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I am facing tough time with this print spooler. Don't know what is wrong with it.

Attached is the screenshot 1:

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The above error message makes you feel that print spooler is not running but I already have it setup run automatically. This is the 2nd screenshot:

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The thing that is strange is I start the print spooler and then click "Add Printer" and I again get the 1st screenshot and when I check back in services.msc it is stopped!! I have all dependendent services running like RPC etc.

This is the 3rd screenshot. I don't have any printer installed on my machine. All I want to do is install Bullzip PDF on my machine which can act as virtual printer.

enter image description here

I also tried running cccleaner to see if I have any corrupted keys but nothing seems to work out.

I also tried going into control panel into "Turn windows features on and off" in Program and features and uninstall document and print services. Still nothing works. The last option that comes to my mind due to this silly issue is format my machine but it is not at all viable. Print spooler brought tears in my eyes!! I need to get it working anyhow.

EDIT: I just found that print spooler service every few seconds. It has got nothing to do with "Add Printer" but it just stops every 10 seconds or so after starting.

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2 Answers

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I had the same problem recently. There was a corrupt document in the spool. Go to the folder C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS and delete any files in that folder. Do not delete any subfolders or files in those subfolders. Then try starting the service again and see it it stays running for a minute or more.

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I also tried that solution. Nothing worked. I have empty IA64, w32x86, x64 folders. But a folder named "color" has files in it. Do I need to delete that also? – Nitesh Panchal Dec 22 '11 at 3:58
My mistake! Edited my answer for a different folder. – Hand-E-Food Dec 22 '11 at 4:08
Doesn't work :( – Nitesh Panchal Dec 22 '11 at 15:12
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Finally I am replying to my own answer in case someone drops on this thread in future.

"Nothing" worked out in my case as suggested on this thread or any other thread on forums. I had to install "Registry Mechanic" and clean registry. Make sure you install the latest version. It found 2100 corrupted keys in registry. After it fixed everything is working smooth and fine. However I still don't know which key it was :p but I'm glad now that it is fixed :-)

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