What Is a Spooler Subsystem Application?

A spooler subsystem application handles the documents sent to your printer.

Most people don't give a lot of thought to their printing processes. However, several interlocking pieces of software work together to make the interface user-friendly. One of the most important components is called a spooler subsystem application, often referred to simply as a spooler.

Definition

A spooler is like a waiting room in your computer for documents.

When you print a document of several pages or several documents at once, the hardware can only output a single page at a time. A spooler collects the print jobs, places the pages in order and buffers them until each page comes up to print.

Function

Many printers automatically install their own spoolers once connected.

Spoolers can be installed by disk, by downloading software from the Internet or automatically by the printer when it is plugged in. The spooler does not necessarily have to be made by the same company as the printer; third-party spooling software is often used in large offices where many networked computers send jobs to shared printers.

Issues

It is safest to uninstall, then reinstall, printing software when upgrading.

If your spooler is running as you try to add a new printer to your computer under Control Panel, it will refuse to recognize the new printer. Also, the printers currently recognized by your computer may cease functioning if you upgrade your operating system without removing and reinstalling the correct version of many third-party drivers.

Warning

Spooler file paths should always denote the proper source program folders.

Always check the file path when monitoring or installing a spooling service -- many types of malicious software use file extensions similar to legitimate extensions (e.g., "spoolsv.exe") to trick you into ignoring them.

References

• Microsoft: Spooler Subsystem App Error
• Tech-Chand: Printer Spooler Error
• TechSpot: Spoolsvc.exe