I was so surprised that the Control Panel, Printers and Faxes was completely empty that I decided to go to the printer.

“The printer you selected is not compatible with your computer.”

  1. Make sure your printer is plugged in and working properly.
  2. Check the printer’s print head and cartridge.
  3. Check the printer’s software and drivers.
  4. Reset the printer if it has been reset recently.
  5. Clean the printer’s print head and cartridge if they are dirty or have been used recently.

If you’re having any of these symptoms on your computer, follow these steps and hopefully you’ll be printing again soon! Also, read my other articles on how to clear the print queue in Windows and how to manually delete a printer.

Fix Print Spooler Service Error

Step 2: If the print spooler service is already stopped, go ahead and start it. You can do this by going to Start, Run and typing Services.msc. Then scroll down to Print Spooler service, right-click and choose Start.

To clear out old print jobs: -Open the Control Panel. -Click on Printers and Faxes. -Select the printer you want to work with, and then click on the Properties button. -On the General tab, under Print Queue, click on the Clear Print Jobs button. ..

Delete all files and folders on C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\PRINTERS. Try to start the print spooler service to see if this fixed your problem.

In my case, the drivers for one of my printers became corrupt and I was not able to print anything.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DriverStore and then deleting the driver named “HP LaserJet Pro M2020” Now we will have to remove the corrupt drivers from the Windows registry. You can do that by going here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DriverStore\driverStore\files\hp laserjet pro m2020\driver.inf and then deleting the driver named “HP LaserJet Pro M2020”

I had a Lexmark 7600 Series printer installed and I knew it was causing the issue. I deleted the entire key called “Lexmark 7600 Series”.

To fix this, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Start menu and search for “Printers and Faxes.”
  2. When the Printers and Faxes window opens, click on the “Add a printer” link.
  3. In the “Add a printer” window that opens, click on the “Windows Printer Driver” link.
  4. In the “Windows Printer Driver” window that opens, click on the “Browse for a driver” button.
  5. When the “Select a driver to install from a list” window opens, select the “HP LaserJet 5P Windows XP (32-bit)” driver from the list and click on the OK button.
  6. After you have installed the driver, close all of your open windows and try to turn on your print spooler service again by clicking on Start > Printers and Faxes > Print Spooler Service > Turn On (or press Ctrl+P). If it still doesn’t work, then you will need to reinstall your printer drivers. ..

After deleting the corrupt driver, I was able to start the print spooler service and it remained running even when I went to Printers and Faxes. Now you’re essentially back in business.

Step 5: Uninstall the Lexmark printer software from your PC. In my case, the Lexmark printer had installed a suite of tools, etc. I also had to uninstall this completely before I could reinstall the printer.

If you have followed the steps in this article and your printer still does not print correctly, it may be because the corrupt driver from the registry and uninstalled software are still installed on your computer. To uninstall these programs, you can use the Windows Update or a similar program. If you do not have these programs installed on your computer, you can also download them from the manufacturer website.

After all of that, I finally was able to print again! It was a process, but it worked. So if you’re having problems with the print spooler service, this should fix your problem. If not, post a comment here and I will try to help! Enjoy!