Spooler.xml file growth and high cPU in spoolsv.exe process on Windows Server 2008 print server

Article ID: 960919 – Last Review: December 6, 2008 – Revision: 1.0

Spooler.xml file growth and high cPU in spoolsv.exe process on Windows Server 2008 print server

Source: Microsoft Support

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Symptom

Windows Server 2008 print server may experience higher than normal CPU utilization in the spoolsv.exe process.  The spooler.xml file located in %systemroot% system32 spool folder will also grow in size and may exhaust all available disk space.

Cause

If the print spooler (spoolsv.exe) is under stress or the print server is very busy and the spooler enters an error condition, the errors are written to the spooler.xml file.  The CPU utilization is caused by the spooler process rapidly writing the errors to the log file and the file will continue to grow until the error condition ceases or the operating system is restarted.

Resolution

You can work around this problem by disabling Windows Error Reporting for the print spooler.  To disable WER, perform the following steps:

1.       Open registry editor by running regedit.

2.       Browse to the following registry key:

 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE System CurrentControlSet Control Print

 

3.       ADD a REG_DWORD value named DisableWERLogging and set this value to 0×1 (hexadecimal)

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APPLIES TO
  • Windows Server 2008 Standard
  • Windows Server 2008 Enterprise
  • Windows Server 2008 Datacenter
Keywords: 
kbnomt kbrapidpub KB960919

 

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article

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