How to fix printing error 0x000003e3?

Error 0x000003e3 is Windows error 995, an aborted operation: your PC started to connect to a shared printer or to print, and the work was cut off before it finished. Remove the half-made printer and restart the Print Spooler first. If the error returns, install the driver yourself and attach the printer through a local port named after the share, as Microsoft's support advised for this code.

Facts checked on 14 October 2026. Steps written for Windows 11 (25H2 and 26H2) and Windows 10 22H2.

What "Operation failed with error 0x000003e3" means

0x000003e3 is hexadecimal for 995. Microsoft's list of system error codes names error 995 ERROR_OPERATION_ABORTED and gives it one line of text: "The I/O operation has been aborted because of either a thread exit or an application request". In plain words: something was being read, written or sent, and it was stopped before it ended.

The code does not say that the printer is broken, out of ink or switched off. It says that a piece of work inside Windows printing was abandoned. In the Connect to Printer box that work is the connection to a printer on another computer. In the print message it is the document on its way through the Print Spooler.

Why Windows cannot connect to the printer: causes of 0x000003e3, ranked

Microsoft has published no cause for this code on printers. The ranking below is built from three things: what error 995 means, what Microsoft documents about how a shared printer is connected, and what administrators and Microsoft's own support staff reported in the threads listed under Sources. Where a row rests on reports only, the last column says so.

Point and Print is the Windows name for what happens when you select Connect. Microsoft describes it this way: all necessary files and configuration information are automatically downloaded from the print server to the client. That is why a connection can open the host without trouble and still be aborted a few seconds later.

Error 0x000003e3 on Windows 11 and Windows 10: what differs

The error and its fixes are the same on both systems. The menus differ, and Windows 11 has two settings that Windows 10 does not have.

• ARM PCs. Microsoft notes that some ARM PCs, Copilot+ PCs among them, cannot add a printer with the manufacturer's installer. Check Settings > System > About: an ARM-based processor is named next to System type.
• 32-bit and 64-bit. Microsoft's print server guide says a server must hold additional drivers for client computers with a different processor architecture. A host that offers only its own type has nothing to give a PC of another type.
• Windows 7 and older hosts. The oldest threads about this code are Windows 7 PCs that connect to Windows Vista and Windows XP hosts. Fix 3 was written for exactly that pairing and still applies.

How to fix error 0x000003e3: seven fixes in order

Fix 1 and Fix 2 cost five minutes and change nothing that matters. Fix 3 is the route Microsoft's support gave for this code. Fix 4 and Fix 5 deal with the driver and with printers that have their own network link. Fix 6 and Fix 7 are for the case where printing as a whole is broken.

Fix 1. Remove the half-made printer and restart the Print Spooler

5 minutesLow riskFor everyone, as the first step. It needs an administrator account.

An aborted connection can leave three things behind: an offline copy of the printer, a port that belongs to it and jobs that wait in the queue. The answer by Microsoft's support engineer begins with removing exactly these and restarting. Microsoft's general printer guide lists clearing and resetting the spooler as a standard step.

1. Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners. On Windows 10: Settings > Devices > Printers & scanners.
2. Select every copy of the shared printer, working or offline, and select Remove. Windows 10 calls the button Remove device.
3. In the search box on the taskbar, type services and open Services. Select the Standard tab at the bottom.
4. Double-click Print Spooler, select Stop, then OK. Leave the window open.
5. In the search box on the taskbar, enter %WINDIR%\system32\spool\printers and open the PRINTERS folder from the results.
6. Delete all files in that folder. Do not delete the folder.
7. Back in Services, double-click Print Spooler, set Startup type to Automatic, select Start, then OK.
8. Open Printer properties of any printer that is left and select the Ports tab. Delete ports of the removed printer whose Description is Client Side Rendering Provider: select the port, select Delete Port, then Apply.
9. Restart the PC and add the printer again.

• To add the printer again: select Add device, then Add manually, choose Select a shared printer by name and enter \\ComputerName\PrinterShareName.
• Step 8 comes from the 2011 answer, written for Windows 7. If your Ports tab shows no such port, skip the step.
• The Services window in general, with the meaning of each startup type: Check and restart Windows services

Fix 2. Open the host by its IP address and connect from there

5 minutesNo riskThe host opens slowly or not at all by its name. No administrator needed, except for the sharing switches.

A shared printer is addressed by the name of the computer that shares it. When that name is found late or by a wrong route, the connection can start and then fall over. One user in Microsoft's thread about this code reports that opening the host by IP address let the driver install without the error.

1. On the host PC, press Win + R, type cmd and press Enter. Type ipconfig and press Enter.
2. Write down the IPv4 address of the adapter that is connected to your network, for example 192.168.1.20.
3. On your PC, open File Explorer, type \\ComputerName in the address bar with the host's real name and press Enter.
4. Now type the address in the same way, for example \\192.168.1.20, and press Enter.
5. If the window opens and lists the printer, double-click the printer, or right-click it and select Connect.
6. If you prefer the wizard: select Add device, Add manually, Select a shared printer by name and enter \\192.168.1.20\PrinterShareName.
7. If neither the name nor the address opens, turn on Network discovery and File and printer sharing on both PCs. The path is in the table above, under Sharing switches.

This fix rests on one report and on the meaning of the code, not on a Microsoft statement. It is here because it takes five minutes and changes nothing on either PC.

Fix 3. Install the driver yourself and connect through a local port named after the share

10 to 15 minutesLow riskThe host opens and shows the printer, and Connect ends in the error. Needs an administrator.

This is the accepted answer of a Microsoft support engineer to this exact error. You install the driver on your PC from the manufacturer's files, so nothing has to be copied from the host. Then you point that printer at the share through a local port. The step that gets aborted is never run.

Part 1: install the driver on a port that is not in use. Download the driver for the exact model from the printer manufacturer first, in the version for your system type.

1. Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners, select Add device, then Add manually. On Windows 10: Add a printer or scanner, then The printer that I want isn't listed.
2. Choose Add a local printer or network printer with manual settings and select Next.
3. Choose Use an existing port, pick LPT1: (Printer Port) in the list and select Next.
4. Select Have Disk and open the .inf file of the driver you downloaded. Without a download, select Windows Update, wait for the list and pick the manufacturer and the model.
5. Accept the printer name or type a new one, and select Next.
6. Choose Do not share this printer and select Next.
7. Do not print a test page yet: nothing is connected to LPT1. Select Finish.

Part 2: point the printer at the share.

1. Under Printers & scanners, select the printer you just added and select Printer properties.
2. Open the Ports tab and select Add Port.
3. Select Local Port, then New Port.
4. In the box for the port name, enter \\ComputerName\PrinterShareName with the host's name and the printer's share name, and select OK.
5. Close the port list. The new port is ticked, and its Description reads Local Port. Select Apply.
6. Open the General tab and select Print Test Page.

• The share name is not the printer's display name. Read it on the host: Printer properties > Sharing, field Share name.
• A share name without spaces is easier. An administrator who has given this advice for many years recommends it for the local port method.
• "Access is denied" at the port name: one reader of Microsoft's thread reports it, and the thread holds no answer. Open the host in File Explorer under the same account first, so that Windows is signed in to it.
• If the host's name was the problem in Fix 2, use the IP address in the port name as well.

Fix 4. Remove the old driver of this printer and install the right one

10 to 15 minutesLow riskOne printer model fails while others connect, or the driver in Fix 3 would not install. Needs an administrator.

When a driver for the model is already on your PC, Windows compares it with the host's copy during the connection. Microsoft notes that driver files of the same name that differ between client and server cause trouble in Point and Print, and it advises the same driver version on both. A clean driver takes that comparison out of the way.

1. Remove the printer under Printers & scanners, as in Fix 1.
2. On the same page, open Print server properties under Related settings. Or press Win + R and run the command below these steps.
3. Open the Drivers tab, select the driver that belongs to the printer model and select Remove.
4. Choose to remove the driver together with its driver package, and confirm.
5. If Windows says the driver is in use, restart the Print Spooler as in Fix 1 and remove the driver right after the service has started.
6. Press Win + R, type appwiz.cpl and press Enter. Uninstall the printer manufacturer's own software for this model if it is listed.
7. Restart the PC. Use Restart, not Shut down.
8. Install the manufacturer's current driver for the exact model and your system type. Then connect to the share again, or go through Fix 3.

Run box: the print server properties of your own PC, on the Drivers tab

rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /s /t2

We could not confirm from Microsoft that a wrong driver type shows exactly this code. Device Manager offers a second way to update or reinstall a driver: Update, roll back or reinstall a driver

Fix 5. Skip the host: print straight to the printer's IP address

10 minutesLow riskThe printer has its own Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection. The driver needs an administrator.

The error belongs to the connection between your PC and the computer that shares the printer. A printer with its own network address needs no such computer: your PC keeps its own driver and its own queue and sends the job to the printer. A user with a neighbouring connection error, 0x0000007e, on a Windows 7 PC reports solving it this way.

1. Find the printer's IP address on its control panel or on its printed network configuration page. The manual of the printer says where.
2. If you did not do Fix 3, install the driver first with Part 1 of Fix 3.
3. Select the printer under Printers & scanners and select Printer properties.
4. Open the Ports tab, select Add Port, then Standard TCP/IP Port, then New Port.
5. Select Next, enter the printer's IP address, select Next again and close the wizard.
6. Make sure the new port is ticked in the list and select Apply.
7. Open the General tab and select Print Test Page.

The same by PowerShell, opened as administrator: a TCP/IP port and a printer on it

Add-PrinterPort -Name "IP_192.168.1.50" -PrinterHostAddress "192.168.1.50"
Add-Printer -Name "Office printer" -DriverName "Name of the installed driver" -PortName "IP_192.168.1.50"

• The driver name in the second command must be written exactly as the Drivers tab of Fix 4 shows it.
• At work, ask first. A print server often counts pages or holds jobs until you sign in at the printer. Printing around it may be against the rules.
• The address must stay the same. If the router gives the printer another address, the port points nowhere. Reserve the address in the router.
• A USB printer on another PC has no address of its own. For it, the share is the only way, so Fix 3 is your route.

Fix 6. Every printer fails: test with Microsoft Print to PDF, then repair Windows printing

15 to 30 minutesNo riskThe message is "Operation could not be completed" and it comes with every printer. Needs an administrator.

When a document cannot be printed to any printer, the printers are not the cause. In the oldest long thread about this code, an administrator found that a PC failed on software printers too after an interrupted Windows update. A 2026 report on Microsoft's Tech Community describes the same on a restored system image.

1. Open any document, select Print and choose Microsoft Print to PDF as the printer. Save the file when Windows asks.
2. If this works, Windows printing is healthy and the fault is with one printer: go back to Fix 1, Fix 3 and Fix 4.
3. If it fails with the same code, open the Get Help app from the Start menu, enter printer troubleshooter and follow its questions.
4. Open Command Prompt as administrator and run the first command below. Wait until it reports that the operation completed.
5. Run the second command in the same window and wait until the verification reaches 100%.
6. Restart the PC and repeat the test of step 1.

Commands, one after the other

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
sfc /scannow

• What each command does and how to read the result: Run DISM and SFC to repair Windows system files
• If Print to PDF works and a USB printer does not, reinstall that printer's driver as in Fix 4. Unplug the cable before you remove the driver and plug it in again after the new driver is installed.
• We do not know how the two reports ended. Neither thread states which step cured the PC. A reply in the Tech Community thread suggests the same order as above and a clean boot as the next test.

Fix 7. If it began with a Windows update: uninstall that update as a test

15 to 20 minutesRead the warningSeveral PCs lost the printer in the same days, right after updates, and nothing above helped. Needs an administrator.

Administrators have reported this code right after cumulative updates, and one thread from April 2020 ended when the latest update was removed from the PC that shared the printer. Microsoft has published no known issue that names 0x000003e3, so treat this as a test that proves or clears the update, not as a cure.

1. Decide where to test. If every PC fails, test on the host that shares the printer. If one PC fails, test on that PC.
2. Open Settings > Windows Update > Update history and note the KB number and the date of the newest update. On Windows 10: Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > View update history.
3. Select Uninstall updates. On Windows 11 it is under Related settings.
4. Select Uninstall next to the update you noted and confirm.
5. Restart the PC and add the printer again, or print a test page.
6. If the printer works, pause updates for a short time and use Fix 3 or Fix 5 as your lasting route. Then let Windows update again.

The earlier version of this guide put this step first and called a faulty update the usual reason. We found no Microsoft source for that, so it is now the last fix. All ways to remove an update, and what to do when Windows refuses: How to uninstall a Windows update

If the error is still there: read the print log and test the host

The message box shows a code and no reason. The print service keeps its own event logs, and four short tests show on which side the fault lies.

1. Type event viewer in the search box on the taskbar and open Event Viewer.
2. Open Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > PrintService.
3. Select Admin and look for errors at the time of your last attempt.
4. Right-click Operational and select Enable Log. It is off by default.
5. Try to add the printer or to print once more, then read the new entries in both logs.

When every PC fails, the work is on the host. Restart its Print Spooler as in Fix 1 and print a test page there. Then look at the drivers it offers: Microsoft's print server guide describes the box Additional Drivers, reached from the Sharing tab of the printer, where an administrator ticks the processor types the host should serve.

• What to send to the administrator or to support: the exact message, the time, the name and Windows version of your PC, the host name and share name, the results of the four tests and the PrintService events.
• When it is the system and not the printer: every printer fails, Fix 6 finds nothing, and the fault began with a failed update or a restored image. Windows can be reinstalled over itself with your files and apps kept: Reinstall Windows without losing files
• Another code in the same box? Connect to Printer shows other codes for other faults, for example printer error 0x00000006, where your PC cannot open the printer on the host at all.
• It is not ink, paper or the cable to the printer. Those show their own messages on the printer or on the host. This code is about work that Windows gave up.

Fixes for 0x000003e3 you will read elsewhere: what is confirmed

Many pages about this code repeat the same list. We traced each piece to its origin. Three of them do not hold for this error, and one is risky.

How to undo the changes made on this page

Fix 2 and Fix 6 leave nothing to undo. The other fixes add or remove printers, ports and drivers, and one removes an update.

How to keep error 0x000003e3 from coming back

A local port named after the share, as in Fix 3, is a lasting setup and not a workaround to remove later. It has one cost: the driver on your PC is yours to keep current, because the host no longer hands out a new one.

• When the host gets a new printer driver, update the same driver on each PC that uses a local port.
• After a host is renamed or replaced, edit or recreate the local port: its name holds the old path.

Frequently asked questions

What does error 0x000003e3 mean?

It is Windows system error 995, ERROR_OPERATION_ABORTED. Microsoft's text for it is "The I/O operation has been aborted because of either a thread exit or an application request". With a printer it means that Windows started a piece of work, the connection to a shared printer or a print job, and gave it up before the end. The code does not name the reason. Reports point most often to the moment when the driver is copied from the computer that shares the printer.

Is 0x00003e3 the same error as 0x000003e3?

Yes. The spellings 0x00003e3, 0x0003e3, 0x3E3 and plain 3e3 all stand for the same number, because zeros in front of a number do not change it. Windows itself prints eight digits after 0x. The decimal form is 995. A Dutch search for "fout 0x000003e3" and a Portuguese one for "erro 0x00003e3" are about the same message too. A longer code such as 0x800703e3 is different: it is the same error 995 reported by Windows Update, and it has nothing to do with printers.

Why do I see "Operation could not be completed (error 0x000003e3)" when I print?

Because the same error can stop a print job as well as a connection. The box with Operation failed appears when you add a shared printer. The box with Operation could not be completed appears when a document or a test page is sent to a printer that is already installed. Test with Microsoft Print to PDF: if that fails too, Windows printing itself is damaged and Fix 6 applies. If only one printer fails, remove it and reinstall its driver with Fix 1 and Fix 4.

Should I copy mscms.dll into the spool drivers folder to fix 0x000003e3?

We do not recommend it for this code. The advice comes from Microsoft's KB 982728, which describes another error, 0x0000007e, on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. There the spooler looked for Mscms.dll outside the system32 folder, and Microsoft's cure was a hotfix, not a copied file. We found no Microsoft source that connects the file to 0x000003e3 or to Windows 10 and Windows 11. If your code is 0x0000007e, that article is the one to read.

Is it safe to delete the Providers key in the registry, as older guides say?

No, not the whole key. The earlier version of this guide deleted Providers under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Print. That key holds the settings of the print providers Windows uses, including Client Side Rendering Print Provider, where connections to shared printers are stored. Deleting all of it removes far more than one stale entry, and no Microsoft source names it as a fix for this code. We removed the step. Fix 1 clears a failed connection without the registry.

Does error 0x000003e3 depend on the printer brand, such as Brother, HP, Canon or Epson?

No. The code comes from Windows, not from the printer, and the reports we read name HP, Canon, Epson and Samsung models alike. We found nothing that is special to Brother printers. The brand matters in one way only: the driver. A driver that is old, damaged or of another type than your PC needs is one of the ranked causes, and the cure is the manufacturer's current driver for the exact model. Fix 4 removes the old one first, and Fix 3 installs the new one without the host.

Did a Windows update cause error 0x000003e3?

It can, but nothing proves that it usually does. Administrators reported the code after cumulative updates in 2020, and one of those threads ended when the latest update was removed from the PC that shared the printer. Microsoft has published no known issue that names this code. That is why this page keeps the removal of an update as the last fix and as a test. If the printer works without the update, use a local port or the printer's own address and update Windows again.

Is the fix different on Windows 11 and Windows 10?

The fixes are the same and the menus differ. Windows 11 keeps printers under Bluetooth & devices, Windows 10 under Devices, and the buttons for adding and removing a printer have other names. Windows 11 also has Windows protected print mode, which blocks printers that need a third-party driver while it is on. Windows 10 22H2 left support on 14 October 2025, so its print components get no further fixes. The table near the top of this page lists each path for both systems.

What can I do about 0x000003e3 without an administrator password?

One fix is fully yours: Fix 2. Open the host by its name and by its IP address in File Explorer and try to connect from there. That costs five minutes and needs no rights, unless the driver is not yet on your PC. Everything else restarts a service or installs a driver. Write down the exact message, the time, the host and share name and whether a colleague's PC connects, and ask the administrator to install the driver once.