Windows 10: Home network printer is causing a delay opening Wordpad

First of all, I'll just mention that I'm using Windows 10 2004 (build 19041), I don't recall seeing this issue in 1909 and previous versions of Windows 10.

I opened wordpad today and found it was taking longer than usual to open. It didn't matter if I was opening a blank document or a saved document, the mouse cursor would spin and there was a long delay, sometimes as long as 5-10 seconds. Wordpad was opening, it was in the process list, but it wasn't appearing on screen.

Trying to find the cause of the issue, after I opened wordpad (with it still not on screen), I opened task manager, details, right clicked wordpad.exe, clicked "analyse wait chain" and found that spoolsv was in the wait chain list. I googled spoolsv and it mentioned print spooler service.

I have an Epson printer added to windows, via the home network (Asus ac87u router) and strangely the delay happened the printer was actually turned off. When I turned the printer on, all of a sudden wordpad was opening much faster, almost without any delay at all. Printer off = delay opening wordpad, Printer on = much less of a delay. Yeah this confused me too.

Testing further, I have since removed the printer from Windows, by right clicking the printer in Printers & Scanners, and found wordpad is opening normally again.

Just to see If the issue had been solved, I re-added the printer to windows 10, letting windows install its own driver, and found the issue was there still and is reproducible. When the printer is turned off (but still added to windows) there is sometimes a long delay opening wordpad

I'll be recording a video and updating this post soon.

TLDR : If you find wordpad is opening very slowly then the issue could be related to your printer (possibly only via network) being added to windows. The printer doesn't even need to be turned on, yet there may be a delay opening wordpad.

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:)

 

Did our Epson printer get hacked?

Another question, is this on a home network or a work network? The steps @eidairaman1 listed are always a good first step. If this is on a work network you manage, I'd be much more concerned than the home one. It is possible someone is screwing with you, but malware could also be the culprit.

 

Printers Not Showing in WordPad & Notepad [SOLVED]

I have just found that WordPad does not currently find my Brother network printer, even though I can print from my browser and word processor. I haven't printed from WordPad for a while, but I have printed from Notepad recently, possibly not since the Fall
update, which I installed (after many retries) 1 Dec 2017.

Neither WordPad nor NotePad shows an option for the Brother, just the PDF printer and the XPS Document Writer, and the Find Printer button shows the network computers but not the network printer. The network printer shows up in the Network area of File Explorer,
and in the devices area of Control Panel, and, as stated, shows up and prints from other programs.

I have tried updating the driver, and Windows reports that the driver is latest available, which I expected, since the printer has automatic updating available.

Edit with solution:

I ran the Printer troubleshooter, and it said that the problem might be fixed by setting the printer to Default, and did that. After closing and restarting Notepad and WordPad, both the Brother and the Fax, which also had not appeared previously, were in the
printer lists. I checked on the Printers & Scanners page in Settings, and found that "Let Windows Manage My Default Printer" was set, and turned it off. "Print to PDF" had been default previously, because I had used it last. It then occurred to me that that
might have been the problem, and reset the default to the Print to PDF. Sure enough, Notepad and Wordpad then did not show Fax and the Brother printer on the printer list. This is bad behavior, IMHO.

 

Windows 10 networked printers not showing in Devices and Printers

New Windows 10 - not an upgrade. I have installed 3 networked printers. If I go to Devices and Printers, they are not listed. Some local printers are listed: Fax, Microsoft Print to PDF, Send to OneNote 2016.

However, if I open Wordpad and select print, I can choose the network printers and I'm able to print to the printer. If I look under Print Queues in Device Manager, the local printers are listed.

In the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers, the networked printers are listed.
Any way to get them to show in the Devices and Printers applet?