Edit

You experience Print Spooler error messages after you install or upgrade a Third-Party print driver

  • Article

This article provides a solution to fix Print Spooler errors that occurs after you install or upgrade a Third-Party print driver.

Applies to:   Windows 10 - all editions, Windows Server 2012 R2
Original KB number:   2793718

Symptoms

You may experience any of the following symptoms on your Windows-based client computer:

  • During the install or upgrade of a third-party print driver, you may receive the following error messages:

    • Operation failed with error 0x00000057
    • Printer driver was not installed. Operation could not be completed (error 0x00000057)
    • Operation failed with error 0x000005b3
    • Operation could not be completed (error 0x00000bc4). No printers were found.
    • Windows cannot connect to the printer. Operation could not be completed (error 0x00000002)

  • When you try to start or stop the Print Spooler service, you may receive the following error message:

    Spooler subsystem app has encountered a problem and needs to close

  • When you click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes in Windows XP, or Devices and Printers in Windows Vista or later, you may receive the following error message:

    Spooler subsystem app has encountered an error and needs to close

  • When you click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes in Windows XP, or Devices and Printers in Windows Vista or later to try to view your printers, no printers appear. This issue may occur even if you have printers installed.

Cause

These issues may occur if a third-party printer driver or service affects the functionality of an existing or newly installed printer.

Resolution

To clear and reset the print spooler, follow these steps:

  1. In the search box on the taskbar, type services, and then select Services in the list of results.
  2. Select the Standards tab, and then double-click Print Spooler in the list of services.
  3. Select Stop, and then select OK.
  4. In the search box on the taskbar, enter %WINDIR%\system32\spool\printers, select %WINDIR%\system32\spool\PRINTERS in the list of results, and then delete all files in the folder.
  5. In the search box on the taskbar, search for services, and then select Services in the list of results.
  6. Select the Standards tab, and the double-click Print Spooler in the list of services.
  7. Select Start, select Automatic in the Startup Type box, and then select OK.

Data collection

If you need assistance from Microsoft support, we recommend you collect the information by following the steps mentioned in Gather information by using TSS for User Experience issues.