HP Print Queue Stuck After Update, Jobs Not Printing, Deleting Status, Spooler Errors, and HP Smart Queue Problems

This page is for the post-update situation where the printer is still there, the document is still there, but Windows will not move the job forward. Users described HP printers that worked before an update, then started holding jobs in the queue, showing Printing forever, getting stuck on Deleting, delaying output for hours, or blocking every new job behind one failed document. 

In these cases, the printer is not always offline or physically broken; the failure often sits inside the Windows queue, Print Spooler, HP driver entry, HP Smart path, or the port Windows is using after the update. 

Problem: HP print job stays in queue after Windows update

What users observed: Users reported that after a Windows update, HP print jobs entered the queue but did not print. Some jobs stayed in the queue indefinitely, while new jobs could not move forward because the first failed job kept blocking the queue. 

What was tried: Users opened the print queue, canceled documents, restarted the printer, restarted Windows, and tried sending a new job. When canceling from the queue did not work, the next repair path was stopping the print service, clearing the stuck queue files, and restarting the printing path.

How this played out: The fix was queue reset first, driver repair second. Users cleared stuck jobs, restarted the Print Spooler, restarted the printer and computer, then sent a fresh job instead of repeatedly clicking print on the same blocked queue. If the queue got stuck again immediately, the repair moved to removing and re-adding the HP printer entry so Windows created a fresh queue.

Problem: HP print job stays on “Printing” even after the page prints

What users observed: A Windows 11 user with an HP Photosmart D110 reported that the document printed successfully, but the job stayed in the queue with a Printing status. If the user tried to cancel it, the job stayed on Deleting for around 20 minutes before it cleared.

What was tried: Users checked the queue status after printing, attempted to cancel the completed job, waited for the deletion state to clear, and tested whether the same stuck status returned on later jobs.

How this played out: The repair path was to clear the print service state after the job completed physically but did not close in Windows. Users restarted the spooler, cleared the queue files, restarted Windows, then tested a new job. When the same Printing status returned after successful output, the fix moved toward rebuilding the HP printer entry and checking whether the driver or port was failing to report job completion back to Windows.

Problem: HP print job gets stuck on “Deleting”

What users observed: Users reported that canceling an HP job did not remove it. The job changed to Deleting but stayed there, which kept the queue blocked and prevented normal printing. This is one of the most frustrating queue states because the job appears to be canceling but never fully leaves.

What was tried: Users clicked Cancel repeatedly, restarted the printer, restarted Windows, and waited for the queue to clear. When the job remained, users moved to stopping Print Spooler and clearing the queue manually.

How this played out: The fix was to stop Windows from holding the stuck job open. Users stopped Print Spooler, cleared the spooler job files, restarted Print Spooler, then restarted the printer and PC before printing again. Once the stuck Deleting item was removed outside the normal queue window, new HP jobs could move forward.

Problem: HP printer is installed on Windows 11 but jobs stay stuck with “Attention Required”

What users observed: A Windows 11 user reported that printer installation completed, but jobs stayed in the queue with Attention Required. Sometimes the job printed two or three hours later, while other jobs never printed at all. The user had already tried uninstalling and reinstalling, updating drivers, changing ports, and using HP Print Doctor, but the queue problem remained.

What was tried: Users reinstalled the printer, updated drivers, changed ports, ran repair tools, and waited to see whether delayed jobs eventually printed.

How this played out: The useful fix path was to treat the queue delay as a broken Windows-to-printer route. Users cleared the queue, restarted Print Spooler, checked whether the HP printer was using the correct USB, WSD, or TCP/IP port, then removed and re-added the printer if the same delayed queue behavior returned. Port repair mattered because a job can sit in the queue even when the printer looks installed.

Problem: HP queue says job is stuck but the printer already printed it

What users observed: Some users saw a mismatch between the physical printer and Windows: the printer completed the page, but Windows still believed the job was active. That created a stuck queue even though the output had already come out.

What was tried: Users canceled the completed job, restarted the printer, restarted Windows, and checked whether the queue cleared after the printer was powered off.

How this played out: The fix was to reset the job-completion handshake. Users cleared the queue, restarted the spooler, and checked the HP driver/port state. If Windows kept failing to receive the “job complete” signal, users rebuilt the printer entry and corrected the port rather than troubleshooting the paper or toner side.

Problem: HP print queue blocks every new job after Windows update

What users observed: Users described a queue where one stuck HP job prevented every later document from printing. New jobs appeared behind the old one and stayed there. 

What was tried: Users attempted to cancel only the first job, then tried canceling all jobs, restarting the printer, and restarting Windows.

How this played out: The fix was to clear the entire queue, not only the visible first job. Users canceled all jobs, stopped Print Spooler, deleted the stuck queue files, restarted the spooler, then sent a single test job. If that worked, they resumed normal printing; if it stuck again, the driver or port was repaired next.

Problem: Print Spooler gets stuck after Windows update

What users observed: HP queue failures often followed a Windows update and behaved like Print Spooler trouble rather than printer hardware trouble. The job was accepted by Windows but did not complete normally. 

What was tried: Users restarted the printer, restarted Windows, opened Services, restarted Print Spooler, cleared the queue, and tested again.

How this played out: The repair path was spooler stabilization. Users restarted Print Spooler, cleared the queue, and set up the HP printer again if the queue returned to the stuck state. When the spooler kept breaking after the HP printer was added, the HP driver entry became the next repair target.

Problem: HP Smart sees the printer but queue jobs still do not print

What users observed: Users could open HP Smart or see the HP printer listed, but Windows print jobs still sat in the queue. This is different from a missing printer because HP software may detect the device while Windows job handling remains broken.

What was tried: Users opened HP Smart, reinstalled HP Smart, checked printer status, removed the printer from Windows, and tried printing from Word, PDF, browser, or File Explorer.

How this played out: The working path was to rebuild both HP Smart and the Windows printer entry. Users removed duplicate HP entries, reinstalled HP Smart or the HP driver package, added the printer again, and then tested a normal document. HP Smart seeing the printer did not prove that Windows had a clean print queue and driver path.

Problem: HP USB printer queue stuck after Windows update

What users observed: USB-connected HP printers may still be detected after an update, but jobs sit in the queue or fail to clear. The printer can appear connected while Windows uses a broken USB printing association.

What was tried: Users changed USB ports, unplugged and reconnected the cable, removed the printer entry, reinstalled the HP driver, checked Device Manager, and restarted Print Spooler.

How this played out: The fix was USB reinstall order. Users disconnected USB, removed the broken HP printer entry, restarted Windows, installed the HP driver package, then reconnected the cable only when setup was ready. This prevented Windows from reattaching the printer too early with the same broken queue path.

Problem: HP network printer queue stuck after Windows update

What users observed: Network HP printers can stay visible after an update but stop printing because the queue points to a stale WSD port, old IP address, or duplicate printer entry. The job appears in the queue but never reaches the printer.

What was tried: Users restarted router/printer/PC, checked the printer IP address, removed and re-added the printer, checked port settings, and compared WSD versus TCP/IP entries.

How this played out: The fix was port correction. Users checked the printer’s current IP address, created a fresh TCP/IP port where needed, removed stale WSD or offline entries, and set the working HP printer as default. Once Windows pointed the queue to the current printer path, jobs moved again.

Problem: HP print queue stuck because Windows created duplicate printer entries

What users observed: After updates or reinstall attempts, users may see more than one copy of the same HP printer. One entry may work, while the other stays offline or traps jobs in the queue.

What was tried: Users printed test pages from each entry, checked which one was default, opened the queue for both, and compared ports.

How this played out: The fix was duplicate-entry cleanup. Users tested each HP printer entry, kept the one that printed, set it as default, and removed the inactive duplicate. This stopped applications from sending jobs into a stale queue.

Problem: HP job disappears from the queue but nothing prints

What users observed: Some HP users saw the opposite queue failure: the job entered the queue, then disappeared as if printed, but no paper came out. This can happen when the job is sent to a wrong port, stale printer entry, or incorrect driver path.

What was tried: Users checked the selected printer inside the application, looked for duplicate HP entries, checked printer ports, and compared whether a Windows test page printed.

How this played out: The repair path was to correct the destination. Users selected the active HP printer entry inside the app, removed duplicate printer entries, checked the port, and rebuilt the printer if Windows kept sending the job to a dead route. This overlaps with Printer Only Prints Test Pages cases where Windows can use one path but normal application jobs fail.

Problem: HP print queue stuck after firmware or HP software update

What users observed: Some HP queue issues appear after HP software or firmware changes rather than a Windows update alone. Jobs may stick, the printer may accept but not complete jobs, or HP Smart may report the printer differently from Windows.

What was tried: Users updated HP Smart, checked firmware, restarted the printer, restarted Windows, and sent a test job after the update.

How this played out: The fix was to restart both sides after the update. Users powered down the printer, restarted Windows, reopened HP Smart, then sent a new job through the rebuilt queue. If the firmware/software update changed the connection state, users removed and re-added the printer so Windows created a clean queue.