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Resolved Can't cancel a queued print job

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by g.watson, 2011/05/27.

  1. 2011/05/27
    g.watson

    g.watson Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    I'm running an HP Officejet 5610 all-in-one. I don't often need to cancel a print job, but when I do need to (just noticed it was the wrong page, or something like that) it seems to completely lock up the whole printer sub-system: I can't print anything else, the cancelled operation remains in the printer jobs window with "cancelling" next to it but won't go away. The only remedy seems to be to shut down and re-boot, but even this doesn't always clear the print queue.

    Is there any quick and dirty way to zap the whole print queue and start out clean?
     
    g.watson,
    #1
  2. 2011/05/27
    Steve R Jones

    Steve R Jones SuperGeek Staff

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    How many times a day does this happen:eek:

    You could try "stopping" the Print Spooler... Then Cancel the print job - then re-start the print spooler.

    Can also try unplugging the power cord to the printer.
     
    Steve R Jones,
    #2


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  4. 2011/05/27
    g.watson

    g.watson Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Hi Steve and thanks for quick reply. It's not that it happens many times a day; it's just that when it does happen everything grinds to a halt. Haven't tried unpluggung the power cord to the printer (I'd have to crawl around under my desk to do that), but in an emergency I could try it. More to the point: how do I stop the print spooler?
     
    g.watson,
    #3
  5. 2011/05/27
    retiredlearner

    retiredlearner SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    Hi Geoffrey, my experiences with HP printers is they don't like being rushed to carry out commands.
    When the printer is operating - do you have a small screen indicating the progress?
    Is there a Stop Print button showing?
    Can you open the Print Icon in the Task bar > Open Printer > Cancel All Documents?

    It usually takes some little time to stop the current print job - some may print 2-3 pages before responding. Neil.
     
    retiredlearner,
    #4
  6. 2011/05/27
    g.watson

    g.watson Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Hi, RL, thanks for input. Yes, there's a small display, but that doesn't help. There's also a Cancel button, but this isn't the problem: it's the Printer icon on the Taskbar. When I open that and "Cancel all documents" or select a document and "Cancel print job" (I'm translating from my Italian system here, so it may not be the exact same text), it marks the print jobs "Cancelling" but then seems to lock up and freeze.
     
    g.watson,
    #5
  7. 2011/05/27
    Steve R Jones

    Steve R Jones SuperGeek Staff

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    Control Panel->Admin Tools->Services->Print Spooler->double click to open and click the STOP button.
     
    Steve R Jones,
    #6
  8. 2011/05/27
    g.watson

    g.watson Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Thanks, Steve. But I assume that requires logging in to an account with admin privileges, and then out again and back in to my limited account. Which takes just as long as shutting down and rebooting and solving it that way. Next time it happens when I just happen to be logged in as Admin, I'll try that. But I normally use the limited account for security, since I'm on inernet all day.

    Come to think of it, maybe that's why it doesn't like my attempts to cancel a print job - because I'm not Admin, maybe?
     
    g.watson,
    #7
  9. 2011/05/27
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    Here's a handy script I haved used occasionally with "stubborn printers ".
    Copy+Paste the text below into Notepad and SaveAs: clear-spool.cmd.
    Double click the file to get rid of print jobs that won't cancel.

    Code:
    @echo off
echo.
echo Purging the print queue . . .
net stop Spooler
echo Deleting all print jobs . . .
ping localhost -n 4 > nul
del /q %SystemRoot%\system32\spool\printers\*.*
net start Spooler
echo Done!
ping localhost -n 4 > nul
pause
     
    TonyT,
    #8
  10. 2011/05/27
    g.watson

    g.watson Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Hi Tony and thanks. I saved your script and tried it, but I got "Access denied" and "System error 5 ". Maybe it requires admin privileges?
     
    g.watson,
    #9
  11. 2011/05/27
    Steve R Jones

    Steve R Jones SuperGeek Staff

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    Yep. Probably does require Admin....
     
    Steve R Jones,
    #10

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