How to clear the print queue when a document is stuck?

A document stuck in the print queue blocks every job behind it, so the queue looks frozen even after a restart. Cancel the jobs first, and if one stays on Deleting, stop the Print Spooler, empty its PRINTERS folder and start the service again. Only the waiting documents are removed.

Facts checked on 16 October 2026. Steps written for Windows 11 (25H2 and 26H2) and Windows 10 22H2, with the queue, spooler and folder steps read from Microsoft Support.

What the print queue, the Print Spooler and the PRINTERS folder are

When you press Print, the app does not talk to the printer. It hands the job to the Windows Print Spooler, which Microsoft describes as the service that handles print jobs. The spooler keeps each waiting job and sends the jobs to the printer one after another.

The print queue is the list of those jobs that you see in the Print Queue window. The jobs themselves wait as files in C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS. This is why a stuck job survives a restart of the PC: the file is still on the disk when the spooler starts again.

The queue belongs to Windows, not to the printer maker. The same steps apply to HP, Canon, Epson, Samsung, Brother, Kodak, Xerox, Lexmark, Zebra and every other brand that prints through the Windows spooler.

Why a print job gets stuck and stays on Deleting

Microsoft publishes no list of causes and no statistics, so the order below is our reading of its printing help. The cancelled job shows Deleting until the spooler has removed it. When the spooler is waiting on a damaged job file or a printer that does not answer, that status never ends. This explanation is ours, not a Microsoft statement.

What clearing the queue gets you and what each method costs

Clearing the queue does not make a printer faster or a PC lighter. The gain is simple: a stuck job stops blocking the ones behind it. The cost is that waiting documents disappear, so print them again from the app.

Times are our estimates for a normal PC. If you only need one more document out of the queue, Method 1 costs the least. If a job has been on Deleting for several minutes, go to Method 3.

When to empty the spooler folder and when Cancel is enough

Most people only need the first step of the list that fits their case. Deleting the folder files is the stronger measure, so use it when the gentle ones have failed.

How to clear the print queue when a document is stuck

The methods run from the gentlest to the strongest. Methods 1 to 3 solve most stuck queues. Method 4 is the same reset from the command line for when Services will not stop the spooler. Methods 5 and 6 deal with the printer and its Windows entry.

Method 1. Cancel the jobs from the print queue

2 minutesNo riskEveryone, first. It is the cheapest way to clear one or two documents.

Microsoft lists cancelling every job from Settings as the first step for jobs stuck in the queue. It removes only what you cancel and touches nothing else on the PC.

1. Press Win + I and open Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners. On Windows 10, open Devices > Printers & scanners.
2. Select your printer, then select Open print queue. On Windows 10 the button is Open queue.
3. In the Print Queue window, open the Printers menu and check that the right printer is ticked.
4. Right-click each job and select Cancel. Repeat until the list is empty.
5. Wait one minute and look at the list again.

Method 2. Restart the Print Spooler service

2 minutesLow riskThe queue seems frozen, or Cancel is slow, and you have not touched the service yet.

Microsoft says restarting the Print Spooler can resolve temporary printing problems. A restart is quicker than deleting files, so try it before the folder method.

1. Press Win + R, type services.msc and press Enter.
2. Scroll down and find Print Spooler.
3. Right-click Print Spooler and select Restart.
4. Open the print queue as in Method 1 and look at the list.

Step by step, with screenshots, for any service: Check and restart Windows services.

Method 3. Stop the spooler and delete the files in the PRINTERS folder

5 minutesLow riskA job stays on Deleting, or returns after a restart. This is the method that clears most queues that will not clear.

Waiting jobs are stored as files in the PRINTERS folder, and the spooler reads them again each time it starts. Microsoft's step for a queue that Cancel cannot clear is to stop the service, delete those files and start it again.

1. Press Win + R, type services.msc and press Enter.
2. Right-click Print Spooler and select Stop. Leave the window open.
3. Press Win + E to open File Explorer and go to C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS.
4. If Windows says you need permission to open the folder, select Continue.
5. Press Ctrl + A to select everything in the folder, then press Delete. Shift + Delete skips the Recycle Bin.
6. Go back to Services, right-click Print Spooler and select Start.
7. Open the print queue and check that it is empty.

Method 4. Do the same reset with Command Prompt

5 minutesLow riskYou could not restart or stop the spooler in Services, or you prefer three commands to clicking.

The three commands stop the Print Spooler, delete the files in the PRINTERS folder and start the service again. They do what Method 3 does, and net stop can stop a service that the Services window struggles with.

1. Type cmd in the Windows search box.
2. Right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
3. If User Account Control appears, select Yes.
4. Paste the three commands below and press Enter after each one.

Command Prompt (administrator)

net stop spooler
del /F /S /Q "%windir%\System32\spool\PRINTERS\*.*"
net start spooler

Method 5. Restart the printer and the PC, then check the printer itself

5 minutesNo riskThe queue is empty but nothing prints, the status reads Offline or Error, or the printer froze in the middle of a page.

A job that the printer already received lives in the printer, not in Windows, so emptying the folder cannot remove it. Microsoft's last step for stuck jobs is to turn the printer off for at least 60 seconds and restart the PC.

1. Turn the printer off with its Power button. If it does not react, pull the plug out of the socket.
2. Wait at least 60 seconds.
3. Turn the printer on and wait until it is ready.
4. Restart the PC with Start > Power > Restart.
5. Print one short test document.

If the printer shows a paper, ink or cover warning on its own panel, fix that first. The printer menu usually has a Cancel or Stop button for a job it is holding, and the manual of your model names it.

Method 6. Remove the printer, reinstall the driver and add the printer again

15 to 20 minutesLow riskThe queue clears and then every new job gets stuck, or the printer has been installed for years through several driver changes.

A damaged printer entry or driver makes each new job fail in the same place. Removing the printer and its driver and adding it again gives Windows a fresh start. Microsoft also tells you to install the latest driver from the maker's website.

1. Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners. On Windows 10, open Devices > Printers & scanners.
2. Select your printer and select Remove device.
3. Remove the old driver with the library steps below, then restart the PC.
4. Download the latest driver for your exact model from the printer maker's website.
5. Back in Printers & scanners, select Add device on Windows 11 or Add a printer or scanner on Windows 10.
6. Wait until Windows finds the printer and installs it, then print a test page.

The driver part in full, with screenshots: Update, roll back or reinstall a driver.

The queue is cleared and jobs still get stuck: where to look next

If the queue is empty, the printer is ready and new jobs still stick, look at what Windows wrote down before you reinstall more. The spooler keeps its own log, and it often names the printer, the driver or the job that failed.

• The PrintService log. Press Win + R, type eventvwr.msc and open Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > PrintService > Admin. Errors there name the printer or driver. We could not confirm that this log is enabled by default, so if it is empty, right-click it and check that it is turned on.
• Another app. Print a page from Notepad. If that prints and one program's documents keep sticking, the problem is in that program or that file, not in Windows.
• A shared printer. If the printer is connected to another PC, the stuck jobs are on that PC. Clear its queue there with Methods 1 to 3.
• The spooler stops by itself. See our guides on Print Spooler high CPU and the Documents are waiting message.

How to undo it and put everything back

Deleted jobs cannot be restored, and nothing is worth backing up first: the job files are temporary. Send the documents again from the program that made them. The other changes in this guide are easy to put back.

Myths about stuck print queues

Most advice on this topic is copied from one page to the next. This is what Microsoft's pages support and what they do not.

• "A restart always clears the queue." No. The jobs are files on the disk, so a job that is stuck can load again after a restart. That is why this guide ends with the folder method.
• "Delete the PRINTERS folder." No. Delete the files inside it. Microsoft's step says to delete all files in the folder, and the folder itself must stay.
• "It only happens with some brands." The queue belongs to Windows, so it can happen with any printer maker.
• "You need a cleaner or a repair program." Every step in this guide uses Windows tools. Microsoft's steps for stuck jobs do not call for extra software.
• "You must reinstall Windows." A stuck queue is a spooler and file problem. Reinstalling Windows is far beyond what Microsoft gives for it.

Frequently asked questions

How do I clear the print queue in Windows 10?

Open Settings, Devices, Printers & scanners, select the printer and choose Open queue. Right-click each job and select Cancel. If a job stays, stop the Print Spooler in Services, delete all files in C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS and start the service again. Those are Microsoft's steps for jobs stuck in the queue. Windows 10 left support on 14 October 2025, but the queue works the same on Windows 11, where the path is Bluetooth & devices.

How do I clear the print queue when it is stuck on Deleting?

A job stuck on Deleting means the cancel did not finish, so use Method 3. Stop the Print Spooler in Services, open C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS, delete the files inside and start the spooler again. If Services will not stop the spooler, run net stop spooler in an administrator Command Prompt first. After that the job is gone, because the spooler has no file left to read.

Why does my printer queue not delete or clear?

Usually a job file in the spooler folder is damaged or the printer is not answering, so the spooler cannot finish removing the job. Cancel then leaves it on Deleting. Microsoft does not publish a list of causes, so this is our reading. The fix is the same either way: stop the Print Spooler, empty the PRINTERS folder and start the service again. If new jobs still stick afterwards, look at the printer and driver.

How do I clear a Samsung printer queue?

The queue is kept by Windows, not by the Samsung printer, so the steps are the same as for any brand. Cancel the jobs in the print queue, and if one stays, stop the Print Spooler, delete the files in the PRINTERS folder and start it again. If the printer itself still holds a job, switch it off for at least 60 seconds, as Microsoft says. Menu names on the printer panel differ by model, so check the manual.

How do I clear an Epson printer queue?

Epson printers print through the same Windows spooler as every other brand. Open the print queue, cancel each job and, if one will not go, stop the Print Spooler, empty C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS and start the service again. If the Epson printer is offline or shows an error, fix that first with Method 5. Our guide does not cover the Epson utility's own status window, because we could not confirm what it does with Windows jobs.

How do I clear a Kodak printer queue in Windows 10?

Use the Windows steps, because the stuck jobs are in the Windows spooler and not in the Kodak printer. Open Settings, Devices, Printers & scanners, select the Kodak printer and open the queue. Cancel the jobs. If they stay, stop the Print Spooler, delete the files in the PRINTERS folder and start it again. If new Kodak jobs keep sticking, remove the printer and add it again with the maker's current driver (Method 6).

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

Yes, when you delete only the files inside it and the Print Spooler is stopped. Microsoft gives this step for a print queue that Cancel cannot clear. You lose the documents that were waiting to print, so send them again. Printers, drivers and settings stay. Do not delete the PRINTERS folder itself, and do not delete other folders under spool. Start the Print Spooler again when you finish.

Will restarting the PC clear the print queue?

Sometimes, but often not. The waiting jobs are stored as files, and the spooler reads them again when it starts. That is why users report that a restart changes nothing for a job stuck on Deleting. Restart the printer and the PC when the printer froze or went offline, and use the folder method when a specific job will not leave the queue.

Can I clear the print queue from the command line?

Yes. Open Command Prompt as administrator and run net stop spooler, then del /F /S /Q "%windir%\System32\spool\PRINTERS\*.*", then net start spooler. The first command stops the Print Spooler, the second deletes the job files and the third starts the service again. This is the same reset as Method 3, so it also removes every document that was waiting. Use it when Services will not stop the spooler.

The queue clears but new print jobs get stuck again. What now?

Then the stuck job was a symptom, not the cause. Check the printer first: paper, ink, cover and connection, and restart it as in Method 5. If it prints a test page from its own menu, remove the printer and add it again with the maker's current driver (Method 6). Look at the PrintService log for the failing printer or driver, and try printing a page from Notepad to rule out one program.