Cannot print, printers and faxes folder empty

Question

Hello. My Windows XP computer will not let me print. None of the programs have the printers, and nither does the Printers and Faxes folder in control panel. I have a Cannon Pixma Photo Printer and a Lexmark all-in-one. I have tried reinstalling Pixma and installation fails. When I connect a Printer the New Hardware Wizard comes up and says it failed to connect. Anybody have any ideas?

Answer 1

This sounds as if the Print Spooler has stopped. 

Often, but not always, the symptoms you described are caused by a corrupt print job stuck in the queue or a corrupt printer driver.  However before cleaning things up, on general principles you might want to download, install, update, and run full scans with each of these two free programs:

MalwareBytes AntiMailware

SUPERAntiSpyware

Don't run both scans simultaneously.  Each will take some time, so start it and then go do something else for a while.

Clean up printers

NOTE:  If after completing step A the print spooler still does not stay running after you have issued the "net start spooler" command, you will not be able to follow all of the steps in "Article One."  Use the Special Procedure for Lexmark printers described below and then follow Article One.  If still no joy, use the alternative method linked below.

A.  Clean out the pending print jobs

• Open a Command Prompt window (Start > Run > cmd > OK)
• Type the following in the black Command Prompt window and press Enter after each line

                           net stop spooler

                           del /Q "%windir%\system32\spool\PRINTERS\*.*"

                           net start spooler

                           exit

B.  Clean out the old printer drivers and install the latest drivers using the directions in Article One. 

Special Procedure for computers that have or had a Lexmark or Dell-badged Lexmark printer.

Open a Command Prompt window (Start > Run > cmd > OK)

Type the following in the black Command Prompt window and press Enter

      sc config spooler depend= RPCSS

      exit

note that there is no space before the =

If you want to use a Lexmark or Dell-badged Lexmark printer after doing the above, you'll have to reinstall it.

Alternative to Article One's method: http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/CleanPrinterDrivers.htm

Answer 2

As I originally wrote, usually an empty Printers and Faxes window means that the print spooler is not running.  That is not true in your case: the print spooler appears to be running properly.

Although I have not personally seen a situation like yours, I did come across a few posts that appear to be the same or a similar problem.  The error seems to be caused by a missing or corrupted printui.dll file, but other files may also be missing or corrupted.

In addition to the following, please state what service pack of Windows XP you have (right-click My Computer and select Properties if you're not sure).  This is necessary to get you the correct replacement file(s).

Open a Command Prompt window (Start > Run > cmd > OK).

Copy the following line and paste (using right-click > paste) into the Command Prompt window

     RUNDLL32 PRINTUI.DLL,PrintUIEntry /ii /f %windir%\inf\ntprint.inf

Does the Add Printer Wizard open or do you get an error message?  If you get an error message, please report it completely, without paraphrasing.

I suspect that you will get an error message similar to the following:

        "This application has failed to start because cfgmgr32.dll was not found.  Reinstalling the application may fix the problem."

          "Error loading printui.dll.  Module could not be found."

Run a search, including "system folders" and "hidden files and folders" for printui.dl (leave off the last L).  Let me know what the results of this search are.  If any other files are mentioned in an error message, search for them as well.

Answer 3

[SC] GetServiceConfig SUCCESS

SERVICE_NAME: spooler

        TYPE               : 110  WIN32_OWN_PROCESS (interactive)

        START_TYPE         : 2   AUTO_START

        ERROR_CONTROL      : 1   NORMAL

        BINARY_PATH_NAME   : C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe  

        LOAD_ORDER_GROUP   : SpoolerGroup  

        TAG                : 0  

        DISPLAY_NAME       : Print Spooler  

        DEPENDENCIES       : LexBceS  

                           : RPCSS  

        SERVICE_START_NAME : LocalSystem  

SERVICE_NAME: spooler

        TYPE               : 110  WIN32_OWN_PROCESS (interactive)

        STATE              : 4  RUNNING

                                (STOPPABLE,NOT_PAUSABLE,ACCEPTS_SHUTDOWN)

        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0    (0x0)

        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0    (0x0)

        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0

        WAIT_HINT          : 0x0

MalwareBytes found nothing.

Answer 4

Did either MalwareBytes AntiMalware or SUPERAntiSpyware find anything?  If so, what happened next?

Please do the following:

Open a Command Prompt window (Start > Run > cmd > OK)

Type each of the following lines in the black Command Prompt window and press Enter after each line

           sc qc spooler > "%UserProfile%\Desktop\spoolnfo.txt"

           sc query spooler >> "%UserProfile%\Desktop\spoolnfo.txt"

           notepad "%UserProfile%\Desktop\spoolnfo.txt"

Copy and paste the contents of the Notepad window into your Reply here.

When you are done, you can close the Notepad window and the Command Prompt window and delete the file spoolnfo.txt from your Desktop.

Answer 5

I've tried everything that you showed me, I can now see add printers, but i click it and it does nothing, and i still cannot install/use pinters.