On 1 pc Word shuts down the print spooler every time its opened

Question

On 1 pc Word shuts down the print spooler every time its opened

Cliff Krajewski 10

I have office 365 installed on a desktop & 2 laptops. On the desktop every time I open word it shuts down the print spooler in windows services. If I try to print it says 'no printers installed'. I've tried dozens of things using co pilot, but none of them worked. The work-around that I have come up with is to open word then immediately go into windows services and start the print spooler. Then I do my work and am able to print normally when I need to. If I then shut down word and then later need to use it again I have to do this process again. This happens every time I open word. And only on the desktop. This does not happen in Excel. Is my only option left to uninstall then re-install word?

Thank you

Cliff K

[PII removed]@comcast.net

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Answer recommended by moderator

Cliff Krajewski 10

Hi Kai-H, after troubleshooting for almost a week I finally went ahead and did the uninstall/reinstall fix. I tried the one online at microsoft but it ran into problems and suggested I use the windows uninstall feature - which I did. Early indications are that it worked. Word will print unhindered now. If I had to do it all over again I would have done that as the FIRST step! Hope this helps somebody else with the same problem. thanks for responding to my question.....Cliff K

Stefan Blom 351K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-08T20:08:28.7366667+00:00

[...] after troubleshooting for almost a week I finally went ahead and did the uninstall/reinstall fix. I tried the one online at microsoft but it ran into problems and suggested I use the windows uninstall feature - which I did. Early indications are that it worked. Word will print unhindered now. If I had to do it all over again I would have done that as the FIRST step! Hope this helps somebody else with the same problem.

@Cliff Krajewski

As I recently said elsewhere in the thread, I'm glad you got it sorted.

Just to be clear, you mean that reinstalling Office fixed the problem? Or did you reinstall the printer driver? Or maybe both?
Cliff Krajewski 10 Reputation points

2026-09-08T21:58:18.4566667+00:00

Hi Stefan, no I didn't reinstall the printer driver. The only place that I couldn't print was in word- and only on this 1 pc. I could print from word on my 2 laptops. I could print from windows and all the other apps on all my pc's. The microsoft 365 uninstall/reinstall seems to have fixed the problem. Word now prints unobstructed.
Stefan Blom 351K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-08T23:25:52.4+00:00

The microsoft 365 uninstall/reinstall seems to have fixed the problem. Word now prints unobstructed.

Thanks for the clarification.
Kai-H 26,135 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-09-09T06:35:36.59+00:00

Glad to hear that the issue has been resolved.

Have a nice day!

3 additional answers

Your answer

Stefan Blom 351K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-08T20:08:28.7366667+00:00

[...] after troubleshooting for almost a week I finally went ahead and did the uninstall/reinstall fix. I tried the one online at microsoft but it ran into problems and suggested I use the windows uninstall feature - which I did. Early indications are that it worked. Word will print unhindered now. If I had to do it all over again I would have done that as the FIRST step! Hope this helps somebody else with the same problem.

@Cliff Krajewski

As I recently said elsewhere in the thread, I'm glad you got it sorted.

Just to be clear, you mean that reinstalling Office fixed the problem? Or did you reinstall the printer driver? Or maybe both?
Cliff Krajewski 10 Reputation points

2026-09-08T21:58:18.4566667+00:00

Hi Stefan, no I didn't reinstall the printer driver. The only place that I couldn't print was in word- and only on this 1 pc. I could print from word on my 2 laptops. I could print from windows and all the other apps on all my pc's. The microsoft 365 uninstall/reinstall seems to have fixed the problem. Word now prints unobstructed.
Stefan Blom 351K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-08T23:25:52.4+00:00

The microsoft 365 uninstall/reinstall seems to have fixed the problem. Word now prints unobstructed.

Thanks for the clarification.
Kai-H 26,135 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-09-09T06:35:36.59+00:00

Glad to hear that the issue has been resolved.

Have a nice day!

Answer 1

Stefan Blom 351K MVP Volunteer Moderator

See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/printer/fix-printing-problems-in-word-excel-or-other-apps (if you haven't already tried those troubleshooting steps).

Cliff Krajewski 10 Reputation points

2026-09-04T19:35:53.6333333+00:00

Hi Stefan, thanks for responding. I've tried all of the steps in that article with no luck. The problem I have is limited to word 365 and only on my desktop pc (I have 2 laptops that will print). I can print on any other app including excel 365. It seems the likely solution is to a complete uninstall/reinstall of office 365. I asked this question of Kai-H, but he has not yet responded: do I need to use a special uninstaller, or simply go to add/remove programs in windows? Do you know the answer to that question? I'm hoping this is the solution I'm looking for. Thanks again....Cliff K
Cliff Krajewski 10 Reputation points

2026-09-08T15:28:12.98+00:00

Hi Stefan, after troubleshooting for almost a week I finally went ahead and did the uninstall/reinstall fix. I tried the one online at microsoft but it ran into problems and suggested I use the windows uninstall feature - which I did. Early indications are that it worked. Word will print unhindered now. If I had to do it all over again I would have done that as the FIRST step! Hope this helps somebody else with the same problem. thanks for responding to my question.....Cliff K
Stefan Blom 351K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-08T20:05:42.05+00:00

Hi Stefan, after troubleshooting for almost a week I finally went ahead and did the uninstall/reinstall fix. I tried the one online at microsoft but it ran into problems and suggested I use the windows uninstall feature - which I did. Early indications are that it worked. Word will print unhindered now. If I had to do it all over again I would have done that as the FIRST step! Hope this helps somebody else with the same problem. thanks for responding to my question.....Cliff K

Cliff, thanks for the follow-up. I'm glad you got things sorted.

Answer 2

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Hi, Cliff Krajewski

Since opening Word itself stops the spooler, Word may be loading a faulty add-in, global template, or printer-specific feature during startup. Reinstalling Microsoft 365 is not the only option.

Besides the solutions provided by the Q&A Assist, here are some suggestions you can try:

Press Windows key + R, enter winword /safe, and press Enter. If the spooler remains running, open File > Options > Add-ins. Beside Manage, select COM Add-ins > Go, clear all add-ins, and restart Word normally. Re-enable them one at a time to identify the problem.

If Safe Mode does not help, press Windows key + R, enter winword /a, and press Enter. This starts Word without loading add-ins, global templates, or its usual startup settings. If that works, rename Normal.dotm to Normal.old; Word will create a fresh copy the next time it starts.

Open Printer properties > Advanced and clear Enable advanced printing features, then test Word again. This can bypass a printer feature that is crashing the spooler.

If none of these changes the behavior, a complete uninstall and reinstall of Microsoft 365 would then be reasonable. A recent matching case was resolved this way after Office repair failed.

Thank you for your patience in reading, I hope this information has been helpful to you.

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Cliff Krajewski 10 Reputation points

2026-09-04T14:17:12.0366667+00:00

Hi Kia-H, thank you for responding. I know AI is an important tool and I have spent several days with co pilot trying to get this problem solved. We tried dozens of things and ultimately AI decided that I needed to do a reinstall of office 365 - which I did. That solved nothing. I couldn't go any further with AI so I came to the forum to get a 'human take' on it. I'm not a tecki and your solution looks complicated, but I will work with it later this morning. It may take me a couple days but I will get back with you eventually. Thanks again, and I will be in touch.....Cliff KHi again. I'm confused about how to use this forum. I don't know if my last post was even sent, so I'll add this now. I tried all of your suggestions, and the problem still exists. When I was working with co pilot it came down to the same conclusion that a complete reinstallation was in order. I questioned weather or not I should uninstall first and was advised a strong NO. It said that that would cause more harm than good. So, I went to my subscription page and reinstalled without first uninstalling. That process took only about 20 minutes and solved nothing. I went back to co pilot and questioned this. It told me I needed to go back to the subscription page and look for install options and download the full offline version. I cannot find any such thing. Could you clear that up for me.

Regarding uninstall: is there a special uninstaller that I should use? Or do I simply go to windows ad/remove programs and do it there? Your input is greatly appreciated. Thank you, Cliff

Answer 3

Since this happens only with Word on one PC, and not in Excel or on the other devices, the supported next step is to treat it as a Word/Office issue rather than a printer hardware issue.

Use this order:

Test whether Word can print to Microsoft Print to PDF.
- Open Word.
- Create a new blank document.
- Go to File > Print.
- Select Microsoft Print to PDF.
- If the Print Spooler still stops, that points back to Word/Office.
Repair Microsoft 365 / Office.
- Go to Start > Settings > Apps > Installed apps.
- Find Microsoft 365 or Microsoft Office.
- Select Modify.
- Run Quick Repair first.
- Restart the PC and test Word again.
- If the issue continues, run Online Repair.
Restart the Print Spooler service when testing.
- Press Windows key + R.
- Type services.msc and press Enter.
- Find Print Spooler.
- Right-click it and select Restart.
Check the printer driver on that desktop.
- Open Start > Device Manager.
- Expand Printers.
- Right-click the printer and select Update driver.
- If no update is available, select Uninstall device.
- Restart the computer so Windows attempts to reinstall the driver automatically.
Restart the app and PC after changes.
- Close Word completely.
- Restart the PC.
- Open Word and test printing again.

Uninstalling and reinstalling Word is not the only remaining option. The supported path is to try Office repair first, especially because the behavior is isolated to Word on one machine.