Clear hung print job automatically

[falcon2000]

You know how sometimes for whatever reason a print job fails to print and it is stuck in the print queue and it stops subsequent print jobs from printing. Is there a way to configure the printer driver / Windows to automatically delete the stuck print job so that the next jobs can go through?

[ua549]

AFAIK it will take some form of human interaction because there is no way to define "stuck" since a print job may be in the queue an in determinant period while waiting on jobs that are ahead of it. In addition if it is a stand alone IP printer (wired or wireless), no single computer knows about everything that is in the print queue.

[falcon2000]

I am hoping there's a way ... oh well

[Steve R Jones]

Copy the following into notepad and save as ClearSpooler.BAT ( See Link ) Double clicking on it "should" do the trick.


net stop spooler
del %systemroot%\system32\spool\printers\*.shd
del %systemroot%\system32\spool\printers\*.spl
net start spooler

[ua549]

That batch file will only clear the print spooler for the computer it is run on. In addition it will clear ALL print jobs on that computer, not just the hung job. Steve's method is the one to use if the spooler itself is hung and the offending print job can't be deleted.

Because a print job must be manually cleared anyway, it is just as easy to click the printer icon, highlight the hung document and delete it. All the remaining print jobs will remain intact. If that doesn't work kill the spooler and recreate the print jobs that were lost in the queue.

[falcon2000]

Perhaps my question would have been more clear had I said "unattended" instead of "automatic".
What I want is a way for the system to identify those jobs that are indicated as "error printing" and then, on its own, w/o any user action, delete these jobs from the print queue.
Well, looks like it's not possible.

[SpywareDr]

An error when printing could simply be because the printer ran out of paper|ink|toner, or maybe a paper jam that needs to be cleared. As soon as these problems are taken of, the error should clear and, with any luck, the printer will continue printing.

[jdc2000]

Link:

http://www.chris.dunn.name/pqm.htm

[falcon2000]

with any luck, the printer will continue printing.

That's the thing. Sometimes, the failed jobs stuck as error even after you clear the paper jam etc. This is the situation I am interested in solving in a way that won't require any action from the user.

This is for my mom's system. She calls me all the times with printer problems and when I remote in to her system, often times it's just some stuck failed print jobs. I am just trying to save myself some hassle.

jdc2000, it's a nice find but it still requires user action. I may have use of it myself but not for my mom.

[jdc2000]

I didn't test it out, but from the info in the software, it looked like it MIGHT have the ablilty to clear print jobs older than a set time. It couldn't hurt to check it out.

However, it might be a better idea to try to eliminate the failed print jobs to start with. More info on how this is happenning might be helpful. Is the printer normally left on all the time, or is it turned on when there is a need to print something? If the printer is left on and goes into power save mode, pressing a button on the printer to wake it up, especially before powering up the computer, might be a good idea.

[SpywareDr]

The computer is sending a stream of printer data to the printer ...
... the printer has a problem, (paper jam, out of paper, etc.), ...
... ... it tells the computer to hang on a minute, ...
... ... ... and the computer pops up some printer error message.

The computer is now waiting for the printer to tell it when it's ready to print again . . .

After the problem has been resolved, (remove the jam, replace the paper, etc.), *-some-* printers require you to push a button to let it know that you've fixed the problem and you are ready for it to resume printing.

You push the button, ...
... the printer sends a signal to the computer to continue,
... ... the computer removes the printer error message ...
... ... ... and continues sending the stream of printer data to the printer.

*-Other-* printers are designed to continually watch and as soon as you've resolved the problem, (removed the jam, added paper, etc.), they immediately detect it and signal the computer that they're ready to print . . . no button push required. This is pretty cool but, it can be a problem when you're not ready for the printer to resume printing quite yet.

On the ones where you do have to push a button to continue, I'm sure the theory is if you're physically there fixing the problem you should be able to simply push a button to let it know that you're ready.

[falcon2000]

As far as I know, the many times that I have helped her with it, it doesn't ask the user to press any button to continue to print and it does continue to print most of the times. But it isn't the case always. And it's not just this printer. I've seen the same thing happens to many printers ... for reasons unknown, the failed print job just get stuck.

I know it's a simple thing to just open the print queue to clear the stuck jobs and, thus, it may appear that my quest is just plain stupid. But the thing is that I am talking about my elderly mom here. As smart as she is, she is just not all that into computer stuff and doesn't really have any patience for this kinda thing, so she'd rather just call me to fix it which I am glad to do. Anyway, I am just hoping that there is a clever way or a 3rd party SW which may help to make it easier for both of us, but it looks like there isn't any. Oh well, it's fine, she always complaints that I don't call nearly enough anyway, so I should just look at the situation as an opportunity to spend some phone time w/ her. Cheers.

[SpywareDr]

I know what you're saying but, how is a computer supposed to know when it is truly a "failed print job"?

One example of why deleting a print job after a set amount of time might not be the solution you're looking for. Let's say you have the computer setup to delete a failed print job two minutes after it receives a printer error. (You could set it for longer of course but you don't want your mother to get impatient and call you.):

• So, your mother sends something to the printer and runs to the restroom.
• The printer gets a paper jam and sends an error signal the computer.
• The computer pops up an error message and starts counting down.
• After two minutes, the computer deletes the print job.
• Your mother comes back and removes the paper jam.
• And now, because her print job isn't printing, she calls you.
  

I know you're probably thinking well, I'll just have to set it a bit longer, say 10 minutes, and tell her she'll just have to be patient.

So, she now sends a print job to the printer and goes to the grocery store, or to bed. The printer runs out of ink and signals the computer. The computer waits 10 minutes and deletes the print job. She gets back, replaces the ink cartridge and then when nothing prints, yep, you guessed it, she calls you ... again.

There might also be a case where you would never want the computer to delete a print job. Let's say she was attempting to print a receipt with the all-important confirmation number for a transfer of $99,999.99 she just made into your savings account . . . and yep, the printer jammed, or ran out of ink, or whatever. Are you *-s-u-r-e-* you would want the computer to decide to delete this print job?

[falcon2000]

I know what you're saying but, how is a computer supposed to know when it is truly a "failed print job"?

It won't matter whether it's a "true" failed job or not.

I don't think I have made myself clear enough, my bad. I am not talking about the situation where after you clear the jam or load the paper or install inks whatever, the printer just resume printing. If it is the case, there is nothing to discuss ... she can most definitely clear paper jam, load paper and install inks. Instead, I am saying that sometimes even after you have taken care of what the printer needs, the print job still won't print for some reasons. And when you try to send out the print job again, the previous failed job stops the new one from printing. The only way the printer will resume printing again is to have the stuck job deleted from the queue. Under this scenario, it wouldn't matter how important or unimportant that print is b/c there is just no other way.

Now, again, opening up the print queue and deleting the stuck job is a very simple thing for you and I and for most people I presume. But she keeps forgetting how to do it, perhaps b/c of her old age or perhaps she just doesn't like to deal with it, I don't know. Yes, I can print out a instruction and stick it on her computer desk, blah, blah, blah, but, hey, knowing her, she'll probably ignore or forget all about that anyway, I don't know, again, maybe b/c of her old age, she doesn't always remember what I HAVE said or done.

Anyway, like I said in my last post, I will end this quest and I should not look at this as a hassle but instead be happy with the fact that she is still around for me to help. Cheers