Print Spooler Services Problem

[ddimage]

Hi all,

hope somebody can help with this one.

I am having problems getting my printers to be recognised;
Lexmark P706, Lexmark X83, HP 895 CXi and Epson 890 and keep getting this error message:

Could not start the Printer Spooler Service on Local Computer.

Error 1066 The Dependency Service or Group failed to start.

I have been to Google and followed the directions for the "Fix"
but still no joy.

link:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B324757

Anybody got any Ideas?

BTW This has only just occured after months of happy printing

[cobra]

try running antivirus scan?
I have seen bugbear virus do some bad things with print spools...
Just a suggestion..

[ddimage]

Yeh, I've done that but no signs of any infection

[glc]

I'd uninstall all printer software, paying particular attention to the Lexmarks and the Epson. Go registry diving if necessary.

Try installing just the HP - the 895 uses a very straightforward driver, especially if you use the corporate driver which is a simple add printer - have disk operation, it doesn't install a bunch of toolboxes and crap.

[ddimage]

I did all that, especially the Lexmarks as the Microsoft site seemed to think that they cause the issues.

After following the instructions to uninstall from the Spooler Registry, I have finally sorted it ( I hope ).

The problem was that after doing all the above the print spoolers wouldn't start.

The fix was;
Go to HKey-LocalMachine\System\Currentcontrolset\Services\Spooler RegistrySubkey and find an entry with the name Depends on Service, export and delete and Restart.

Result ... Printer Spool Started.

Thanks for the input.

[QuickSilver]

Sounds to me like you just had your Printer Spooler service disabled, and possibly your RPC service as well.

[tim1477]

I had the same problem with my Lexmark Z45. Print spooler service wasn't started and wouldn't start. Fixed it by checking it in msconfig (stupid me i unchecked it at one point not realizing what i was doing.)

[ddimage]

Yeh, I had to switch off the spooler as per the Microsoft fix ... but it wouldn't let me switch back on.

I have decided to leave the Lexmarks off as I can do without any further issues.

I am sticking with my tried and tested HP and Epson.