printers won't work and restaring spooler did not help

Hi @Kathleen

Since all your printers stopped working at the same time, and you've already restarted the Print Spooler, reinstalled drivers, power-cycled the printers, and rebooted Windows, first check whether this is a Windows printing subsystem issue rather than an issue with an individual printer.

Don't assume uninstalling Copilot caused this. There isn't enough information here yet to establish a connection.

Please try printing a Windows test page from:

Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Printers & scanners → select one printer → Printer properties → Print Test Page

This is a useful isolation test. If the Windows test page also fails, the issue is below the application level, and we can concentrate on the Windows print subsystem, queue, driver, or connectivity rather than Word/Excel/etc.

Since you said restarting the spooler didn't help, also try a full spooler reset, which is slightly different from simply restarting the service:

1. Press Windows + R, type services.msc, and press Enter.
2. Right-click Print Spooler → Stop.
3. Open: %WINDIR%\System32\spool\PRINTERS
4. Delete the files inside that folder, but don't delete the PRINTERS folder itself.
5. Return to Services and start Print Spooler again.
6. Make sure its Startup type is Automatic.

This procedure clears the spooler rather than just restarting it.

If all printers still fail, please don't reinstall the drivers again yet. Instead, could you tell us:

Are these USB, network/Wi-Fi, or shared/server printers?

What happens when you click Print Test Page? Does the job stay in the queue, disappear immediately, or show an error?

In services.msc, does Print Spooler remain Running, or does it stop again after you try to print?

What Windows version/build are you running? Press Windows + R, type winver, and post the result.

If the Print Spooler stops when you submit a print job, that would be especially helpful to know because conflicting or outdated printer drivers can cause spooler crashes.

Also, if this is Windows 11, run the Printer troubleshooter in the Get Help app. I recommend this as the starting point for automated diagnostics for Windows 11 printing failures.

Once we know what happens to a Windows test page and whether the spooler stays running, we can narrow this down without repeatedly removing and reinstalling all of your printers.

References:

Fix printer connection and printing problems in Windows

Fix Print Spooler service errors

Fix printing problems in Word, Excel, or other apps

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