore step 2.
Or run the MS Fixit Tool which should work (if stuck print queue is your problem)