The print spoiler manages the printing process.
It accepts print jobs maintaining the printer queue for the computer with the option to also accept jobs from other computers.
The process is started when the computer boots, staying active unless stopped.
If printers are not associated with the server/computer then with the service not required it can be disabled.
There is more than one method to disable the print spooler service:
- The settings control panel
- Group policies
- Command Prompt/Powershell
- The Registry
Control Panel (Services)
Access via the Services control panel.
In task manager search enter services and click on run as administrator
This shows the services control panel with all the listed services.
Scroll down to print spooler, may also be listed as Spooler. This can then be turned off. Double click on this entry to show a popup window titled Print Spooler Properties.
On this view, the general tab items of interest are:
- the row of service status buttons. Click Stop here.
- the dropdown list alongside Startup type. Change this to Manual, or perhaps more preferable Disabled if you wish the print spooler to remain off at boot up.
Group Policy
Open the Group Policy control panel. gpedit.
Within the left hand panel of the panel expand Computer Configuration and the sub section Administrative Templates. Click on Printers.
In the right hand list of items chose the items to be disabled:
- Allow Print Spooler to accept client connections
- Always render print jobs on the server
For each of this double click on the entry to show the settings popup window. From here select the Disabled radio button and click the OK button to close.
Command Prompt
To obtain a command window enter cmd at the Start menu. In the popup right hand pane associated with Command Prompt app select Run as administrator.
sc config Spooler start= disabled
Note the start parameters don’t match the words used in the service. See below:
- auto = automatic
- disabled = disabled
- demand = manual
And the options to stop
sc stop Spooler
and to start
sc start Spooler
Or from PowerShell
Stop-Service -Name Spooler
and to start again
Start-Service -name Spooler
The above examples with Powershell will error when attempting to start if the service is configured as Disabled.
To change the service to Disabled or Manual. The example below sets the service to Automatic.
Set-Service -Name Spooler -StartupType Automatic
Registry
Login to the registry
Click Start and type regedit. From the popup window choose Run as administrator from the options available against the Registry Editor app.
Navigate in the left menu panel to the section:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SYSTEM>CurrentControlSet>Services>Spooler
In the main window from the list of parameters double click on Start
Within the popup window set the Value data text field according to the list below:
- 2 – Automatic
- 3 – Manual,
- 4 – Disabled.
For this to take effect the computer will need to be restarted.
