Solved Win8 x64 Spooler Problem

I bought a new Toshiba laptop (Satellite Pro S850) with Win8 x64. I have 1 local printer (HP PSC 1315 AIO, which I updated to a Win8 driver from HP’s website) and 2 network printers. I cannot access (grayed out) any of the printers (local or network) except that they occasionally show up for a brief instant and then are quickly grayed out. Looking at the Windows “services” screen, I noticed that the print spooler randomly starts and stops preventing me from accessing them to delete and reinstall them. I understand that you cannot delete a printer if there is something in the printer queue but I cannot access them to clear it out. I tried to delete the HP printer and it seemed to disappear, but it shows up intermittently. Both network printers work fine from my Win7 machine. I would really appreciate help in getting out of this conundrum.


Thanks in advance.

From what I know, you should install the HP photosmart printer software.


I have a Toshiba Satellite and a hp photosmart c309 series (If I remember right) that I don't use much, but has the hp software CD for my printer which I installed.

As long as the Printer and laptop are connected to the same WiFi network, they print fine.

Try finding some printer software on the hp website by putting in your model number, and it might help you out.

Good Luck!

Thanks, Prototype. I already installed the updated software from and it didn't work for long. I uninstalled it through control panel but the printer still appears in control panel. Go figure. I need to find away to run the spooler long enough to delete the printer. Any ideas?

I ran the Microsoft printer troubleshooter which cleared the spooler and installed anew driver. Problem fixed.

Thanks.

Glad you found a fix!