Are you seeing a Bluescreen error when printing all of a sudden ?
A Bluescreen error, AKA BSOD or Bluescreen or Death occurs when your Windows operating system crashes. It gives you a polite emoji and says it needs to restart.
From an I.T Professional point of view such messages send a chill down your spine because they occur on Servers as well. Although Windows stability improves with each release a Server crash is something that will jam up your switchboard in a heartbeat.
So what is causing the Blue Screen error ?
Microsoft have released two updates on March 9th 2021, KB5000802 and KB5000808. These updates have introduced the crash.
Microsoft has removed both the effected updates from the automatic update list. The good news is that if your PC has not yet downloaded the updates it will not install them. If you manually update your system from within Windows Update the two problem updates are still there and can be manually selected and installed. Microsoft has left them for manual install for users that have systems not used for printing. I am not convinced that this is a good idea, nevertheless it is what it is.
How do we fix a PC that has already been updated? The best solution is to uninstall the Updates.
1. Open a Command Prompt with Administrator rights. Click on the Start button and type cmd. The following will be displayed.
2. Click Run as Administrator on the right to open the Command Prompt Window. Accept the prompt
to open with elevated rights and make changes to the computer.
3. In the Command Prompt enter the following command and press enter. – wusa /uninstall /kb:5000802
4. The Stand alone install will launch and remove the Update.
5. Repeat the process for the second update by entering – wusa /uninstall /kb:5000808
6. Reboot your PC when the installer has finished removing the Updates and the BSOD problem will be resolved. We expect an update set of files will be made available by Microsoft soon. For now, removing the Updates is the best way to recover your ability to print.
If you are a business user this process can be done centrally by your I.T. There are systems management processes and often Antivirus software can remove patches.