Fix printer error 0X00000871 — spooler stopped

What's happening here

The 0X00000871 error means the Windows Print Spooler service stopped or crashed. This is usually because a stuck print job got corrupted, or a printer driver messed up the spooler queue. The spooler is the thing that holds your print jobs in a folder and sends them to the printer. When it stops, nothing prints.

I've seen this most often after a printer jams mid-print, or when someone turns off the printer while a job is still spooling. Windows 10 and 11 both trigger this. Don't overthink it — the fix is almost always one of these three steps.

Fix 1: Restart the spooler service (30 seconds)

This is the quickest check. The spooler might just be in a weird state after a crash.

1. Press Windows + R, type services.msc, hit Enter.
2. Scroll down to Print Spooler. Right-click it and choose Restart.
3. Wait 5 seconds. Try printing again.

If the service was already stopped, right-click and Start it instead. If it starts but then stops again, move to Fix 2.

Fix 2: Clear stuck print jobs (5 minutes)

A corrupted print job can kill the spooler instantly. You need to delete those waiting jobs. Do this after Fix 1 fails.

1. Open services.msc again, stop the Print Spooler service (right-click, Stop).
2. Open File Explorer. Go to C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS.
3. Delete everything inside that folder. Don't delete the folder itself, just the files.
4. Go back to services.msc, start the spooler again.

The reason this works: those .shd and .spl files are the actual print jobs. If one is broken, the spooler can't process it and shuts down. Clearing them resets the queue. You'll lose any pending print jobs, but that's fine — you just re-send them.

Fix 3: Rebuild the spooler folder and registry (15+ minutes)

If Fixes 1 and 2 didn't fix it, something corrupted the spooler folder itself or the registry key that controls it. This fix is more thorough but safe if you follow the steps exactly.

Step A: Delete the folder entirely

1. Stop the spooler service (Fix 2, step 1).
2. In File Explorer, go to C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS.
3. Delete the PRINTERS folder. Yes, the whole folder.
4. Right-click in the blank area, choose New > Folder, name it PRINTERS.
5. Start the spooler service again.

Step B: Check the registry (advanced users only)

Only do this if the error comes back after Step A. The spooler's registry key can get wrong permissions or point to a missing folder.

1. Press Windows + R, type regedit, hit Enter. Click Yes if prompted.
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Spooler.
3. On the right, double-click Start. Make sure the value is 2 (automatic start) and Base is Hexadecimal. Click OK.
4. Double-click ImagePath. Verify it says C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe with no extra spaces. Click OK.
5. Close regedit. Restart the spooler service one more time.

If you're not comfortable editing the registry, skip Step B. It's rarely needed. But when a third-party printer driver (looking at you, HP and Canon) messes up the spooler's path, this fixes it.

When to give up and use a different approach

If none of these work, the problem might not be the spooler at all. Could be a corrupted printer driver. Uninstall the printer from Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners, remove the driver from the manufacturer's website, and reinstall it fresh. Or try printing from another app (like Notepad) to isolate if it's only happening in one program.

One more thing: on Windows 11 with certain Ethernet-connected printers, the spooler sometimes hangs because of a network timeout. Check your printer's IP address hasn't changed. That's a different rabbit hole though.