3 Ways to Clear Print Queue In Windows 10/11, If you are unable to print, clearing the print queue may help resolve the problem. Here are 3 different ways to clear the print queue in Windows 11/10.
Clear Print Queue In Windows 10/11
When a print command is issued from a computer, the print command is sent to a print spooling service, which is designed to manage a list of print requests from the computer.
Therefore, even a single erroneous or corrupt print request can block the print queue and prevent all other print jobs from completing.
This problem can be easily fixed by clearing the print queue on your computer using any of the methods given below.
Clear the print queue with settings
An easy way to clear the print queue is to go to the Settings app on your Windows 10/11 computer.
Click on the Start button > Settings Icon > Devices > click on Printers & Scanners in the left pane. In the right-pane, select your Printer and click on the Open Queue option.
On the next screen, right-click on the Document stuck in the print queue (if any) and click on Cancel to remove the document from the print Queue.
Once the jammed document is removed from the print queue, the printing problem on the computer should be resolved.
Delete the print queue using the command prompt
If you prefer to use the command prompt, you can use the net stop spooler command to clear the print queue.
Type Command Prompt in the Search Bar > right-click on Command Prompt in the search results and click on the Open As Administrator option.
On Command Prompt screen, type the following commands one by one and press the Enter key after each command.
- Type
net stop spoolerand press the Enter Key. - Type
del %systemroot%\System32\spool\printers* /Qand press the Enter Key. - Type
net start spoolerand press the Enter Key.
After executing these commands, you will find that the print queue on your computer has been completely deleted. This allows you to send new print requests without encountering blocking issues.
Clear the print queue using a Windows service
Right-click on the Start button and click on Run. In the Run Command window, type services.msc and click on Run.
On the services screen, right-click on Print Spooler and click on Stop.
Leave the Services Window open (do not close it yet).
Open Run Command, type %systemroot%\System32\spool\printers\ in the Run Command Windows, and click on OK.
Note: You can also navigate to OS (C) > Windows > System32 > Spool > Printers using File Explorer.
On the next screen, select All Files in the Printers Folder and Delete them.
After that, go back to the Services window and restart the Print Spooler service (right-click the Print Spooler entry and click Start).
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