Unable to access printers-Faxes in Control panel

[LewB]

Something happened to my printer area today. I believe there was an
automatic installation of updated software from Microsoft and the problem
seemingly started soon thereafter. My printer(s) do not work nor can I
access them in control panel. I am running WindowsXP professional. When I
go to Start the standard side panel no longer comes up...what does come up is
Windows Explorer. In Explorer if I go to Printers-Faxes there is absolutely
no response. I went to system restore to see if restoring to an earlier date
would resolve the probem and noted that a "software distribution Service" had
apparently been done shortly before my printer problems developed. Trying to
restore before this date was unsuccessful and I have tried to go back a few
weeks in December and System Restore will not respond to the back arrow!!
Appreciate any help. Thanks.

LJ Brown

 

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

Verify that the Print Spooler service is started.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[LewB]

Thank you Alan for your prompt response. I restarted the spooler with the
"net start spooler" command in command prompt. The printer icons reappeared
but I was unable to print out a test page. I did a restart and was faced
with the initial problem, no printer/fax icons in the start page, no access
to the printers, etc. So I did a second spooler restart and again was
advised that the printer spooler was working. This time I was able to print
a test page with this desktop printer and and also with my laptop connected
via a router. I was concerned about the reboot however and did a
restart....and again I am back to the original problem, no access to the
printers, no printer icons, etc. So I presume from your discussion(s) the
spooler is corrupt?? I went to the Microsoft Help and Support page you
listed in your note and item 919750 seems to describe this problem.
(although there are others on the list that seem very similar and have a
differet set of instructions.) I started to work on those in 919750
but......after being taken to my system32 folder on the C drive, there is no
"spoolsv" folder to rename. There is a "spool" folder only and I am
reluctant to accept this as the one to rename? What are your suggestions?
One of the alternate choices describes an involved process with registry
deletions, etc that I was prepared to follow (even set up system restore to
backup the registry in cased of a problem) but 919750 seemed a little less of
a chore and with the same end result?? Anyway thanks in advance for your
help.
LJ Brown

 

[LewB]

Alan,
I suspect that the note I sent never got posted because only 2 responses
were listed but with my response there were 3. Anyway I am replying again
and (if you haven't already) would ask you to review the response I sent
yesterday regarding spool and spoolersv. Thanks

 

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

the Print Spooler service should be configured to start Automatically. If
it is set to manual change this.


The spooler service cannot start if spoolsv.exe is missing so it's around.

Most likely the spooler service is terminating due to some print drivers
corrupting the spoolsv.exe application memory. Check the system event log
for service errors.

If you are a typically home user, you only have a few print drivers and
printers installed. We can track down which driver is causing the issue but
normally it just as easy to delete the printers, remove the print drivers,
restart, download the latest vendor drivers for the devices and reinstall.

If you want to find out which driver, it's not too hard.



--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[LewB]

I checked the print spooler settings in administrative tools and it was set
to manual. I changed that to automatic and the printer now works as it
should........even when I reboot!! That is great and thank you.
I ran a search on spoolsv and indeed there are 6 locations (although
listed as spoolsv.exe and not spoolsv) So I don't have to concern myself
about this file unless the .exe extension raised s another issue??
In the system event log there are a number of error listings but none
with a spool(er) identification...most are "service control manager" listings.
Would it be best nonetheless to run a check to see if there is a
corrupted print driver hanging around? I have had a lot of trouble with a
Visioneer one touch scanner and finally removed it completely with the help
of Visioneer.....but I know scanners have connections to printers.
I don't know why this desktop computer continues to show only 2 posts, my
original one and your first response. Accessing the same site on another
computer lists 5 responses.
LJB

 

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

I think you have the solution at this point.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[robert]

I think you have the solution at this point.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[robert]

i have a problem with spoolersv it dosnt seem to be functioning at all
i have tried to restart it but ever time comes up with an error message..
i can also not sign into any king of instant messenger as a result...