How to fix printing error 0x000006BA in Windows?

Error 0x000006BA means a program asked the Print Spooler for something and got no answer: the spooler on your PC has stopped, or the PC that shares the printer cannot be reached. Start the Print Spooler service and set it to Automatic first, then clear the stuck jobs if it stops again.

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

What "Operation could not be completed (error 0x000006ba)" means

0x000006BA is a hexadecimal number. In decimal it is 1722, and Microsoft's list of system error codes gives it the text "The RPC server is unavailable." RPC, remote procedure call, is the way Windows programs pass requests to a service. Every print, every printer list and every Add printer request goes to the Print Spooler service this way.

So the code does not describe a printer fault. It says that the program knocked and nobody opened. The Printers window turns that into the friendlier sentence "The local print spooler service is not running". That is right in most cases and misleading in one: with a printer shared by another computer, the spooler that does not answer is on that other computer.

Why the print spooler is not running: causes of 0x000006BA, ranked

Microsoft gives no cause for this code by number. The ranking below is built from what the code means, from Microsoft's support articles about spooler crashes and shared printers, and from what users and administrators report. It runs from the common to the rare.

• Why a crash is the most common cause. Microsoft's support article for spooler errors says that conflicting drivers are a common cause of spooler crashes. Its server documentation adds that corrupted files in the spool folder can cause Print Spooler problems.
• Why a disabled spooler is common. In July 2021 Microsoft's first workaround for the PrintNightmare flaw, CVE-2021-34527, was to stop the spooler and set it to Disabled. Some PCs kept that setting, and some tuning tools still switch the spooler off. With the service disabled, Microsoft says, printing stops both locally and remotely.
• A rare case on locked PCs. An administrator's blog describes 0x000006BA and 0x000003EB together on Windows 10 PCs with the Unified Write Filter. The spooler folders were writable, but registry entries of printers stayed without their driver files.

Error 0x000006BA on Windows 11 and Windows 10: what differs

On one PC with its own printer the error and the fixes are the same on both systems. Only the Settings paths differ, and every step below gives both. Shared printers are different, because Windows 11 version 22H2 changed how computers talk to each other when they print.

How to fix error 0x000006BA: seven fixes in order

Fix 1 to Fix 3 get the spooler on your PC running and keep it running, and they solve most cases. Fix 4 and Fix 5 are for printers that another computer shares. Fix 6 and Fix 7 are for a spooler that still crashes.

Fix 1. Start the Print Spooler service and set it to Automatic

2 minutesNo riskFor everyone who sees the message on their own PC. It needs an administrator account.

The message is literal in most cases: the service is not running, so every request to it fails with the RPC error. A startup type of Disabled or Manual keeps it off after each restart, which is why the error returns although someone restarted the PC.

1. Press Win + R, type services.msc and press Enter.
2. Find Print Spooler in the list and double-click it.
3. On the General tab, look at Startup type. If it says Disabled or Manual, select Automatic and then Apply.
4. Under Service status, select Start. If the status already says Running, select Stop and then Start.
5. If Windows answers with error 1068, open the Dependencies tab. Every service in the upper list must be running: start each one that is not, then try again.
6. Select OK, open the document again and print.

The same work from Terminal (Admin) or an administrator Command Prompt. sc qc shows the startup type and the dependencies, sc config sets the start type, and sc query shows the state. Microsoft's reference for sc config notes that the space after start= is required.

Commands, one per line. The last one should show STATE: 4 RUNNING.

sc qc spooler
sc config spooler start= auto
net start spooler
sc query spooler

Fix 2. Clear the stuck print jobs from the spool folder

5 minutesLow riskThe spooler starts and then stops again, or it stops as soon as you print. Needs an administrator.

Each waiting print job is kept as a pair of files in the spool folder, and the spooler reads them again every time it starts. A damaged job makes it crash at once, which looks like a spooler that refuses to run. Microsoft's own reset for spooler errors is to stop the service, delete these files and start it again.

1. Open services.msc, right-click Print Spooler and select Stop.
2. Press Win + R, type %WINDIR%\system32\spool\printers and press Enter. Select Continue if Windows asks for permission.
3. Select all files in the PRINTERS folder with Ctrl + A and delete them. Leave the folder itself.
4. Go back to Services, right-click Print Spooler and select Start.
5. Check that the startup type is still Automatic, then print a test page.

The same three steps in an administrator Command Prompt

net stop spooler
del /q %SystemRoot%\System32\spool\PRINTERS\*.*
net start spooler

Fix 3. Find the driver that crashes the spooler and replace it

15 to 30 minutesLow riskThe spooler keeps stopping after Fix 2, or the error began after you added a printer or updated its software.

Printer drivers and their helper files run inside the spooler process. When one of them fails, the whole service goes down and every program sees 0x000006BA. Microsoft names conflicting or outdated drivers as a common cause and tells you to remove old or duplicate ones.

1. Right-click Start and select Event Viewer.
2. Open Windows Logs > System, select Filter Current Log and type 7031,7034 in the event ID box. Entries that say "The Print Spooler service terminated unexpectedly" confirm a crash and show when it happened.
3. Open Windows Logs > Application and look for Application Error entries at the same time. Where Faulting application name is spoolsv.exe, write down the Faulting module name.
4. If the module is not a Windows file, search the internet for its name or look for it in C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\x64\3. That tells you which maker's driver it belongs to.
5. Remove the printer that uses this driver in Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners. On Windows 10 it is Settings > Devices > Printers & scanners.
6. Press Win + R, run printui /s /t2, select the driver, then Remove and Remove driver and driver package.
7. Restart the PC and install the current driver for your Windows version from the printer maker's site.

• No clear module name? Microsoft's step for spooler crashes is shorter: open Device Manager, expand Print queues or Printers, uninstall unnecessary, old or duplicate printers, then install the current driver from the maker's site.
• Already the newest driver? Microsoft's printing troubleshooting suggests switching to a generic in-box driver. Add the printer again with Add device and let Windows pick its own driver.
• Several printers of one maker? One damaged driver can take all of them down. Remove the whole family and add back one at a time.

Removing a driver together with its package, and what to do when Windows says the driver is in use, is covered step by step in our guide to printer error 0x000003eb. The Device Manager commands for drivers: Update, roll back or reinstall a driver

Fix 4. Shared printer: check the computer that shares it

10 minutesLow riskOnly a printer that another PC shares gives the error. Printers on your own PC work.

When you print to a shared printer, your spooler calls the spooler on the host PC. If that PC is asleep, its spooler is stopped, sharing is off or its firewall drops the call, the call fails with the same code. The message still says "local", but nothing on your PC is broken.

1. On the host PC, do Fix 1 there: Print Spooler must be Running and Automatic. Print a test page on the host itself.
2. On the host, open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners, select the printer, then Printer properties. On Windows 10 select Manage first.
3. On the Sharing tab, check Share this printer, note the Share name, then select Apply and OK.
4. On the host, open Settings > Network & internet > Advanced network settings > Advanced sharing settings and turn on Network discovery and File and printer sharing.
5. On your PC, open File Explorer and type \\HostName in the address bar. The host's shared printer should be listed.
6. If it is, add it with Add device, Add manually, Select a shared printer by name and the path \\HostName\ShareName.

The policy sits in the Local Group Policy Editor under Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Printers. Set it to Not Configured or Enabled, then restart Print Spooler on the host, which Microsoft says the policy needs. Opening the editor: Open the Local Group Policy Editor. A wider guide to shared printer connections, with credentials and Point and Print: error 0x00000006.

Fix 5. Windows 11 22H2 and later: let the print RPC connection through

15 minutesRead the warningShared printers only, when the host or the client runs Windows 11 version 22H2 or later and Fix 4 is done.

Since Windows 11 22H2, Microsoft says, print traffic between computers uses RPC over TCP by default, and a host listens only on RPC over TCP. Named pipes still work but are off. A blocked port or a mismatch between the two computers leaves the client without an answer.

Route A, recommended by Microsoft: allow RPC over TCP on the host. Microsoft says the most common issue is a firewall rule that blocks the computers. The RPC Endpoint Mapper port 135 must be open, and the high ephemeral ports 49152 to 65535 on the host, or a fixed port you choose.

1. On the host, check that a third-party firewall or security suite does not block incoming TCP 135 and 49152 to 65535 from your local network.
2. If you want one fixed port instead, open the Group Policy policy Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Printers > Configure RPC over TCP port, enable it and enter the port.
3. Allow that port through the firewall on the host, restart Print Spooler there, and try the printer again from your PC.

Route B, when Route A is not possible: named pipes. Run the commands in an administrator Terminal and restart the PC afterwards. On Windows 11 Pro you can set the same with the Group Policy policies Configure RPC connection settings (set RpcOverNamedPipes) and Configure RPC listener settings (set RpcOverNamedPipesAndTcp).

On a Windows 11 client: connect to the host over named pipes

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\RPC" /v RpcUseNamedPipeProtocol /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

On a Windows 11 host: listen on named pipes and TCP

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\RPC" /v RpcProtocols /t REG_DWORD /d 0x7 /f

Fix 6. Remove the printer maker's print processors and port monitors

20 minutesRead the warningThe spooler still crashes after Fix 2 and Fix 3, even with the printer removed. Needs an administrator.

Print processors and port monitors are plug-ins that the spooler loads at every start, whether a printer uses them or not. A plug-in left behind by an old printer suite can crash the service before you print anything. Microsoft's printing troubleshooting tells administrators to remove third-party monitors, processors and providers.

1. First uninstall any printer suite, scanner tool or print management program you no longer use, in Settings > Apps > Installed apps. This removes most plug-ins cleanly.
2. Stop Print Spooler in services.msc.
3. Press Win + R, run regedit and export the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print.
4. Open Print\Environments\Windows x64\Print Processors. Windows' own print processor is winprint. Note any other key, usually named after a printer maker.
5. Delete only a key that belongs to a maker whose printers you removed in Fix 3.
6. Start Print Spooler and watch whether it stays Running.

Port monitors live under Print\Monitors. Leave that key alone unless you are sure: Microsoft warns that a third-party monitor key can hold the TCP/IP ports of your printers. Removing the maker's software in step 1 is the safer way to clear a monitor.

Fix 7. Repair Windows system files and install pending updates

20 to 40 minutesNo riskNothing above holds, or other Windows parts misbehave too.

The spooler itself, spoolsv.exe, and the RPC service it depends on are Windows files. If they are damaged, no driver work helps. DISM restores the component store and SFC replaces damaged system files from it.

1. Open Terminal (Admin) or an administrator Command Prompt.
2. Run DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth and wait until it reaches 100 percent.
3. Run sfc /scannow, read the result and restart the PC.
4. Open Settings > Windows Update, install every pending update and restart again. On Windows 10 the path is Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update.

1. Open an elevated command window. Right-click Start and select Terminal (Admin), or type cmd in the search box, right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator. Select Yes when Windows asks for permission.

   

2. Run DISM first. Type the command below and press Enter. DISM downloads clean copies of damaged components from Windows Update, so it can take several minutes. Wait until it says The operation completed successfully.

   DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

   

3. Run System File Checker. In the same window, type the command below and press Enter. Do not close the window until the verification reaches 100%.

   sfc /scannow

   

4. Read the result and restart. Compare the last message with the table below this guide, then restart the PC so that repaired files are loaded.

   

These steps were written for Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2. The full page with the other versions and what each result means: Run DISM and SFC to repair Windows system files

Still getting 0x000006BA? Where the real cause is written

The message never names the driver or the computer that failed, but Windows logs both. Read these before you reinstall anything, and send them along if you ask for help.

• What to send to support: your Windows version (press Win + R and run winver), the printer model and how it is connected, the output of sc query spooler, and the 7031 and Application Error entries.
• Microsoft support. For business PCs, Microsoft asks for a TSS trace for printing problems; its printing articles link to the instructions.
• Is it hardware? Almost never. The code comes from Windows before anything is sent to the printer, so ink, paper and cables are not involved. If the printer works from another PC with the same driver, the fault is in this PC's spooler.

How to keep the print spooler from stopping again

A spooler that crashed once on a bad driver usually crashes again on the next update of that driver. A few habits keep the error away.

Frequently asked questions

What does error 0x000006BA mean?

It is Windows system error 1722, "The RPC server is unavailable." A program sent a request to a service and the service did not answer. In printing that service is the Print Spooler, so Windows adds the sentence "The local print spooler service is not running." Most often the spooler on your own PC has stopped or crashed. With a printer shared by another computer, the spooler that does not answer can also be on that computer. Start with Fix 1 for your own PC and Fix 4 for a shared printer.

Is error 0x000006BA a fault of my printer?

No. The error appears before Windows sends anything to the printer, so the printer is never asked. Ink, paper, cables and the printer's own settings do not cause it. The fault is in the Print Spooler service on your PC, in a driver that crashes that service, or in the network link to a PC that shares the printer. A good test is another computer: if the printer works from there, the printer is fine and the fixes on this page apply to your PC.

Why does it say the local spooler is not running when I print to a shared printer?

Because Windows uses the same message for every "RPC server unavailable" answer it gets from the print system. When you print to a printer that another PC shares, your spooler calls the spooler on that PC. If the host is asleep, its spooler is off, its firewall drops the call or the two computers use different connection methods, your PC gets error 1722 and shows the "local" text. Check your own spooler first, then the host (Fix 4 and Fix 5).

Why does the Print Spooler keep stopping by itself?

Almost always because something it loads crashes it: a damaged print job in the spool folder, a printer driver, or a print processor or port monitor left behind by printer software. Microsoft names conflicting drivers as a common cause. Clear the spool folder first (Fix 2). If the service still stops, read the Application Error entry for spoolsv.exe in Event Viewer. Its faulting module name points to the driver to remove (Fix 3).

Is it safe to delete the files in the spool PRINTERS folder?

Yes, when the Print Spooler is stopped first. The folder holds only jobs that have not printed yet, as .SHD and .SPL files, and Microsoft's own reset for spooler errors deletes them. You lose those queued jobs and print the documents again; the documents themselves are not touched. Do not delete the PRINTERS folder itself or anything in the neighbouring drivers and prtprocs folders. Those hold the installed drivers and print processors.

Should I leave the Print Spooler disabled for security?

Only if you never print from that PC. Disabling the spooler was Microsoft's emergency workaround for the PrintNightmare flaw, CVE-2021-34527, in July 2021, before updates were out. Microsoft states that it disables printing both locally and remotely, so it produces exactly this error. On a fully updated Windows 11 PC that prints, set the service back to Automatic. On a work PC, ask the administrator first, because the setting may be policy.

What does "catdbcli.cpp at line #830 encountered error 0x000006ba" mean?

That line comes from C:\Windows\System32\catroot2\dberr.txt, the log of the catalog database that Windows uses to check signatures of updates and drivers. It has nothing to do with printing. The code means the same thing there: the service that manages the catalog database, Cryptographic Services, did not answer over RPC at that moment, for example while it was restarting. A single entry is not a fault. Look into it only if Windows Update or a driver installation fails at the same time.

What does "Error 0x000006BA enumerating sessionnames" mean?

It is the same error 1722 from the qwinsta or quser commands, which list the sign-in sessions on a computer. It is not a printer problem. The command could not reach the remote computer's RPC service, usually because the computer is off, a firewall blocks RPC or remote RPC access for these tools is not allowed. The tools usually print the decimal form on the next line: "Error [1722]: The RPC server is unavailable."

Is "error 0x00006ba impresora" the same error?

Yes. Impresora is Spanish for printer, and the code is the same in every language of Windows: 0x000006ba, with or without the extra zeros, means error 1722. Only the words around it are translated, which is why people also search for "Fehler 0x000006ba" in German or "erreur 0x000006ba" in French. The steps on this page are the same; the menu names are in your Windows language. This page uses the English labels of Windows 11 and Windows 10.

Does the fix differ on Windows 10?

Not for a printer on your own PC: Fix 1 to Fix 3 and Fix 7 are the same, only the Settings paths differ, and each step gives both. The Windows 11 22H2 RPC change in Fix 5 concerns Windows 11 computers, though a Windows 10 PC can be the client that fails. Windows 10 support ended on 14 October 2025, so Microsoft no longer fixes its print system. If a driver crash keeps returning on Windows 10, moving to Windows 11 is the lasting fix.