STATUS_REQUEST_ABORTED 0XC0000240 fix: Printer & USB errors

1. Bad printer driver (most common cause)

This error shows up most often when you're printing or scanning. I saw it last week on a Dell Optiplex with a Brother HL-L2370DW. User couldn't print anything. The error log said STATUS_REQUEST_ABORTED. The fix? The printer driver was corrupted after a Windows Update.

Here's how to check if your printer driver is the problem:

1. Open Device Manager (right-click Start menu).
2. Expand Print queues or Imaging devices.
3. Look for any device with a yellow triangle or that says "error".
4. Right-click it and pick Uninstall device. Check the box that says "Delete the driver software for this device".
5. Restart the PC. Windows will reinstall a basic driver automatically.

If that doesn't work, run the print troubleshooter built into Windows. Go to Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot > Additional troubleshooters > Printer. It'll reset the print spooler and check for hung jobs. I've seen this fix the error about 60% of the time.

Also, check your print spooler service. Open Services.msc, find Print Spooler. Stop it, delete everything in C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS, then start it again. That cleans out stuck print jobs that trigger the abort.

2. Faulty USB device or cable

Second most common cause is a USB device that can't keep up. I helped a guy last month whose external hard drive kept disconnecting. Every time it disconnected, the PC threw 0XC0000240 in the event log. The drive was a Seagate Backup Plus that was old and had a bad cable.

Try these steps:

• Unplug all USB devices except keyboard and mouse.
• If the error stops, plug them back one by one until it comes back. That's your bad device.
• For USB hubs or docks: sometimes they get confused. Unplug the hub, wait 10 seconds, plug it back.
• Try a different USB port. Use the ones on the back of your PC (directly on the motherboard).
• Swap the cable if it's a removable cable. About 1 in 5 USB cables are faulty out of the box.

Another thing: Windows has a power-saving feature called USB selective suspend. It can cause devices to disconnect randomly. To turn it off:

1. Open Control Panel > Power Options.
2. Click Change plan settings by your active plan.
3. Click Change advanced power settings.
4. Find USB settings > USB selective suspend setting and set it to Disabled.
5. Click Apply and OK.

This stops Windows from putting USB devices to sleep mid-use.

3. Corrupted system files (rare but real)

If neither of the above fixes it, you might have a deeper system file issue. This happened to me after a botched update on a Windows 10 20H2 machine. The error popped up randomly when opening files from a network share.

Run the built-in system file checker. Open Command Prompt as admin and type:

sfc /scannow

Let it finish. It will replace any corrupted files. Then run DISM to fix the system image:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Both together fix most file corruption issues. Takes 10-15 minutes. After that, restart the PC.

If sfc still finds errors after a restart, you might need to do a repair install. Use the Windows Media Creation Tool to do an in-place upgrade. That keeps your files and apps but replaces all system files fresh.

Quick reference table

Start with the printer driver fix. That's the most common trigger. If you're not printing, go straight to the USB issue. The system file fix is the last resort.