How To Delete Or Cancel Hung Print Jobs In Windows

It’s easy enough to cancel a print job and clear print queue, right? You simply right-click it and select “cancel,” after which the print job status commences to display “deleting…” After which you normally expect the print job to cancel and disappear so you can resume printing. Unfortunately, more often than not, the print job will hang and prevent you from continuing to print anew from that same printer. So we’re going to tell you how to forcefully delete a pesky print job stuck in queue.

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How to Force Delete Print Jobs

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Can’t delete print job on your own? Fortunately, there is a way to delete the hung print job without having to save all your work, close all your applications, and restart your computer. Here’s how to delete print jobs (note that this is intended for Windows XP systems, but a similar approach works on other systems – if this doesn’t work for you reply below with your Operating System and version):

Stopping And Starting The Print Spooler Service With NET SPOOLER

• Browse to Start -> Run… and type in “NET STOP SPOOLER” (this will stop the print spooler service; if that doesn’t work open the task manager ([Windows] + R or Ctrl + Alt + Del keys) and try killing the process from there).
• Browse to your windows\system32\spool\PRINTERS\ folder
• You should see files there ending in .SPL and .SHD created around the time you tried to print – delete these files.
• Browse to Start -> Run… and type in “NET START SPOOLER” (this will restart the print spooler service).
  • From the command prompt: start net spooler from the command prompt by first launching the command prompt by browsing to Start > Run, typing “cmd,” and then pressing the Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys.
  • Windows 10: In the search box next to the Windows button (bottom left of your screen), type “cmd” and hit Ctrl + Shift + Enter.
  • Once in the command prompt, simply type “net start spooler.”
• Double click the printer icon in the lower-right corner of your taskbar to examine your print job queue and browse to View -> Refresh.

Voila 🙂 You should see that annoying hung print job finally disappear completely and you should now be able to resume printing without having to restart your computer.

But what if you didn’t even have to mess with the print spool in the first place?

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Or Maybe It’s Time for a New Printer?

If you’re tired of trying to get your printer to work, maybe it’s time for a new one! Check out our in-depth review of the best printers.

Had any troubles printing lately?