How to Clear Print Jobs Using Windows Vista

Whenever you have a document printing in Windows Vista, the operating system will store the job in the print queue, or spooler. The jobs are stored based on the first-in-first-out principle. However, if one of the print jobs goes bad it can freeze the entire queue, preventing other jobs from printing. In this case, you have to stop spooling from your computer or other PCs on the network, delete all of the print jobs in the spooler, and then resume spooling. Once that's done you can resend your print jobs back to the queue.

Instructions

1. Click on the "Start" menu, type "Run" and then click on the "Run" link.

2. Type "net stop spooler" in the search field and hit "Enter" to stop spooling print jobs from your PC or other computers.

3. Bring up the "Run" utility again and type "C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS." Click on "OK" to bring up the "PRINTERS" folder. Select the items you want to clear from the queue using your mouse and hit "Delete" on your keyboard.

4. Bring up the "Run" utility again, type "net start spooler" and hit "Enter" to resume spooling.

References

• Matt Silverman: Stop and Delete Print Jobs Windows XP/Vista