Had a users who had their printers disappearing and even after reboot or Print Spooler Service restart the printers would vanish after only a few seconds. After much research found this article from Chicago Tech that explains in detail how to troubleshoot this Faulting Application spoolsv issue. Here are the three steps that fixed the issue for this domain user:
Step 1: Clear the print caches to fix Faulting Application spoolsv
1. Open “Computer” and browse to the folder “c:\windows\system32\spool\printers” and delete all the files in the folder.
2. Do the same to clear the content in the folder “c:\windows\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86”
If the above step doesn’t work, please perform the next one.
Step 2: Reset the printer spooler to fix Faulting Application spoolsv
1. Open command prompt as administrator
2. Type “Net stop RPCSS” (without quotation marks) and press Enter.
3. Type “sc config spooler depend= RPCSS” (without quotation marks and note the spacing) and press Enter.
4. Type “Net start RPCSS” (without quotation marks) and press Enter.
5. Type “Net start SPOOLER” (without quotation marks) and press Enter.
6. Delete the printer and reboot the computer to allow Group Policy to re-install printer.
If the issue persists, please go on to Step 3 since the issue can be caused
by some corrupted printer drivers on the computer.
Step 3: Remove Printer Drivers to fix Faulting Application spoolsv
1. open RegEdit as administrator
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print, click Registry->Export Registry File on the menu, and export the current key to a REG file for backup. (Note: You may double click on the REG file in Windows Explorer to restore the original settings)
3. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environment\Windows NT x86\Drivers, remove both the Version-2 and Version-3 keys if they exist.
4. Remove all sub keys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers. (Do not remove the Printers key.)
5. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environment\Windows NT x86\PrintProcessors, delete any processor that is not the following:
winprint
6. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Providers, delete any provider that is not one of the following:
Internet Print Provider
LanMan Print Services
7. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Monitors, delete any monitor that is not one of the following:
BJ Language Monitor
Local Port
PJL Language Monitor
Standard TCP/IP Port
USB Monitor
Windows NT Fax Monitor
AppleTalk Printing Devices
LPR Port
8. Exit the registry editor.\
9. Remove all files from the following directories if they exist:
C:\Windows\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86\2
C:\Windows\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3
10. Reboot to let Group Policy install the printer drivers again. This will take extra time for this one reboot.
If your company is uses Group Policy to deploy printers or just needs help troubleshooting network printer issues, then contact us for assistance.