March 4th, 2006 
admin 
I bet you feel like that picture – don’t you? If you are encountering this error, you will be tempted to just reformat your computer. It will drive you insane. Let me try to steer you in the right direction. You may not have heard about the .shd or .spl file extensions and you may not care. First things first. Try to start/restart the spooler service. Sometimes this helps. In Xp, go to the control panel, administrative tools, services. Go down to print spooler and start or restart if it’s on already. Then try to print again. No luck? Then it’s time to get our hands dirty and learn a little. Don’t worry this isn’t too painful…
You can go to Undocumented Printing to learn about the file formats .shd and .spl. They basically hold the print job and drawing instructions. What happens is that, for numerous possible reasons, that job is corrupted and locks up the print que. This crashes the spooler subsystem. So, no adding, deleting printers or printing can be done.
First, shut down the print spooler service (see above). Next, delete any orphaned/corrupt .shd and/or .spl files in the c:windows/system32/spooler/printers directory. Or, you can go to this HP site and have this batch file do it for you. This may be particularly helpful if you are having the issue with a Brother printer. Restart the print spooler service. Now, if you keep getting this issue, you may have a problem with the print driver you are using. Try changing it. If you have a print server, then it may be to blame. I hope that helps!
Tip: If you are having other problems with your computer, like slowness or errors, you should check out Registry Fix.
(Picture Source: MIT)
Posted in 
Tags: 
Very helpful.
Thank you very much.
You are a lifesaver…I had been trying to correct this problem for over 2 hours and finally did a google search and ur site popped up…tks so much.
Thank you so much! I had this problem too and it was solved thanks to you!
Fantastic! After spending half the morning trying everything I could think of I googled print spooler subsystem error and found you. Worked like a charm! Thanks.
Saved my day! Thanks for the excellent advice and help! It really did work like a charm…thanks again!
worked perfectly…your a life saver.
thanks very much
Thank you man, you saved the day! Very helpful and neat indeed.
This worked for me! Thanks a million.
Undocumented Printing has moved to:
http://www.undocprint.org/
Thanks for the help. I have had to do this before but could not remember where the spool files were kept. Big help. Keep up the good work.
Joe
Thanks, VERY MUCH!!! I have been chasing this problem for two days, and finally found this site. Fixed the problem in 10 minutes.
Thanks again.
Gary III
Thanks so much for your help. I’ve been dealing with this problem for two days and, yes, I was ready to wipe the hard drive clean and reinstall.
I wonder why this isn’t posted on the Microsoft kb site??
THANKS AGAIN!
Did not work for me, probably why it isn’t posted on the Microsoft KB site!!
Brilliant: 100% more helpful than MS KB site!
Excellent. SO helpful. Again, 100% more helpful than MS KB Site.
I downloaded all the registry so called programs that said they could fix the print spooler. I wasted hours to no avail. Then I found this site…and did the 2 min process…and it worked. You saved the day! Thanks again.
Thank you so much for your advice that was posted on the internet on ‘print spooler Subsystem App Error’. My boss was waiting for a reply from our computer guy and I was printing from another computer and decided for myself to try and install the printer and check this problem out for myself. Your solution worked like a charm, and within minites I was printing again.
Thanks so much again for your help on printer problems.
BAM! Problem solved. Thanks a TON!
Fantastic!!!!
MS’s “solution” was too daunting to attempt.
I had to get my PC up and running ASAP.
Your solution fixed the problem in a few minutes.
I, too, cannot understand why MS can’t post such an elegant solution on their pages???
Thank you for dropping my blood pressure 40-50 units!
Yessssssssss thank you so much.
[...] Print Spooler Subsystem App Error : PaulTech [...]
This is amazing! My husband was ready to throw his laptop, printer and me out the window till I found you. Thank you so much!
This was so simple and saved me from a disaster. Many,many thanks. I wish all fixes were so simple, concise and to the point!
OMG, thank you so much!!!!! Two days of dealing with microsoft suggestions of updating files and all other sorts of crazy info. Stumbled upon this site and all I had to do was delete ONE file!
Thank goodness for people like you and Google
I had three issues at once – internet connectivity, a registry problem and a printer malfunction.
The first two took about 30 minutes – I had not a clue about the printer issue and you’re right – the window looked like the right place for the computer.
Five minutes after I found this site and I was back up.
Thank you -
Simple and effective. Thanks.
It’s great to see that this post has helped so many people! Thanks for the comments.
My Lexmark printer went down and I can’t even re-install the driver — now I have minus-zero printer and I know I got some kind of bug-shot. I can’t get the print spooler going at all or understand any of this… thanx?!
Bravo majstore!!
Thank you sooooo much! I cannot believe it was so simple. I just did the first restart of the spooler and I was up and running again after nearly 48 hours of utter frustration and $50 spent on a 100% promised fix. I subscribe to an advice by telephone for computer support and they spent 2 hours on the phone with me to no avail. What a life saver you are! I wish your site was the first one I had found! We are a very small family business producing bespoke personalised products. This was our very busiest season for autograph books for schools and with the end of term so close I was in despair. Thank you once again. You have my undying admiration.
I wish I would of tried this first before I reimaged the computer.
Brilliant, painless, perfect. You are my hero. This came about from trying to install a firmware update to my HP Coloer LaserJet 2840 All-In-One that I bought from CompUSA before they closed down locally. Without you, there could’ve been a very ugly incident in my office!
Thank you,
Steve
pls change “Coloer” to “Color” in previous comment, thnx!
This fixed my problem in like 2 minutes! Saved me days of work. Thanks so much!
thanks big bro. You save my time so much!
Thanks gopaultech.com for this advice. It helps me fix my problem. Now my printer works again and my job, too. Thanks you so much. It’s fantastic!!!
Thank you so very much. Your instructions were so simple. I love you!
Me sooo love you long time for this one. I almost went bald when this happened to me!
Many Thanks – 100% successfull
I’m so grateful there are people like you out there that are able to give simple, clear, directions to solve this problem. I was getting so frustrated and was relieved to find an easy fix! Thank you so much.
You should send this to microsoft then maybe they could solve their own problems.
Thanks, fixed!
Worked! Thanks!
message saying the service print spooler is preventing the machine from entering standby. Try stopping this service and try again. I don;t know what to do Help!!!
Ditto to all the above. I just about went crazy all day, and it turned out there was a shockwave file in the spooler area. I deleted it and presto printo!
A friend told me that could have happened when trying to print a web page…
Thanks again!
This was a God’s sent. Thank you. Our computer staff was bz fixing bigger problems, meanwhile I couldn’t print. You saved me one more day of frustration!!! I will be checking this website on future ‘error’ msgs.
Thank you! Thank you! I’ve spent 4 hours trying to get this error fixed! Found your post and it did the trick! Blessings to you in the name of the Lord!
I looked at several possible solutions on the net. Was tearing my hair out for a whole day when I came upon your site. Deleting the 2 .shd files worked like magic. I am forever in your debt.
You saved me and countless hours. No other advice solved this. You did… immediately
In your debt
WOW!!!!
I spent 3 days. I was upset, my life was becoming miserable! I didn’t know what to do. I was hating MICROSOFT. I was hating their employees and programers because NOTHING SIMPLE appears in their WEBPAGE.
But you made things SO EASY, SIMPLE, MARVELOUS. I really thank you! Thank you and Thank you!
What I did was very simple, I looked up for the shadow extentions (in search files) you mentioned “*.shd and *.spl” as soon as I got them I deleted them. Suddenly my printers appeared. It was NORMAL AGAIN! I feel like when I proposed my wife. Hahaha
Thank PAUL TECH, Thank You again!