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This post is really old, and no longer reflect my skill level, views or opinions, it is made available here for archival purposes (it was originally on my old WordPress blog).

Keep that in mind when you read the contents within.

splwow64 exe Error How To Fix

If you've ever had the misfortune of having a printer in your home, chances are that your computer has complained about not being able to print for whatever reason.

This issue was thrown in my lap the other day when a user called our tech support line and told me that her computer would not print from any program due to a  popup box telling her something along the lines of "Splwow64 error: could not find x2utilc7.dll" or something like that.

x2utilc7.dll is a driver that is related to Xerox Printers (I think), Most likely the Xerox Workcenter series, As those are the ones we're using.

I googled around and found a technet article with this fix in it, It worked after some modifications.

How to Fix the splwow64.exe error

First of all you need to

1. Open Regedit(Windows key + R  -> type "Regedit" -> Press Enter) 2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Drivers 3. Under that path there will be a key called Version-3 4. Go into Version-3 and delete all of the values.

When that is done you need to open Command Prompt (CMD)  as an Administrator

1. Open CMD as an Administrator 1. Search for CMD in the start menu 2. Right-click cmd.exe and click "Run as administrator" 2. Type the command: net stop spooler 3. Open Windows Explorer 4. Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\printers\ and delete all the files inside. 5. Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\x64\3 and delete all the files and folders inside of there as well, you might have to use IOBit Unlocker to delete some locked files. 6. Restart the printer spooler by typing this command into CMD: net start spooler 7. The next step is very important, if you don't do it your printer might spew out a ton of paper with random scriblings on it due to not having a working driver installed. 8. Now you have to open the "Devices and Printers" windows, wait a few seconds until it has properly initialized and started up(right-click -> refresh). 9. Remove all your printers by right-clicking and choosing "Remove device", then re-add them with the "Add a device" button. 10. Your printer should now be working correctly again.

Alternatively, Use My Script

I created a batch file that does it all automagically, No guaranteees though.

Here is the source:

REM Script by helgesverre.com @ECHO OFF

echo #################################### echo # Helge Sverre # echo # Printer AutoFixer # echo ####################################

echo THIS SCRIPT MUST BE RUN WITH ADMIN RIGHTS...

REM Delete all the subkeys. echo * Deleting Registry Keys REG DELETE "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Drivers" /va /f

REM stop the print spooler. echo * Stopping Printer Spooler net stop spooler

REM delete printers and driver files. echo * Removing Printer Files IObitUnlocker.exe /Delete /Advanced C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS

echo * Removing Driver Files IObitUnlocker.exe /Delete /Advanced C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\x64\3

REM restart printer spooler. echo * Restarting Print Spooler net start spooler

echo Please re-add all your printers via the "Devices and Printers" option in the start menu. pause

The script includes IOBit Unlocker so you don't have to worry about downloading it separately.

Just download the .BAT file and run it VIA CMD as an ADMINISTRATOR, if you don't run it through CMD it wont work for some reason.

Download PrinterFixer Script(.ZIP) Please share this with your friends and collegues, if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment :)

If this post helped you, please share it with the world! ^_^