Printer properties cannot be displayed. The print spooler service is not running. #

Following a defender.exe malware infection, all printers disappeared and the Windows print spooler would stop as soon as "Add a printer" was clicked. Eric01 posted a solution in the Print Spooler Keeps Stopping thread: delete any subkeys from HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Providers other than LanMan Print Services and Internet Print Provider.

UPDATE: According to Sophos, Troj/FakeAv-DWG creates or modifies the following registry keys:

[HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers]
"DefaultSpoolDirectory"="%SYSDIR%\spool\PRINTERS"
[HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Providers\3d3c3]
"Name"="C:\DOCUME~1\username\LOCALS~1\Temp\2.tmp"
[HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Providers]
"Order"="LanMan Print Services Internet Print Provider 3d3c3"

Print Spooler Crash Troubleshooting Steps
Print Spooler Stopping Automatically in Windows 7 - How to Fix it?
How to Fix 99.9% of Windows XP Printer Driver Issues - AKA Windows Printer Reset

/windows | Jun 11, 2011

Subscribe or visit the archives.