Windows could not start the Print Spooler service on Local Computer.
Error 3: The system cannot find the path specified.
been getting this message for quite sometimes
tried to fix it
googled hell a lot of methods
but none worked
therefore ignored it for quite sometimes
and used another computer to print
2nd round of attempts today
did helluva stuffs
on Msconfig, Regedit, CMD
on the verge of erupting already
must be those stupid registry cleaners
one of the dependencies of Print Spooler
is RPC service
damn it my RPC kept showing error 3 as well
Error 3: The system cannot find the path specified
therefore stuck
should I be fixing RPC or Print Spooler
whatever different keywords I typed
most of the links have already turned purple
then something enlightened me
from social technet of Microsoft
Please note, there are 2 similar services :-
Remote Procedure Call service (RPC)
Remote Procedure Call service (RPC) Locator < You DON'T want
this one
yes baby
my RPC is running perfectly well
I have nothing to do with RPC locator’s error 3
therefore going back to the Print Spooler error
another saviour from social technet of Microsoft
open regedit and navigate to the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\
services\Spooler registry key
and right-click Spooler > New > Expandable String Value >
then name the value ImagePath
then double-click ImagePath and type (or copy and paste)
the following under "Value data":
%SystemRoot%\System32\spoolsv.exe
Image Path…sound familiar
I tried this method twice hours ago
it doesn’t work at all
the first attempt
the forum user didn’t specify the location clearly
therefore I dumbly dumped the new key at
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\
well it was my own fault
common sense should have told me
there are tonnes of others services under the tab
randomly dumping a millions keys there
would do no effect, at all
the second attempt
I was almost there
here is the key
Image Path vs ImagePath
the space in between makes all the different
Then press "OK"
Close regedit and see if you can start the Print Spooler service.
finally my printer is running like normal again
I didn’t even have to restart the computer
hooray
take home points
well it’s not that I wanna act tech savvy or what
just wanna share the information out
hoping that those who encountered the same problem
need not go through the trials and errors
wasting time on it all
and more importantly
to see your computer running well again
after some D-I-Y tricks
is something truly satisfying
thirdly
registry cleaner
still in a dilemma
to perform or not to
always getting error
the previous one was
after I performed reg optimizer
but undeniably
after every reg optimizer session,
computer is running like new again
maybe it is high time
to source for a high performance yet reliable
registry optimizer cum cleaner
last but not least
I got both clues from Microsoft forum
touch wood
next time if I bump into any errors
perhaps it’s wiser to start looking for solution
from reliable forums
rather than bumping around among
hundreds and thousands of sources
and beware
some are just tricks to purchase
anti-virus software
eg:
to perform a free check,
to download the fix
oh really?
ahuh… before you know it
maybe you will get your computer infected
with more serious malware or something
therefore keep an eye
on these tricks
which you are D-I-Y-ing
happy trying and good luck