Lost Printers & Spooler

[diverron]

I have Win 7 (64) installed and everything seems to be fine except that about a month ago I lost all my printers. I first noticed it when trying to print a web page, but it appears the problem is general since no printers appear in the "Devices and Printers" window (from Start Menu). Previously I had two printers available; a USB legacy Dell inkjet printer directly connected to a USB port on my computer and an older HP LaserJet 1200 connected to my wife's computer and shared across the network. Both printers have disappeared. If I try to "Add Printer" I get the message "Windows can't open Add Printer. The local print spooler service is not running. Please restart the spooler or restart the machine." I have gone into the control panel (Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Administrative Tools\Services) and restarted teh Print Spooler, but it will not stay running.

Any thoughts on where to turn with problem solving this one?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Ron

[CLiNT]

A potential fix:
Disconnect your printer(s), delete the contents of "C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS and/or C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers" folders.
Restart your computer and wait a few min. then reconnect USB printer.

Ensure you have an up to date drive imaged back up on hand, if not make one before proceeding.

There is also a "Printeк Spooler Fix Wizard" that I had not previously heard of or tried.
(from www.printer-spooler.com)

[diverron]

Thanks for the suggestions Clint.

Removing the USB printer cable and re-attaching it seemed to work in the short run, but the printers disappeared quickly. I then tried the Print Spooler Fix Wizard, but stopped when it got to the point where I needed to pony up $40 to continue. However, it did identify some registry keys and some files (and their locations) that it labelled as corrupt. I deleted what I could, although I was somewhat cautious about deleting some of the DLL files. I then ran the Glary Utilities to clean the registry. That identified a host of registry problems and I let the Glary Utilities fix them (free). At this point, printing appears to be working. My fingers remain crossed.

Ron