Canon Print Queue Stuck: Clearing Jobs That Won't Delete

A stuck print queue is one of the most common reasons a Canon printer suddenly goes quiet. The printer is on and connected, but every new job just piles up behind one that says "Error", "Printing" or "Deleting" forever. The good news is that the fix almost never involves the printer itself.

Why queues get stuck

• A job was sent while the printer was off, offline or showing an error.
• The connection dropped halfway through a large job, such as a PDF with lots of images.
• The Windows Print Spooler service crashed and is holding onto files it can no longer process.
• There are duplicate printer entries ("Copy 1"), and jobs are going to the one that no longer works.

Windows: the reliable method

1. Turn the Canon printer off.
2. Press Win + R, type services.msc and press Enter.
3. Find Print Spooler, right-click it and choose Stop.
4. Open C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS and delete everything inside it. Delete the files only, not the folder.
5. Go back to Services, right-click Print Spooler and choose Start.
6. Turn the printer on and print a test page.

If the queue fills up again straight away, open Printers & scanners and remove any duplicate Canon entries. Keep only the one that matches how the printer is actually connected (USB or network).

Mac

1. Open System Settings > Printers & Scanners, select the printer and click Printer Queue.
2. Delete every job. If the queue shows as paused, click Resume.
3. If it still won't print, right-click the printer list and choose Reset printing system. This removes all printers, so add the Canon back afterwards with the + button.

On the printer

Clear any error on the printer's screen first (no paper, cover open, ink). Some models keep jobs in their own memory, and once you clear the error and turn the printer off and on again, those jobs are dropped.

Stop it happening again

• Don't send jobs while the printer shows an error.
• On Wi-Fi printers, a fixed (reserved) IP address in your router stops the computer from losing track of the printer.
• Keep one printer entry per connection.

There's a step-by-step version with screenshots and model notes at https://printersolved.com/canon-printer-print-queue-stuck/.

Written by Abhi Y., PrinterSolved. PrinterSolved is an independent troubleshooting site and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Canon Inc. Canon and PIXMA are trademarks of Canon Inc.