Do you want to turn off the print spooler? A print spooler service is used by Windows to keep your printing and faxing jobs running smoothly. However, if you need to disable or stop something on your Windows 11 PC for some reason, you can do so using the services manager. We’ll learn how to disable or block the print spooler service on Windows 11 in this article.
You can disable the print spooler service if you don’t want any users on your PC to be able to print a document or save any document or webpage as a PDF. This is the quickest and easiest way to stop printing jobs on a Windows PC.
Another reason to disable this service is the Windows PrintNightmare vulnerability, which allows hackers to remotely control your computers. Although Microsoft has issued a security advisory for this exploit that includes a patch, you should disable the vulnerable service if it is not in use.
If you don’t want your PC to be vulnerable to the PrintNightmare vulnerability and want to disable the print spooler on your Windows 11 computer, you can use the following methods:
- Disable print spooler using Windows Services Panel
- Turn off print spooler through Group Policy Editor
Related: How to Enable or Disable Text Suggestions in Windows 11
How to Disable or Enable Print Spooler Service from Windows Services Panel?
You won’t be able to print or fax after you disable the print spooler service. To enable print and fax services, you must first start this service.
- To open a Run dialog box, press the Windows + R keys on the keyboard at the same time. Then, in the Run box, type services.msc and press the OK button to open the Windows services panel. The Services panel will appear after you’ve completed the preceding steps.
- In the Services window, scroll down to find the Print Spooler service and double-click it to open its settings.
- When the Print Spooler Properties dialog appears, select Disabled from the drop-down next to Startup Type.
- Press the Stop button.
- Now Windows will stop Print Spooler service. Finally, click on Apply then the OK button.
On your PC, the Print Spooler service is now disabled and stopped. Fax and print services will no longer be available. When you’re ready, repeat the steps above, but this time select the Automatic option in step 3 and then Start the service.
How to Turn off Print Spooler through Group Policy Editor?
You must connect the printer to your Windows computer to print locally if you want to keep using it. Then, using the Group Policy Editor, configure the printer policy to block all incoming remote connections. This allows you to use your printer locally while also preventing your PC from accepting any incoming remote connections. As a result, you can use your printer with confidence.
Because Group Policy is not included in Windows 11/10 Home, you must use the alternate method.
- To open the Run dialog box, press the Windows + R keys on the keyboard at the same time.
- Type gpedit.msc in the box and press Enter on the keyboard to open the Local Group Policy Editor window.
- In the Local Group Policy Editor window’s left side pane, navigate or browse for the following path:-
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Printers - In the Printers folder’s right-hand window, look for the policy Allow Print Spooler to Accept Client Connections.
- Select Disabled from the drop-down menu.
- Click the Apply button. Click OK.
- To apply the policy, restart your computer.
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