Tech help needed

[conservativesister]

I have an old XP computer that I need to keep running and something updated and I've lost all printer drivers My error message is: Operation could not be completed. The print spooler service is not running.

I've tried system restore and it doesn't fix it. I've tried to download drivers and spooler.

Any suggestions........and I'm not getting rid of this computer there are things I can do on XP that I can't begin to figure out how to do on Windows 7 which is on the rest of my computers.

[wildbill]

Not to dismiss all these helpful Freepers, but I have found over the years that I can get a lot of free tech help on any subject or problem from this site:

https://techguy.org/

Very professional advice from volunteers.

[gibsosa]

LOL!!

[Boogieman]

The print spooler is an integral Windows service, not a driver. If it is not running, you can simply restart the computer and it should start up again.

If that doesn’t work, you can manually start the spooler by doing this:

Go to Start Menu > Run, then type “services.msc” and hit enter.

In the list of services that appears, search for “Print Spooler”. Right click it, and select “Start”. It should take a few seconds to start the service. If it fails, it may give you an error message pointing to the source of the problem. You may also want to right-click the Print Spooler, click properties, and make sure that “Start Type” is set to “Automatic”.

If you can’t manually start it, then you probably have some conflict caused by a recent update. Go to the list of installed updated (Control Panel (classic view) > Add or Remove Programs > Check “Show Updates”), then scroll down to Windows XP to see the windows updates recently installed and uninstall, starting with the most recent, until the spooler works again.

If you go that route, make a note of each update you uninstall until you find the problematic one. You can then reinstall the other updates that didn’t cause the issue.

[Boogieman]

Finally someone with sense posted. I wish that people who don’t know what they are talking about wouldn’t try to give computer advice. Those people saying “reinstall Windows” over a print spooler issue are doing more harm than good.

[rarestia]

People tend to freeze up when something stops working. Oftentimes, the error message tells you exactly what’s wrong. However, in this case, print spooler issues are often much deeper than just starting the print spooler. Print drivers are notoriously finicky.

[Organic Panic]

What driver do you need. Is th printer usb or lpt? Chances are someone has it. Uninstall the device and drivers. Run some of the disk utilities and defrag. That should find any errors on the disk and map them out. Reinstall the drivers if you have them or just plug in the printer if it is usb. If it is lpt you may have some luck finding a generic print driver. Good luck.

I keep several xp laptops running for my shop equipme t and they are never going to be upgraded. It is rock steady...

[minnesota_bound]

I see you are of the Borg 22 of 26 : )

[bgill]

The spooler service is stopped. Go to Start > Run > type ‘services.msc’

That was going to be my suggestion. I have to do that all the time. I can print one time but the second time requires the stop/start on the print spooler. Don't click print again out of frustration but wait a few extra seconds after the stop/start than you normally would and it should print for you. I have a Lexmark printer and usually after doing the stop/start print spooler dance a couple of times, Lexmark wants to load something - don't allow it as it'll just complicate things.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I wouldn't take the risk.

Yeah...makes sense. But backing up data doesn't protect installed programs. I guess the re-install will overwrite the registry which is the problem.

But, I have an image I can use to get back to the way it is now, just in case it wipes my stuff. A good project for a non-NFL football weekend I 'spose. Thanks.

[AppyPappy]

Just make sure you don’t connect it to the internet

[freeonefrom]

Do you have the disk for the printer? If you don’t download it from web site. Then try using msconfig, type msconfig in the run window. When it comes up, select selective startup and dis-enable all in the startup. Try to run printer disk. You might need to restart many times and enable or dis-enable to find the problem.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Clonezilla.

http://clonezilla.org/

[Scutter]

It has been very long since I used XP, so I am not sure. I do see lots of articles on this topic, which you can find by searching Bing or Google for "XP repair install" or similar query. For example, here is one article that I found.

Good luck with it, and please don't forget to back up your data first!

[matt1234]

Posts 17 and 23 are correct. Couple more points:

1. Some services have dependent services that must start beforehand. On my XP computer, the Printer Spooler service is dependent on the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service. If the latter does not start, the former will not start.

2. Most services write error messages that can be used to diagnose problems. Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer

[ducttape45]

Correct.

And once you find the error in the Event Viewer a lot of times you can search for it on the Internet and find a solution to your problem, WITHOUT having to reprogram your entire computer.

[ducttape45]

And along the lines of Googling the error code, check out these links:

"Operation could not be completed. The print spooler service is not running." Microsoft

"Operation could not be completed. The print spooler service is not running." iYogi

I would also suggest checking Services (type services.msc at the Run command) to see if "printspooler service is running in automatic mode and also make sure you UPnP services are also started."

[GregB]

Thanks let me buy you a beer..

[daniel1212]

You need to start the print spooler as has been said. The actual file should be C:\WINDOWS\System32\spoolsv.exe. Paste that string into your Run command and hit Enter if you want.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Good luck with it, and please don't forget to back up your data first!

Thanks. Plus, I work for a large data protection systems company so backing up, imaging, taking snapshots and living in the information life-cycle is almost a religion with me. I am protected.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

That's a good link. I may try that this weekend.

The one hitch in the process is going to be on reboot. After I run setup and select the Repair install option, Windows will reboot the box. It will be interesting to see if the rest of setup runs because normally, with the XP CD in, the reboot hangs and says, "NTLDR not found, press enter to reboot."

I may wind up quitting at that point and start drinking. Or reimage and just leave it the way it is. Usable but kludgy.