Printer Not Printing in Windows 11? Clear the Stuck Print Queue

You sent a document to print, nothing came out, and now everything you print just piles up behind it.

Why: A single failed or corrupted job at the front of the print queue blocks every job behind it. The fix is to clear that stuck job — either through Windows or directly from the spool folder.

Fix 1: Cancel the stuck job in the queue

1. Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.
2. Select your printer and Open print queue.
3. Right-click each print job and select Cancel (or use Printer menu > Cancel All Documents).
4. Send one new test document to see if printing resumes.

Fix 2: Restart the Print Spooler service

If a job won’t cancel, the spooler is likely hung:

1. Press Win + R, type services.msc, press Enter.
2. Scroll to Print Spooler.
3. Right-click it > Restart.
4. Reopen the print queue — the stuck job should be gone.

You can do the same from an admin Command Prompt with net stop spooler followed by net start spooler.

Fix 3: Clear the spool folder by hand

When a corrupted job survives a spooler restart, delete it at the source:

1. In services.msc, right-click Print Spooler > Stop (leave this window open).
2. In File Explorer, open C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS.
3. Delete all files inside that folder (leave the folder itself).
4. Back in Services, right-click Print Spooler > Start.
5. Print a test page.

Fix 4: Power-cycle and try again

• Turn the printer off, wait about 60 seconds, then turn it back on. This clears any job stuck in the printer’s own memory.
• Restart your PC to clear anything still held in the print subsystem.
• Send one document and confirm it prints.

FAQ

The job says “Deleting” but never goes away. That’s a classic corrupted job. Stop the Print Spooler and clear the PRINTERS folder (Fix 3) — that removes it for good.

Everything I print gets stuck behind one old document. Cancel that lead job first (Fix 1); the queue processes in order, so the blocker has to go before anything else prints.

It keeps happening with one specific app. Try printing the same document from a different app or as a PDF first. A bad print job from one application can repeatedly jam the queue.

Sources: Microsoft — Fix print job stuck in queue errors in Windows