Replacing Spoolsv.exe

[muthabored]

I have an XP Pro PC that's been having printing problems. What happend is the user attempted to print but couldn't...I checked to make sure he was printing to the correct printer but no printers were listed under Start/Settings/Printers. I attempted to add one but was told that the function could not be performed. I suspected that his Spooler Service might be stopped and sure enough, it was. I restarted it and he was able to print one time after that but the same problem re-appeared. I started the Spooler Service again and when he attempted to print, he received another error. I deleted spoolsv.exe from his system323 folder and rebooted. He was able to print one time after this and then the error returned, indicating that spoolsv.exe had issues (I say this because I don't remember the error verbatim). My question is whether or not this file can be deleted and replaced with another spoolsv.exe like say off of someone else's PC or is there another method.

 

[linney]

Even though you deleted Spoolsv.exe Windows File Protection would probably be replacing it the first time it was required from the DllCache. You would have to also remove it from the cache to prevent that happening (then you might just generate another error if it can't find or replace it).
You should be able to replace it from another machine running XP or from the XP CD.

Maybe the reboot fixed the problem temporarily.

Have a look in the Event Viewer and see if you can get the exact error message to post.

314073 - How to troubleshoot network printing problems in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314073&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[bcastner]

Spooler failures are almost always printer driver problems. See the discussion and "fix" here:

http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/CleanPrinterDrivers.htm