Restarting the Print Spooler

[jason_h]

Sometimes the Print Spooler service can get hung up or stop functioning.  When this happens often times a simple restart of the service can get things back in order.  Below I will describe some of the ways one can access the Print Spooler service and restart it.

For Windows 8:

There are a couple of ways one can access the services menu or restart the print spooler in Windows 8.

1. One can mouse down to the bottom left of the desktop to make the mini-Metro menu to pop up.  If you right click on this menu, then it will pop up the Context menu.  One can also access the Context menu by pressing the  (Windows Key) and X at the same time.  From here one can access the Control Panel >> Administrative Tools >> Services.  One can then scroll down to Print Spooler and click on Restart.
   
   
2. One can press the Windows Key and R at the same time to open the Run command.  One can type Services.msc and press Enter to access the Services menu as well.
   
   
3. One can also restart the Print Spooler from Command Line using the Run box.
   • Open the Run Command box with Windows Key + R
   • Type Net Stop Spooler and press Enter to stop the Spooler Service
   • Open the Run Command box again
   • Type Net Start Spooler and press Enter to start the Spooler Service back up.

For Older versions of Windows (7, Vista, XP, etc)

1. One can access the Control Panel through the Start Menu instead of through the Context menu of Windows 8
   
   
2. One can also access the Services menu via the Run Command: Services.msc.
   
   
3. The command line for stopping and starting the Spooler again also work here.

[jason_h · Accepted solution]

Hope this helps anyone needing to restart their Print Spooler service in Windows OS.