This issue we had to deal recently for a client on Windows Server 2016 print server. One of the print jobs sent from a client Windows 10 PC got stuck in a print queue on the server. Deleting / cancelling the failed and stuck print job was unsuccessful, even after restarting the Print Spooler service on the server.

This is how I resolved the issue without having to reboot the server:

• Stop the Print Spooler service.
• Navigate to: C:\Windows\system32\spool\PRINTERS.
• Delete all files from there.
• One file was failing to go away with an error that it was locked by a certain printing related process (can’t remember the name of the process, but it had “printing” in it’s name).
• Found the above process in Task Manager and “killed” it.
• Try deleting the file again. Now it’s gone.
• Start the Print Spooler service.
• Everything is back to normal.

January 2026
Oxford, Oxfordshire