How to Enable / Disable the Print Spooler service

The print spooler service allows you to load the print jobs for later printing, ie to put them in the print queue.

How to start or stop the print spooler?

1. Right click on My Computer (Computer on Vista) and select Manage
2. In the console that opens, pull down the Services menu and applications
3. Click on Services
4. Double-click on the Print Spooler key
5. In the "General" tab, go to Startup Type
6. Set the value to Automatic, Manual or Disabled
7. To enable or disable the print spooler service immediately, click Stop or Start
8. Finally click Apply
   

To open Computer Management, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management. When you stop the Print Spooler service, it might stop other dependent services. The print spooler runs under the Local Computer system account by default.

You can also start and stop the Print Spooler service through a command-prompt command.