Windows 7 CAN NOT ADD PRINTER: Print spool service not listed in service list.

donfisico

New Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2010
Hi, I have recently adquired a new Dell laptop with Core 2 processor and Windows 7 Home Edition (64 bits) installed from factory. I have this problem: I can not add any printer to the system, because when I try to do it the following message: "Windows can not open Add printer. The local print spooler service is not running. Restart the administrator or the system".
Trying to being smart and not to bother you guys with an already known way to solve the problem I have search a lot of forum in where I found a lot of persons with the exactly same problem. The solutions that other persons gave to the problem does NOT work in my case. I mention here the principal ones:
1) Use "Fix it" tool from Microsoft

Does not work, the tool can not restart the printer spooler service.

2) Go to the Control Panel -> Services ( or, equivalent, Execute: service.msc) and check that Spooler Service is running, if it is not: make it start and check
"automatically"

The service "Print Spooler" IS NOT IN THE LIST OF SERVICE SO IT IS COMPLETY MISSING!!:eek:

Going futher, I saw a post of other forum (Print Spooler Service is missing) in where a guy suggest to modify the registry so to fix the problem of the missing service and gives a complete list of modifications. Before doing that attemp I check that all the fields in my registry differ in some way of the modification suggested and I see that my registry seems to be fine. So I DO NOT modify my registry, because of the reason explained and because modifying registry is a risky task. :p

3) Some post from forums suggest to Execute: "net stop spooler" and then "net start spooler"
Does not either

4) Of course, I have checked that spoolsv.exe exists, and yes is a real file located on \Windows\system32 folder.


So, in this way I am completly lost, out of idea, blank, zero inspiration, nada, nothing to say. :(
 
(System restore may help)

Try:


1.

Printing problems and printing errors

1) Click Start, Control Panel
2) In the Control Panel, click System and Security
3) In the System and Security window, under Action Center, click Troubleshoot common computer problems
4) In the Troubleshoot computer problems window, click a specific task to automatically diagnose and fix a problem.


+


With 7 DVD in your drive, Start => type sfc /scannow and wait for the operation to complete




If it didn't help, then try 2





2.

Start => Accessories => Command prompt => type net stop spooler => press "Enter" => type net start spooler=> press "Enter"


If it didn't help, then :

Start => Accessories => Command prompt => type net stop spooler => press "Enter",

then type del /Q /F /S "%systemroot%\System32\Spool\Printers\*.*" => press "Enter",

finally type net start spooler => press "Enter"

Reinstall the printer now
 
Solutions proposed does not work

Dear cybercore,
The proposals for solving the problem that you give are little bit naive (no offense), and I have mentioned to try them before in my post.

A)
Examing proposal number 1 of you (Description: 1) Click Start, Control Panel / 2) In the Control Panel, click System and Security /3) In the System and Security window, under Action Center, click Troubleshoot common computer problems) is very like the same idea that "Fix it" tool I have mentioned (number one of list of the things I have tried). Just for giving it another chance, I do what you mentioned and the result is that a window appears telling this:
" Problems found:
The print spooler sevice is not running
You need administrator permissions for the folowing repairs"
And a button telling:
"Try this repairs as administrator"
Of course I click that, I give permission to continue and then the expected happen: the troubleshooting program tries to initialize the printer spooler service without sucess, and gives me a window confessing: Not solved
The only thing I haven`t tried yet is to
"With 7 DVD in your drive, Start => type sfc /scannow and wait for the operation to complete"
because I do not have RIGHT NOW the DVD with me, I have to come back to my house to grab it and to give it a try to that. Perhaps, that will work but I am not very optimist.

B)
The proposal number 2 of you, (Description: Start => Accessories => Command prompt => type net stop spooler => press "Enter" => type net start spooler=> press "Enter" If it didn't help, then : Start => Accessories => Command prompt => type net stop spooler => press "Enter",), is very like the number 4 of thing I have tried. Just for giving that a second opportunity, I again execute "net stop spooler" and "net start spooler" in command prompt and the print spooler service is still not running and not listed in the service list. I also checked that "%systemroot%\System32\Spool\Printers\*.*"
is an empty folder ( I never have the opportunity to install a printer, so it is logical to this folder to be empty. Also what you said about "Reinstall the printer now" is tells that you suppose that in the past I have managed to install a printer when the reality is that I HAVE NEVER HAD SUCH A CHANCE!!:(

If trying the DVD thing has no succes, I will be in the same sittuation. Help!!!
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Link Removed due to 404 Error

Registry Settings (.reg):


Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
 
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Spooler]
\\"DisplayName\\"=\\"@%systemroot%\\system32\\spoolsv.exe,-1\\"
\\"Group\\"=\\"SpoolerGroup\\"
\\"ImagePath\\"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,\
74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,\
00,70,00,6f,00,6f,00,6c,00,73,00,76,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,00,00
\\"Description\\"=\\"@%systemroot%\\system32\\spoolsv.exe,-2\\"
\\"ObjectName\\"=\\"LocalSystem\\"
\\"ErrorControl\\"=dword:00000001
\\"Start\\"=dword:00000002
\\"Type\\"=dword:00000110
\\"DependOnService\\"=hex(7):52,00,50,00,43,00,53,00,53,00,00,00,68,00,74,00,74,00,\
70,00,00,00,00,00
\\"ServiceSidType\\"=dword:00000001
\\"RequiredPrivileges\\"=hex(7):53,00,65,00,54,00,63,00,62,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,\
00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,49,00,6d,00,70,00,65,00,\
72,00,73,00,6f,00,6e,00,61,00,74,00,65,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,\
00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,41,00,75,00,64,00,69,00,74,00,50,00,\
72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,43,00,68,\
00,61,00,6e,00,67,00,65,00,4e,00,6f,00,74,00,69,00,66,00,79,00,50,00,72,00,\
69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,41,00,73,00,73,\
00,69,00,67,00,6e,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,6d,00,61,00,72,00,79,00,54,00,6f,00,\
6b,00,65,00,6e,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,\
00,53,00,65,00,4c,00,6f,00,61,00,64,00,44,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,65,00,72,00,\
50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,00,00
\\"FailureActions\\"=hex:80,51,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,14,00,00,\
00,01,00,00,00,60,ea,00,00,01,00,00,00,60,ea,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Spooler\Performance]
\\"Close\\"=\\"PerfClose\\"
\\"Collect\\"=\\"PerfCollect\\"
\\"Collect Timeout\\"=dword:000007d0
\\"Library\\"=\\"winspool.drv\\"
\\"Object List\\"=\\"1450\\"
\\"Open\\"=\\"PerfOpen\\"
\\"Open Timeout\\"=dword:00000fa0

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Spooler\Security]
\\"Security\\"=hex:01,00,14,80,78,00,00,00,84,00,00,00,14,00,00,00,30,00,00,00,02,\
  00,1c,00,01,00,00,00,02,80,14,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,\
  00,00,02,00,48,00,03,00,00,00,00,00,14,00,8d,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,\
  05,0b,00,00,00,00,00,18,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,00,\
  20,02,00,00,00,00,14,00,fd,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00,01,\
  01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



I should suggest you do try this:


The only thing I haven`t tried yet is to
\\\"With 7 DVD in your drive, Start => type sfc /scannow and wait for the operation to complete\\\"
because I do not have RIGHT NOW
 
Again, solution proposed already tried

Dear cybercore,
The modification of the registry proposed by you was already tried before as I state in my first and original post. It is the number 2 of the tried solutions. May I selfquote:
I saw a post of other forum (Print Spooler Service is missing) in where a guy suggest to modify the registry so to fix the problem of the missing service and gives a complete list of modifications. Before doing that attemp I check that all the fields in my registry differ in some way of the modification suggested and I see that my registry seems to be fine.
No offense, but try to suggest me things that I haven`t tried before, please!
By the luck I am having right now, the DVD thing won`t work either! Start thinking another ideas!!!
 
Do you have ANY printers currently installed? I have seen a situation where a corrupted printer Queue would keep the service from running. Are you using 64 bit drivers?

You say you do not show a print spooler, so that means in Task Manager, you do not show a Spooler service and in msconfig.exe, you do not show a print spooler option under services. You do not have a spoolsv.exe file in the Windows\System32 folder, or in your case maybe the 64 bit version of System folder. Doing a search might find one.

As a last resort, I always feel if something is not working as it should, perhaps a repair install would correct the problem. If you eventually decide to do that, let us know.

And if I offer something you have already tried, don't fuss at me, just ignore it.......
 
Quote "With 7 DVD in your drive, Start => type sfc /scannow and wait for the operation to complete"
because I do not have RIGHT NOW the DVD with me, I have to come back to my house to grab it and to give it a try to that. Perhaps, that will work but I am not very optimist.""
Have you managed to get back to your house yet? Cybercore's suggestion is often a common remedy for this problem, and certainly not naive.as it can sometimes rewrite corrupted or missing files.
 
Dear donfisico,

no offence, did you check if other required services are running, as explicitly described in the article that I suggested:


Link Removed due to 404 Error

Dependencies:

What service Print Spooler needs to function properly:

  • HTTP (S, HB, HP, P, U, E)
  • Link Removed due to 404 Error (S, HB, HP, P, U, E)
    • Link Removed due to 404 Error (S, HB, HP, P, U, E)
    • Link Removed due to 404 Error (S, HB, HP, P, U, E)

What other service require Print Spooler to function properly:

  • Link Removed due to 404 Error (S, HB, HP, P, U, E)
  • Link Removed due to 404 Error (HB, HP, P, U, E)



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


If nothing helps and if you don't want to modify your registry, then:



1. Try the repair option:

Repair Install - Windows 7 Forums

Link Removed due to 404 Error

What are the system recovery options in Windows 7?



2. Consider reinstalling your system
 
DVD thing needs administrator active console!(?)

Saltgrass:
M intention is not to buzz the persons that repeat solutions that I have tried before ( I am not stupid, I know what it is convinient to me!), but I have to point out when that happens for the good reason that it is a possibility that is not good for solving my problem and I want to solve it of course! You asked my if I have had any printer already instaled and I have to answer you : No, I haven`t , I couldn`t ever do it because of the problem mentioned (printer spooler service not running, and printer spooler service not listed also in the services list so no way to check it and make it run). Saying it so, nothing else to answer you. Thanks anyway and please, please if you have any suggestion come here to write it. I would be very grateful!

Rak, and cybercore:
I have arrived to my house and tried the DVD thing (executing sfc /scannnow) but I have had a little problem: in the prompt/command window appears the folowing message after (trying) executing sfc /scannow: "You have to be an administrator with an active console to be able to use the utility sfc". But it turns to be that I am of course administrator of my laptop (I wouldn`t have been able to do a lot of stuff if I wasn`t!). So the question remmaining now is how do I run an command console window as and administrator so to be able to run sfc command! I need to know that before proceeding to other suggested solutions to problem. Help!
 
Use an administrative command prompt by going to Start menu, all programs, accessories, command prompt and right clicking and select "Run as Admin"
 
sfc /scannnow found problems and report to me a log file, now what?

Ok, I manage then to open a command prompt as an administrator and I ran sfc /scannow as suggested. The result was a messagge telling me this:
"The comprobation has completed 100%. Protection of resources of Windows found damage files and did not manage to repair some of them. For getting more details consult CBS.log in Windows\Logs\CBS". I found the mentioned file, opened with a notepad, select it all and paste it in another text file that I`ve compressed and then I`ve attach here. Tell me now what to do. Should I like myslef in this log which files are damaged? How? (I mean, it is a huge log!)
 

Attachments

  • CBS_log.rar
    232.8 KB · Views: 477
Hi, I have recently adquired a new Dell laptop with Core 2 processor and Windows 7 Home Edition (64 bits) installed from factory. :(
I've quoted from your first post and added emphasis, have you attempted to contact Dell to see if they have any recommendations as to how you might resolve the issues you are experiencing? Generally, it's relatively easy to parse the CBS.log file...just open in notepad, go to the edit menu and choose find and type in the word "corrupt" without the quotes, you can use the F3 button on your keyboard or the find next button on the find dialog box to go throught the log pretty fast. In the case of your particularly, it looks like the spoolsv.exe file was repaired and the only file that it seems to have problems with is tcpmon.ini it can't repair the file because it says that the source file in store is also corrupted. I suspect to repair this you will need a copy of the file from an identical install of your exact win7 installation (Window 7 Home ? 64bit) it's located in C:\windows\system32 Hope this helps.
 
What tcpmon.ini used for?

Dear Trouble/Randy
I do not mind your direct tone, I am glad that you come here to help me. I wasn´t sure of wich keyword I should search for in the log file and that´s why I asked what to search. Thanks for doing the job for me. I see from what you report that the spoolsv.exe has been repair but not the tcpmon.ini file. First question is: What tcpmon.ini file is used for? I mean: it has something to do with my "printer spooler" problem that I have? Because if not, repairing will not have any consequences in the final solution of my problem. Eitherway, I am a bit confused on how to repair that file, I mean: what should I do? I should look into the Windows 7 reinstallation DVD and particulary in the folder \windows\system32 of it and then copy and paste the file from DVD to my hard drive folder c:\ windows\system32? I am sorry that I do not understand what you told me to do.
Respect to DELL support, the reason I did not contact it is not that I am pride or I want to solve the problem "by myself" (meaning in reality "with your help", altough resolving the problem without contacting DELL would be satisfactory). The real reason I did not contact DELL is, I confess, I have made a partition on the hard drive of my laptop, make it blank, and install in that part Ubuntu Linux Desktop 9.04 (64 bits) . So now I have a dual-boot laptop, with two OS. I didn´t do that as a whim, I do that because I need linux in my work as a physicist (that is why my nick name, wich means in spanish "Mr Physicist"). Besides that, the consequence I fear is that if DELL come to my house and grab to computer so to solve the problem they would inmediatly return it saying something like "The installation of another OS have finished the warranty, we can not help you". And it is very probably that they would do that.
So before trying DELL support I want to explore any possible solution "by myself" (again meaning "with your help").
 
Tcpmon.ini looks like it is used to recognize printer ports. If you now have the print spooler on you system, do you have the service yet? You may need to reboot.

Maybe someone with an x64 install will be able to send you one a copy.
 
First, if you just google tcpmon.ini you'll find that it's a critical windows system file and evidently supports a lot of windows services. Since your source file is also corrupt you would need to copy the file from another computer and rename yours to tcpmon.old and then paste the copy that you got from the other computer into your C:\windows\system32 folder. The problem is, I can't seem to determine if the file is semi-generic or specific to a particular version of Windows 7, so that's why I suggested you find another computer (friends, relatives, neighbors) who has an identical install. You said you have Windows 7 Home Edition (isn't there a home basic and home premium) 64bits. So if you know someone with that installation it would be simple to copy their tcpmon.ini file from the C:\Windows\System32 folder onto a thumb drive. And then maybe booting into your Linux Distro, assuming you have access to the Win7 files and folders, paste it where it belongs. As I said I'm not sure how generic the file is but I would bet you would probably need a copy from a 64bit version at least.
 
Tcpmon.ini looks like it is used to recognize printer ports. If you now have the print spooler on you system, do you have the service yet? You may need to reboot.

Maybe someone with an x64 install will be able to send you one a copy.
Saltgrass:
Good idea. I would definitely be able to zip one up and email it or even attach it here if that's allowed, I have Ultimate 64 bit installed, I just wasn't sure how particular the actual file needed to be, if home premium would be different than Ultimate
 
Just opened mine in notepad and it looks as generic as generic can be. So I zipped up a copy and here it is, hope this doesn't violate anything anywhere
 
Please do it!

Dear Rank and Trouble,
I have Home Basic Windows 7 64 bit version of OS. If any of you have the tcpmon.ini file and can send it to me or attach it here, please do it! Perhaps will be the final solution of the problem!
I am going now to sleep (here in Buenos Aires, Argentina it is late) but tomorow who knows! Perhaps I will be able to solve the problem thanks of your help!!!!!
:D
 
ok, i will do the repair tomorow

Thanks Trouble for the file, I am exhausted here and I need to sleep :redface:. So tomorow I will try to replace the tcpmon file and see what happens.
See you tomorow:)
 
Dear Rank and Trouble,
I have Home Basic Windows 7 64 bit version of OS. If any of you have the tcpmon.ini file and can send it to me or attach it here, please do it! Perhaps will be the final solution of the problem!
I am going now to sleep (here in Buenos Aires, Argentina it is late) but tomorow who knows! Perhaps I will be able to solve the problem thanks of your help!!!!!
:D
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