Troubleshoot print spool errors in Windows 98

Helpline Q&A Directory

When I try to print, I see errors involving spool32.exe. Why is this happening, and how can I stop it?

You will need to do some detective work to try to locate the cause of the fault. To do this, perform the steps below and try to print after each one. If printing still fails, try the next step.

1. Try updating your printer driver.

2. Disable all non-essential drivers by clean-booting your computer. To do this under Windows 98, click Start, Run. Type Msconfig and press Enter. When the System Configuration Utility starts, select the General tab. Select Selective Startup and clear the following checkboxes: Process config.sys file; Process autoexec.bat file; Process Winstart.bat file; Process system.ini file; Process Win.ini file; Load startup group items

Note: you must reinstall the printer driver if you disable the win.ini file because printer and port information is stored in this file. Click ok and close the System Information tool. Then restart your computer. This process eliminates the possibility that an antivirus program, utility or third-party printing package is causing the error message.

3. Change the spooling format from EMF to RAW and attempt to print directly to the printer instead of spooling the print job. To do this, click Start, Settings, and then Printers. Right-click the icon of the printer you are using and select Properties. On the Details tab click 'Spool Settings', then 'Print Directly To The Printer'. In the 'Spool Data Format' box, click RAW. Click ok twice and close the Printers window.

4. A program may be preventing spool32.exe from starting when Windows starts. To work around this problem create a shortcut to the program in the Startup folder of your Start menu.

To do this, locate the file spool32.exe in the Windows System folder. Drag the program to the Start button and, keeping the mouse button held down, wait for the menu to open.

Then move to Programs, wait for the Programs menu to open, move to Startup, wait for the Startup menu to open, move to the Startup menu and release the mouse button. This will create a shortcut to the program in the Startup folder that will ensure spool32.exe starts.