Printer is a peripheral device which produces a hard copy of documents stored in electronic form, usually on physical print media such as paper or transparencies. Printers can directly interface to electronic media such as memory sticks or memory cards, or to image capture devices such as digital cameras, scanners. Some printers are combined with a scanners and/or fax machines in a single unit, and can function as photocopiers. A lot of users have experienced printer spooler error in Microsoft Windows XP. Here we will know how to resolve the printer issues in Windows XP by following these steps:--

Symptoms:--

1. Spooler subsystem app has encountered a problem and needs to close.

2. When you click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes to try to view your printers, no printers appear. This issue may occur even if you have a printer installed.

3. Operation could not be completed.

The Reason:--

Generally this type of issue occurs if a third-party printer driver or a third-party service that is installed, prevents you from adding printers, or if the third-party printer driver or the third-party service affects the functionality of a newly installed printer.

Troubleshooting Steps:--

Step 1:-- Turn off Lexmark print service

If the Lexmark print service is installed on your computer, turn off the LexBce Server service. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.

2. Expand Services and Applications, and then click Services.

3. In the details pane, right-click LexBce Server, and then click Properties.

4. On the General tab in the Startup type list, click Disabled.

5. Under Service status, click Stop, and then click OK.

6. Right-click the Print Spooler service, and then click Start (if it is stopped).

7. Exit Computer Management.

Step 2:--Start the computer in safe mode

Start the computer in safe mode so that you can remove spool files. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Restart your computer and start pressing the F8 key on your keyboard. On a computer that is configured to start multiple operating systems, you can press the F8 key when the Boot menu appears.

2. Select Safe Mode when the Windows Advanced Options menus appear, and then press ENTER.

3. If the Boot menu appears again and you are prompted to select the Microsoft operating system on the computer, use the arrow keys to select the operating system, and then press ENTER.

Step 3:-- Now delete spool printer and driver files

In safe mode, delete the spool printer and driver files. To do this, start Microsoft Windows Explorer, and then delete all the files and the folders in the following two folders:--

1. C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Printers

2. C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Drivers\w32x86

Step 4:-- Remove registry entries for printer drivers

Remove the potentially problematic printer driver subkeys, which may be interfering with the printer you want to use. These may have been installed by third-party printer setup programs. Use the following steps to keep the printer driver and registry entries that came with Windows on your computer and remove all others that may be causing issues.

Step 5:-- Third, remove registry entries for default print monitors

Remove the potentially problematic print monitor sub keys, which may be interfering with the printer you want to use. These may have been installed by third-party printer setup programs. Use the following steps to keep the print monitors and registry entries that came with Windows and remove all others that may be causing issues. If you have a printer attached to the computer, disconnect the printer cable from the computer, and then restart the computer.

Step 6:-- Now verify that the print spooler service is running

1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.

2. Expand Services and Applications, and then click Services.

3. In the details pane, right-click the Print Spooler service, and then click Start (if it is stopped).

4. Exit Computer Management.

Step 7:-- Finally, add a printer and print a test page

If you have a printer attached, reconnect the printer cable to the computer, install the printer by adding it to the computer through the Add Printer Wizard, and then try to print a test page. To install the printer you want, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.

2. Click Add a printer. The Add Printer Wizard starts.

3. Print a test page to make sure that you can print.