Capturing a Windows Spool File

Sometimes when troubleshooting issues PaperCut Support may ask you to pause a Windows print queue to make a copy of the Windows spool files used for printing. This can help us diagnose issues related to print analysis and other problems.

Steps

1. Log into the Windows print server.
2. Open Print Management by pressing Windows key + R , then type printmanagement.msc and hit the enter key.
3. Right-click on the printer you want to manage and click Pause Printing.
4. Print a document that demonstrates the problem (normally from a workstation).
5. On the server, navigate to C:\Windows\System32\Spool\PRINTERS\.
6. Take a copy of the SPL and SHD files who’s creation date matches the time of the print.
7. Copy and rename the files to a descriptive name like “testprint-3pages-2color-1bw.spl”.
8. Zip the files and upload them with your PaperCut Support ticket for analysis.

See also:

• Page count, color, and other attribute detection problems
• Capturing Spool Files for Mobility Print
• Capturing a Mac Spool File
• Capturing a Linux Spool File
• Capturing a Novell Spool file

Need a hand?

Let us know! We love chatting about what’s going on under the hood, and we’re happy to help out when needed. Contact your PaperCut Authorized Solutions Center or head over to Support Portal for further assistance.

Categories: Troubleshooting

Keywords: Pause print queue, Print To File, Print-To-File, Capture Spool, Get spool file, Capture Print File, Collect