[Eric01]

I have checked everywhere, and tried every fix I came across. But they have yet to work.

I have an IBM ThinkCentre 8171 with Windows XP Pro SP3. 2GB of RAM.

Here's the situation. A user had a virus (defender), which I removed, and the virus wiped out all restore points, as well as corrupted the print spooler or something.

Spooler service continuously stops. All settings are correctly applied: automatic start, reset fail count after 1 day, restart service after 1 minute.
If I change those to 0, the service appears to stay running, but none of the printers are able to be installed.

When he attempts to add a printer, an error pops up: "Operation could not be completed. The print spooler service is not running." And when I force it to stay running, it just says: "Operation could not be completed."

I am unable to restore to an earlier point due to the wipeout of restore points, and the print spooler keeps shutting down. This prevents the user from being able to print at all.



I have copied working spoolsv.exe and spoolss.dll files over, solved nothing.
I have deleted all drivers and printers from the spool folder. Fixed nothing.
I even copied over new drivers and printers to the folder, and that solved nothing.
I used the Microsoft website and tried running the FixThis program, fixed nothing.
I added it to the Data Execution Exceptions Tab, solved nothing.
I even ran the command that supposedly fixes/detects all issues within the windows OS, fixed nothing.


I could really use some help with this one.....

Any suggestions are welcome.

[Rockn]

Have you deleted the actual spool files that may be lingering or corrupt? If the spooler service is stopped go to C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS and delete any files in there and then restart your print spooler.

[Eric01]

Yes, I have done that.

There is nothing in that folder.

The service, however, still refuses to stay running and crashes when I attempt to reinstall printers.

[Rockn]

Delete all printers from the printer folder. While in the printers folder also go up to File > Server Properties and delete all of the drivers listed. There may well be a printer listed that is not showing up because the print spooler is stopped.

[Eric01]

Ok, I attempted that, and it was unsuccessful due to the fact that I couldn't reach that location.


HOWEVER, I found out what it was.

There was a corrupted registry entry for print provider. I deleted it, opened printers and faxes, and all the printers magically populated themselves into the folder. It was quite a sight to see.

I found it in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\CONTROL\PRINT\

That's where the providers folder is located, there are two by default: LanMan Print Services and Internet Print Provider.


I sincerely hope this helps whoever else has this same issue.....

[Eliza79]

Hi, I am having the exact same problem - same virus and everything. Can you tell me how to find this on my computer: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\CONTROL\PRINT\
so that i can try to fix it.

Thanks

[Eric01]

go to start --> run --> type in "regedit" without the quotes, and from there you can navigate the path that I gave you.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\CONTROL\PRINT\

then you check the providers folder and delete the ones that aren't the defaults.

Defaults are: LanMan Print Services and Internet Print Provider

[Eliza79]

thanks heaps Eric!! found and fixed!! finally can stop freaking out that i'd never get my computer working again!

[bnolen08]

Thank you so much! I also had the defender.exe virus and after cleaning it up, I realized I could not print! I spent an hour surfing the web trying to figure out the problem. I would have never figured this out without your helpful post! Thank you!

[DanielinLA]

Hello Eric01,

I went in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\CONTROL\PRINT\ and deleted everything but the defaults....still cant get it to work? any thoughts?
Thanks,

Daniel

[Eric01]

could use a little more information here....
like what OS are you running?
what happened to cause this issue? i.e. virus removal? printer install?
have you tried any of the steps I briefly touched on in my initial post?
lastly, is a system restore out of the question? I have heard this works a large majority of the time, you just have to understand what all you may be losing along with it

[prathap79]

Hi Eric,
Recently I bought a HP printer, and i am having Windows XP. I am having the same problem. Ok i saw your prevoius msgs, and went to the folder which you had said in your previous messages. There are only 2 defaults in the Providers, one is Internet Print provider and the other one is Lan Man Print Service. And in Lan Man Print service i got one folder called Servers. I dont have any folders to delete. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[Eric01]

did you try a system restore?

[ErnieInUtah]

Hello Eric, I had this same error from the same defender.exe virus. I had spent over 8 hours working on this before your solution. I thought I would have to completely reinstall Windows and everything else on my computer.
I am curious, how did you ever find that corrupted registry entry?
Thank you so much!!!!!! You really saved me on this one.

Ernie in Utah

[Mook_Dawg]

I had the same thing as Prathap79. I went into each of those folders and deleted everything that wasn't "(default)." It fixed the problem, and all the printers magically repopulated!

BIG thanks to Eric01 for saving me MANY, MANY hours of work! And yes, this too was from that awful Defender virus.