Windows 7 - Printer spooler keeps stopping and printer drivers keep disappearing

 

I use Windows 7 Professional 64 bit. My problem is: Whenever I try to print something (word, pdf, or any other file); http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/246893-44-local-print-spooler-service-work# stops working and when I check the “Devices and
Printers” all the printer drivers seem to be disappeared.


I checked the “Print Spooler” in the “Services” tool; and set the "Recovery after subsequent
failures" option to “Restart the Service”. Therefore all the printer drives coma back after 1 minute. However the spooler stops immediately again when the uncompleted http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/246893-44-local-print-spooler-service-work# job starts; hence I can not print anything more than a page.


Someone posted that Microsoft issued a hotfix for this problem ( hotfix 2388142) which can be downloaded from article: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-US;2388142.

I downloaded this hotfix and tried to install, however it gives an error message of: “The update is not applicable to your computer” and quits installation.

I did uninstall and reinstall all the printer drives, but this did not help either.

The problem started after I reinstalled windows from a clean formatting.
I tried to restore back to that date but it also did not work...

I also tried Clean Boot as explained in: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

The problem is still there even when all the services (except the Microsoft services) are disabled. Apparently a Microsoft service causes it.

Any suggestion?           

I might not be able to resolve the "disappearing" issue, but on the "hotfix" - yes. 

Microsoft released the "Update rollup for Printing components" - which includes the 64-bit version of the fix you are looking for.  It can be found under Microsoft Knowledge Base article - 2647753. Below is the link.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2647753

And below is the package link for Windows 7 64-bit. You should try this out.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=c41d18b2-6419-48ee-bd38-7e9097bffa1e

Hope this helps.

Thank youfor the recommendation. But I had selected the x64. As a matter of fact IE
explorer smart enough to choose the right one for me.

However that one did not work me giving the error message of: “The
update is not applicable to your computer”

By the way, The problem started after I reinstalled windows from a clean formatting.
I tried to restore back to that date but it also did not work...

I also triedClean Boot as explained in:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

The problem is still there even when all the services (except the Microsoft
services) are disabled. Apparently a Microsoft service causes it.

Any other suggestion?

Follow the below steps to solve your problem,

1. Browse to the following path --> C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\x64\
2. Rename all Files/Folders (rename all files in "x64" folder and rename all folders in "x64" folder only and not sub folders)
3. Restart your computer
4. After restarting your computer, re-install your printers again.

That's it!!!!