Home » How To » How to Disable Print Spooler Service in Windows 10 & 11

How to Disable Print Spooler Service in Windows 10 & 11

To mitigate the PrintNightmare vulnerability, you have to altogether disable the Print Spooler service in Windows 10 & 11. Here is how.

To manage the print jobs, Windows has a dedicated service called Print Spooler. As the name suggests, the Print Spooler service holds all the active printing jobs in the memory until they ready to print or are printed. Generally, most Windows users never need to worry about the Print Spooler service. After all, it just runs in the background and does its job silently, like many Windows services. However, there will be times you have to disable the Print Spooler service manually.

For example, recently, Microsoft announced a severe vulnerability called PrintNightmare that is running wild. i.e., the attackers are using it to compromise the systems. Even though Microsoft released the security patch KB5004945 for supported systems, the Vulnerability still exists even after installing the update.

To mitigate the vulnerability, Microsoft recommends disabling the Print Spooler service temporarily. If you are not actively using a printer, disabling the Print Spooler service will not cause any side effects. Once a proper patch is available, you can turn it back on.

In this quick and straightforward guide, let me show you how to turn off Print Spooler in Windows 10 and Windows 11.

PowerShell command to disable Print Spooler service

The easiest way to turn on or turn off the Print Spooler service is to use a simple PowerShell command. Here is how.

  1. Open the Start menu.
  2. Search for “PowerShell.”
  3. Right-click on the result and select the “Run as administrator” option.
  4. Paste the below command and press Enter.
    Stop-Service -Name Spooler -Force
  5. Next, type the below command and press Enter.
    Set-Service -Name Spooler -StartupType Disabled
  6. Close the PowerShell window.
  7. Restart the computer.

First, we need to open PowerShell as admin. To do that, search for “Windows PowerShell” in the Start menu and select the “Run as administrator” option.

open PowerShell to disable print spooler service

In the PowerShell window, paste the below command and press the Enter button. It will stop the running Print Spooler service.

Stop-Service -Name Spooler -Force

Next, paste the below command and press Enter. This command will disable the Print Spooler service.

Set-Service -Name Spooler -StartupType Disabled

Finally, close the PowerShell window and restart the system. With that, you have completely disabled the Print Spooler service.

To enable the Print Spooler service, execute the below commands one after the other. The first command will change the Startup type from Disabled to Automatic, and the second command will start the Print Spooler service.

Set-Service -Name Spooler -StartupType Automatic
Start-Service -Name Spooler

Disable Print Spooler service via Group Policy (GPO)

You can disable the Print Spooler service from the Group Policy Editor. Here is how.

First, press the “Windows key + R” shortcut to open the Run dialog box. In the empty field, type “gpedit.msc” and press the Enter button. This action will open the Group Policy Editor.

open group policy

After opening the Group Policy Editor, go to the “Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Printers” folder. Once you are there, find and double-click on the “Allow Print Spooler to accept client connections” policy.

open printer spooler service

Select the “Disabled” option and click the “Apply” and “Ok” buttons to save the changes.

disable print spooler via group policy

Finally, close the Group Policy Editor and restart the computer to apply the policy changes.

With that, you have successfully disabled the Print Spooler service. To turn it back on, select the “Not Configured” option in the policy properties window and save the changes.

Turn off Print Spooler from System Configuration

The System Configuration tool provides a simple way to stop Windows from running the Print Spooler service. Here is how.

  1. Press the “Windows key + R” shortcut.
  2. Type “msconfig” in the blank field and click “Ok.”
  3. Go to the “Services” tab.
  4. Uncheck the “Print Spooler” checkbox.
  5. Click the “Ok” button.
  6. Restart the computer.
disable print spooler service

After restarting, the Print Spooler service will not run automatically. Do keep in mind that some programs might automatically start the service since you haven’t completely disabled the service. This is especially true if your system is connected to a printer. If you don’t want that happening, I recommend you follow one of the first two methods.

To turn on the service again, follow the same steps but select the “Print Spooler” checkbox and click “Ok.”

That is all. It is that simple to disable the Print Spooler service in Windows.

If you are stuck or need some help, comment below, and I will try to help as much as possible.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top