printer subsystem unavailable

[chris]

Hy there,

on my pc I can't see any printer anymore. if I want to add
a printer I get an error saying "printer subsystem
unavailable". how can I fix this??

thankx

 

[Paul Baker [MVP, Windows - SDK]]

The Print Spooler service is down. First, try restarting the computer. If
that does not help, follow these steps:
- Click Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Services
- Select Print Spooler
- Click the Properties toolbar button or popup menu item.
- If Service status is not 'Started', click Start.
- Make sure Startup type is set to 'Automatic' and click OK.

Let us know if that doesn't resolve your problem.

This could be caused by a problem with third party drivers or other third
party components. If it happens again, we need to look into that
possibility.

Paul

 

[Bill Peele [MS]]

--------------------
From: "chris" <[email protected]>
Subject: printer subsystem unavailable
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 05:46:42 -0800
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.win2000.printing

Hy there,

on my pc I can't see any printer anymore. if I want to add
a printer I get an error saying "printer subsystem
unavailable". how can I fix this??

thankx
--

Check in Services to make sure the Print Spooler service is started.

Bill Peele
Microsoft Enterprise Support

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[Joe]

I had that same problem yesterday with one of my users.
It was not the print spooler, it ended up being something
with our print server. I rebooted the server and the
problem went away.

Not sure if that will help any, but you never know.

Joe

 

[Paul Baker [MVP, Windows - SDK]]

Joe,

The Print Spooler service must be running on both the client and the server
for some functions to work correctly.

Paul

 

[Anthony]

I have experienced the same problem on a Windows 2000
server running the latest service packs and found that a
reboot clears the problem. Is there any way to correct
this problem so it doesnt happen again? It seems that at
random times I lose all of my defined printers in the
printers folder. I have tried restart the spooler service
and various other services but the only solution for now
seems to be a reboot. Any ideas are appreciated.

 

[Paul Baker [MVP, Windows - SDK]]

Anthony,

What you describe is the Print Spooler going down.

The reason for this is usually third party software. If you can eliminate
third party software one by one until it stops happening, you know which one
likely caused the problem. Unfortunately, if it is random, it's going to
make it difficult to track down.

Third party software that the Print Spooler uses includes:
Printer drivers
Port monitors (for special types of ports)
Language monitors (communication between the driver and the port monitor)
Print providers (for special types of printers other than local or network)

My advise would be to be suspicious of any printer that behaves differently
from the others, perhaps because the vendor of the printer made you install
some sort of goofy software that supposedly enhances your experience. For
example, my Epson driver adds all sorts of pages to printer propeties dialog
and tries to replace the Explorer window that lists print jobs. Suspicious


All of them are registered under
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\control\print.

If you're comfortable with Regedit, you can disable them that way.
Otherwise, you can try uninstalling them or deleting all printers that use
them.

Paul