How to Clear the Printer Queue in Windows 11

When a print job gets stuck, nothing else prints. Every document sent to the printer lines up behind the stuck job and waits. The fix is clearing the queue, and there are three ways to do it depending on how stubborn the stuck job is.

Method 1: Cancel Jobs Through Settings (Quickest)

This works for most stuck print jobs and takes under a minute.

Step 1: Open Printers and Scanners

Press Windows and I to open Settings. Click Bluetooth and Devices, then click Printers and Scanners.

Step 2: Open the Print Queue

Click your printer from the list. Click Open print queue.

Step 3: Cancel All Documents

Click the three-dot menu in the top right corner of the print queue window. Select Cancel all. All pending jobs clear immediately.

If you only want to remove specific jobs rather than everything, right-click any individual job and select Cancel.

If the jobs disappear from the queue but the printer still does not respond, restart the printer by turning it off, waiting thirty seconds, and turning it back on.

Method 2: Restart the Print Spooler Service

If jobs refuse to clear using Method 1 and remain stuck with a Deleting status that never completes, the Print Spooler service needs to be restarted. The Print Spooler is the Windows service that manages all print jobs. Restarting it forces the queue to reset.

Step 1: Open Services

Press Windows and R together. Type services.msc and press Enter. The Services window opens.

Step 2: Stop the Print Spooler

Scroll down the list to find Print Spooler. Right-click it and select Stop. Leave the Services window open.

Step 3: Delete the Queue Files

Press Windows and R again. Type the following path and press Enter:

C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS

File Explorer opens directly inside the PRINTERS folder, which contains the temporary files for all pending print jobs. Press Ctrl and A to select everything inside the folder. Press Delete to remove all files.

Do not delete the PRINTERS folder itself. Delete only the files inside it.

Step 4: Restart the Print Spooler

Return to the Services window. Right-click Print Spooler and select Start. The service restarts with a completely empty queue.

Try printing again. The queue is now clear and the spooler is running fresh.

Method 3: Clear the Queue Using Command Prompt

This method completes all three steps from Method 2 in one go, which is faster if you are comfortable using Command Prompt.

Press Windows and S, type cmd, right-click Command Prompt in the results, and select Run as administrator.

Type each of the following lines and press Enter after each one:

net stop spooler
del /Q /F /S "%systemroot%\System32\spool\PRINTERS\*.*"
net start spooler

The first command stops the Print Spooler. The second deletes all queue files. The third restarts the spooler. The queue is cleared in seconds without opening any additional windows.

Save It as a One-Click Fix for the Future

If your printer queue gets stuck regularly, save the three Command Prompt commands as a batch file you can run whenever it happens.

Open Notepad and type:

net stop spooler
del /Q /F /S "%systemroot%\System32\spool\PRINTERS\*.*"
net start spooler

Go to File, Save As. Change the file type to All Files. Name the file something like clear-print-queue.bat and save it to your desktop. To run it, right-click the file and select Run as administrator. The queue clears automatically in seconds.