How to Completely Disable the ‘Print Spooler’ Service in Windows 11

The Print Spooler is a legacy Windows service (spoolsv.exe) responsible for managing all printing jobs across your operating system. It acts as a queue, temporarily storing print files in memory before sending them to your local or network printer. If you use a printer, this service is absolutely essential. However, if you have a dedicated gaming PC, a media server, or a laptop that has never and will never be connected to a printer, the Print Spooler is just a wasted background process. Furthermore, the Print Spooler has historically been a massive security liability, most notably exploited by the devastating “PrintNightmare” vulnerability.

This guide explains how to completely disable the Print Spooler service in Windows 11, freeing up system resources and permanently closing a notorious vector for malware.

Disable the Print Spooler via the Services Console

You can permanently stop the service from starting up with your PC using the Windows Services manager.

1. Press the Windows Key + R on your keyboard to open the Run dialogue box.
2. Type services.msc and press Enter to open the Services management console.
3. The Services window will display a long, alphabetical list of all local background services. Scroll down the list until you find the service named Print Spooler.
4. Right-click on the “Print Spooler” entry and select Properties from the context menu.
5. In the Properties window, look for the Startup type drop-down menu near the middle.
6. Click the drop-down menu and change the selection from “Automatic” to Disabled.
7. Below that, under “Service status,” click the Stop button to immediately kill the currently running spooler process.
8. Click Apply, and then click OK to save your changes and close the window.

The Impact of Disabling the Spooler

Once disabled, Windows 11 will no longer load spoolsv.exe into memory on boot.

Be aware that disabling this service has sweeping consequences for any print-related functionality. You will obviously not be able to print physical documents. However, it also disables virtual printing. You will lose the ability to use the “Microsoft Print to PDF” or “Microsoft XPS Document Writer” features. If you ever purchase a printer or need to generate a virtual PDF via the print dialogue, you must return to the services.msc console and change the Startup type back to “Automatic.”