How to crash spooler service

Question

Does anyone know how I can crash the spooler service manually?
I have a problem with some drivers crashing it randomly, and I want to do it manually so I can do some tests.

What sort of "crash" do you need? Does it need to terminate with a specific error code? Would `taskkill /f /im spoolsv.exe` work? — jscott, Mar 02 '15 at 11:43
@jscott No, I need it to be the same way these faulty drivers do it. — EliadTech, Mar 02 '15 at 12:00
@EliadTech then you're unlikely to get much help really - we don't have much to go on to suggest possible ways that faulty drivers are crashing the service! — BE77Y, Mar 02 '15 at 13:50
@BE77Y If I'll post the faulty dll name and the relevant driver name would it help? I'm quite certain that this problem is not limited to my environment and to this specific driver.. — EliadTech, Mar 02 '15 at 14:00
Sorry, accidentally delete my comment: If you have a known-corrupt .SHD/.SPL/.EMF file, you could try copying it to the spool directory, or otherwise generating the files as a "real" print job. — jscott, Mar 02 '15 at 14:03
@jscott From what I've found the problem isn't related to a corrupted file sent to the printer. It looks like it's caused by some combination of loaded drivers, though I haven't been able yet to find which... — EliadTech, Mar 11 '15 at 09:41

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 02 '15 at 14:07

2

Absolutely. Send an abnormally big (>1GB should do it) print file to it. Don't have a file that big? Whip up something in powershell along the lines of:

PS C:\Users\BigHomie> 1..1000000000 | for-each {Get-Process | Out-File .\Desktop\test.txt -Append}

Should do it, if not jus keep on truckin.

For best results, reduce the amount of available RAM the print spooler has to work with, that's always been a ringer in my environment.

answered Mar 02 '15 at 14:07

MDMoore313

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Ah, how am I suppose to send a 1GB file? even Word couldn't open such a big file... – EliadTech Mar 11 '15 at 09:38

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 02 '16 at 19:52

Use StressPrinters (https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX109374)

This tool is from Citrix, but it's to globally test printer driver, citrix or not on top of it.

Many printer driver problems in Terminal Services/Remote Desktop Services environments revolve around poor multi-threaded performance, which in turn can cause print spooler instability. Problematic multi-threaded performance is usually exposed when multiple users connect to a Terminal Server simultaneously using the same printer driver. Symptoms include the failure to autocreate client printers, increased thread count of the printer spooler and/or Citrix Print Manager services, and possibly the unresponsiveness and/or unexpected termination of these services (stop responding).

This tool can be used to simulate multiple sessions auto-creating printers using the same printer driver.

It can also be used to compare the following among various drivers:

CPU load incurred while creating a printer using a particular driver

Time required to successfully create a printer using a particular driver

Very nice. It's a start, but they say it's not fully testing the drivers. — EliadTech, Sep 04 '16 at 13:06

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 02 '16 at 19:42

0

If you simply "end the task" on the spooler (spoolsv.exe) within the Task Manager that will initiate a "crash" of the spooler.

answered Sep 02 '16 at 19:42

Mr Dief

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That's what jscott offered, but that's not a true test. I'm looking for a way to crash it like a driver does, and with some flexibility as to how to crash it. – EliadTech Sep 04 '16 at 13:08

How to crash spooler service

3 Answers3