Windows Vista Printers all gone, can't do "Add Printer" bc no spoo

[Kai]

Hi,

I have a Vista Home edition. One day, I try to print a document, the
popup screen have no printer for me to select. I go to Control Panel and
click the printer icon, All my printer driver are gone. So I click the "Add
Printer" button to add new driver, but then it pop up a warning message
saying that my printer spooler is disable and tell me to reboot the computer.
I reboot it and try to "add printer" again, but same message pop up. I went
to Administrative Tools and Service, I can't find the Printer Spooler
service. What should I do?

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

Look for

Print Spooler


then start it.

If it's not there, I have no clue what application would have removed this
default service.

[Kai]

Do you think you can help me to diagnose what cause that? And maybe give me a
way to reinstall or repair the Print Spooler service?

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

Someone else will need to step in here, I've never done this.

To diagnose, check the system eventlog first. If the service was removed
with the Service Control Manager, I'm sure there would be an event for this.

sc.exe is the command which manipulates services

sc /?

You would need to run this with elevated privilege

[Tom Ferguson]

Navigate to Control Panel Administrative tools Services.

Examine the list and locate Print Spooler. The status should be Started.
The Startup Type should be Automatic.

If the service is not started, check the list for Remote Procedure Call
(RPC). The Status should be Started. The Startup Type should be
Automatic.

In my experience, the commonest cause of a failure of the spooler to start,
or for it to start and then fail, is faulty or corrupt printer drivers. If
the presently-installed driver were working once and are not now, it would
be worth removing them and then reinstalling a new copy of the drivers.

First, remove the present drivers. Check the printer maker's site for recent
drivers. Also check for any utility to remove or clean up after driver
removal. Also, this site might be useful.
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/CleanPrinterDrivers.htm

Install the new driver according to the instructions.

Let us know.

If the Spooler Service really has been deleted, then you will need to
reinstall Vista.

[formalized]

Hey, going to Control Panel, Admin Tool / Services worked great! I thought I lost all my printers.

Thanks for the post.