system32 spool printers folder

Question

_{Friday, May 11, 2012 1:54 PM}

Hi all, is it safe to delete the entire contents of the following folder?

C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\PRINTERS

My users seem to be having lots of printing issues, the printers simply stop printing at random times. I have noticed the above folder has loads of SPL and SHD files.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thank

All replies (4)

_{Tuesday, May 15, 2012 3:32 AM ✅Answered | 3 votes}

We move/delete the contents frequently.  Our print solution has known issues with the drivers where certain jobs will crash the print spooler and won't start until we clean out that directory.

As a workaround we currently have a recovery option on the print spooler service (runs a powershell script) which moves all contents out of that folder to a temp directory.

Script looks like this:

Move-Item C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS\ C:\Output -force
start-service spooler

Hopefully our print provider will fix this issue with the print driver so we don't need that in future but we have been waiting a while now.

_{Monday, May 14, 2012 9:01 AM}

Hi,

To isolate printer driver issues, please install a Generic Text Only printer on the computer

a. open the Devices and Printers.
 
b. Choose "Add a local printer".

c. In the "Install the printer driver" tab, select "Generic" in the "Manufacturer" list box, and select "Generic / Text Only" in the "Printers" list box.

d. Follow the wizard to complete the printer installation.
 
e. Logon to and install the Generic Text only network printer.

In addition, please refer the following KB to troubleshoot this issue:

How to use ADPlus to troubleshoot "hangs" and "crashes"
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=286350

Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008 R2: Print Driver Isolation
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/archive/2009/10/08/windows-7-windows-server-2008-r2-print-driver-isolation.aspx

Hope this helps!

Best Regards
Elytis Cheng

Elytis Cheng

TechNet Community Support

_{Thursday, June 11, 2015 3:00 PM}

This was a common problem in XP and 2003 server, 2008 server and Windows 7 and above are better. I had a lot of problems on terminal servers/workstations until I excluded the spool directory from being scanned by virus software(SAV EPP) both in the real time scanning and weekly scans. Made a world of difference just shutting that off. Still bombed once in a while, but much less often.

_{Tuesday, September 29, 2015 10:32 PM}

This sounds like an issue that I am having. We installed a new HP 8610 about a month ago or so, worked ok for a few weeks and then started getting hung up. How do I exclude the spool directory from being scanned by virus software. Is it difficult to do? We run our usual monthly statements and any and all help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Carol