Server = SBS2003 R2 STD

Client = win vista business SP1

 

hi,

 

i'm having intermittant problems with this particular machine. it would appear that login on certain accounts is fine but others results in the print spooler stopping. I tried starting the service but the option wasn't there so have added the account to the local machine admin group and can now start the service but the moment i go to add a printer i get an error saying the local print spooler service has stopped.

 

any ideas most welcome

 

thanks in advance

 

barry

Hi Brian,

 

No. The printer is attached to the switch and has an ip address. I'm just adding the printer using the add printer wizard on the client. However, due to the print spooler service not being available I cannot even add the printer. (bit of a vicious circle really).

 

thanks for the response.

 

Much appreciated

 

Barry

Hi Tony,

it's a very much on/off problem for me. Last time it happened i ended up doing a system restore point which alleviated the problem. However, it's back with a vengence. I can't add the printer because the printer wizard recognises the spooler service has stopped and won't let me do it. It's exacerbated by the fact i can manually start the spooler service but the moment i go to the add printer dialog box the spooler service has stopped again.

 

thanks for the response. Much appreciated.

 

Barry 

well i've been doing a bit more poking around.

 

firstly. logged on with domain admin credentials and cannot add a printer (the following error dialog is provided)

 

"windows can't open add printer. The local print spooler service is not running
Please restart the spooler or restart the machine"

 

I stopped the spooler service and restarted it and it says it's started but it obviously hasn't.

 

Checked the event logs and it's showing event id 7034 svc control manager has terminated unexpectedly it has done this x number of times.

 

I think i'm going to have to go back through the logs again and see where the first instance of this occurred and then see if anything was happening around that time.

 

Barry

just an update.

 

been looking around and have found this is a fairly common thread with a variety of different resolutions.

 

Have now come across one which mentions a microsoft application (part of the win 2003 resource kit) cleanspl.exe

 

I'm not sure whether this will work within vista but may have to end up giving it a try.

 

Because the local print spooler service stops so rapidly i can't list the printers to remove them. when I start the service and list the printers by the time I click on one to remove it the spooler service has stopped again. Which brings me to the cleanspl.exe

 

Anyhoo, just thought i'd bump this back to the top and hopefully get you guys to keep me company on this one. It's a pain in the rear for sure.

 

Barry

I've found that this occurs when an XP print driver gets installed on the Vista workstation (usually pulled from a server share) & you try to print. (If you don't print the spooler doesn't crash)

 

Open the printers folder and go to server properties and delete everything listed under drivers (you may have to manually start the spool service a couple of times to do this - set all the printers off line)

 

Start the spooler and then add the vista print driver using the add printer & do everything manually (don't let it search etc etc etc)- if the printer is on a server share, install it on to [say] LPT1 (don't print a test page) and then after its installed OK add a new port \\servers\share.

Hi Guy,

 

thanks for the response.

 

I've tried that but again due to the speed with which the spooler service stops it (for some reason) won't allow me to do anything with the server properties.

 

I actually resolved the issue by again checking when the error started showing itself and then doing a system restore. I'll go back and check that the drivers are all vista variants and re-install if necessary.

 

Again, your response is much appreciated. thanks for the useful advice.

 

Barry