michael orlitzky

Server 2008 print spooler dies with error 0x80010057

posted 2010-05-28

Symptoms

When you attempt to start the Print Spooler service in Server 2k8, it crashes with the following message,

Windows could not start the print spooler service on Local Computer.

Error 0x80010057: 0x80010057

Whatever. We can try to start it from the command-line, and that craps out too,

user $ net start spooler

The Print Spooler service is starting.

The Print Spooler service could not be started.

A system error has occurred.

System error 87 has occurred.

The parameter is incorrect.

Awesome. The following uselessness gets logged in the event logs.

Log Name: System
Source: Service Control Manager
Date: Whenever
Event ID: 7023
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: Whatever
Description: The Print Spooler service terminated with the following error: %%-2147418025

The Cure

There is a registry key called RegisterSpoolerRemoteRpcEndPoint under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers.

Change its value from 1 to 0.

I have no idea why this works or what that registry key does. I got things to do.