Clearing a Frozen Print Queue on an Kyocera Printer

You send a document to your Kyocera and nothing comes out. The queue shows it parked at "Printing," "Error," or "Deleting," and everything you send afterward lines up behind it. Clicking Cancel doesn't seem to change a thing.

A stuck job almost never means the printer is failing. Usually one of two things is going on: Windows has lost track of the job, or the Kyocera is waiting for something before it will print, like paper, an account code, or someone standing at the panel to release it.

The fixes below start with the quickest and get more involved as you go. They cover Kyocera ECOSYS and TASKalfa models on Windows 10, Windows 11, and macOS. Button and menu names can vary a little between models, so if yours doesn't match word for word, pick the closest option.

Why Print Jobs Get Stuck on a Kyocera Printer

• The Windows Print Spooler froze. The spooler is the background service that holds your jobs and passes them to the printer one at a time. When it hangs, jobs stop moving and won't delete.
• The printer is waiting for you. An empty cassette, a paper size that isn't loaded, a paper jam, or an open cover will pause every job in line.
• Someone paused printing at the panel. Kyocera printers have a "Pause All Print Jobs" option, and it's easy to tap by accident.
• The job needs a code. In offices that use Job Accounting or Private Print, a job can sit on the printer until the right account ID or access code is entered.
• The printer port is unreliable. A WSD port or an old IP address leaves jobs stuck in the queue with nowhere to go.
• The driver is outdated, damaged, or installed twice. This often shows up after a Windows update or after switching from USB to a network connection.

Look at the Kyocera Control Panel First

A job that looks frozen on your screen is often just waiting at the printer. Take a minute to check these before you touch any settings.

• Read the message on the display. If it asks for paper, or shows a jam or an error code, the printer has stopped on purpose. Load the paper or clear the jam, and the job usually picks up where it left off. A message asking you to add paper in the MP tray means the document is set to a paper size or type that none of the cassettes are loaded with. Load that paper in the multipurpose tray, or cancel the job and resend it with a paper size you have loaded, like Letter. For codes you don't recognize, see our Kyocera error codes and messages guide.
• Make sure printing isn't paused. Press Status/Job Cancel and open the list of printing jobs. If you see Resume All Print Jobs, select it.
• Confirm the printer is online. If Windows shows your Kyocera as Offline, jobs will stack up in the queue without ever reaching it. Our Kyocera printer offline guide walks through that fix.

Fix 1: Cancel the Stuck Job in Windows

On Windows 11:

1. Go to Start > Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.
2. Click your Kyocera printer, then click Open print queue.
3. Right-click the stuck job and choose Cancel. Repeat for every job in the list.

On Windows 10: Go to Start > Settings > Devices > Printers & scanners, click your Kyocera printer, and choose Open queue. Cancel each job the same way.

When the queue is empty, send a one-page test print. If a job won't leave and just keeps saying "Deleting," Windows is still holding the file. Skip ahead to Fix 3.

Fix 2: Cancel the Job on the Kyocera Itself

Once a job has been handed off to the printer, canceling it on your computer won't always stop it. The Kyocera keeps its own list of jobs, and you can clear it in one of two ways.

From the Control Panel

This works on most ECOSYS and TASKalfa models:

1. Press the Status/Job Cancel key.
2. Open the list of printing jobs. Depending on your model, it's called Print Job Status or Printing Jobs.
3. Select the stuck job and choose Cancel.
4. Choose Yes to confirm.

From a Web Browser (Command Center RX)

Networked Kyocera printers have a built-in web page called Command Center RX. It's handy when the printer is down the hall or in another room.

1. Type the printer's IP address into your browser's address bar, for example, https://192.168.1.25.
2. Click Job Status, then Printing Job Status.
3. Select the job and click Cancel Job.

If your browser shows a security certificate warning, that's common for a printer's own web page, and Kyocera's guide says you can continue. You may need to log in as the administrator to cancel a job someone else sent.

Don't know the printer's IP address? Print a status page. On many models, go to System Menu/Counter > Report > Report Print > Status Page. The IP address is listed under the Network section.

Fix 3: Restart the Print Spooler and Clear Out the Stuck Files

When a job refuses to delete, the spooler is usually still holding a copy of it. Stopping the service, deleting that copy, and starting the service again clears the queue in almost every case. Pick whichever method below you find easiest.

Option A: The Services Window

1. Press Windows key + R, type services.msc, and press Enter.
2. Find Print Spooler in the list, right-click it, and choose Stop.
3. Press Windows key + R again, paste C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS, and press Enter. Click Continue if Windows asks for permission.
4. Delete everything inside that folder. Don't delete the PRINTERS folder itself.
5. Go back to Services, right-click Print Spooler, and choose Start.

Before you do this: emptying the folder removes waiting jobs for every printer on this computer, not just the Kyocera. Your actual documents aren't affected. You'll just need to resend anything that didn't print.

Option B: Task Manager

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
2. Open the Services page. In Windows 11 it's in the left-hand menu. In Windows 10 it's a tab along the top.
3. Find Spooler, right-click it, and choose Stop.
4. Empty the PRINTERS folder the same way as steps 3 and 4 above.
5. Back in Task Manager, right-click Spooler and choose Start.

Option C: A One-Click Batch File

If your Kyocera queue jams up often, a small batch file saves you from clicking through menus every time.

1. Open Notepad (not Word, since Word adds formatting that breaks the file).
2. Paste these lines:

@echo off
net stop spooler
del /Q /F /S "%systemroot%\System32\spool\PRINTERS\*.*"
net start spooler

3. Click File > Save as, set Save as type to All files, and name it clear-print-queue.bat.
4. Whenever the queue freezes, right-click the file and choose Run as administrator. Without admin rights, Windows won't let it stop the spooler.

Still Not Printing?

If the queue is empty but the printer still won't respond, turn the Kyocera off and wait at least 60 seconds. Turn it back on, restart your computer, and try again.

Fix 4: Check Job Accounting and Private Print (Office Printers)

This one trips up a lot of offices. Kyocera printers have two features that can hold a job on purpose, and from your desk it looks exactly like a stuck queue.

Job Accounting

Many businesses use Job Accounting to track printing by department or user code. If the printer requires an account ID and your driver sends the wrong one, or none at all, the job may never print. An administrator can also set the printer to reject jobs that arrive without a valid ID.

To check the Kyocera driver on your computer:

1. Search for Control Panel in the Start menu and open Devices and Printers.
2. Right-click your Kyocera printer and choose Printer properties.
3. Open the Device Settings tab, click Administrator, then open the Job Accounting tab.
4. Check Job Accounting, then pick Use specific account ID and type in your code, or pick Prompt for account ID if you'd like to enter it each time you print.
5. Click OK on each window to save.

Get the correct account ID from whoever manages the printer. A wrong code won't help.

Private Print and Job Storage

The Kyocera KX driver has a Job tab with a Job storage (e-MPS) option. When it's set to Private Print, your document leaves the computer's queue and waits inside the printer until someone enters an access code at the panel.

To print or delete a held job at the printer:

1. Open Job Box on the home screen. On some older models, press the Document Box key first and then choose Job Box.
2. Select Private Print/Stored Job and open it.
3. Choose your user name, then the document.
4. Select Print or Delete, and enter the access code when asked.

If you never meant to use Private Print, open Printing preferences for your Kyocera, go to the Job tab, and uncheck Job storage.

Fix 5: Give the Printer a Reliable Port

When Windows finds a network printer on its own, it often sets it up on a WSD port. WSD depends on your computer finding the printer again each time, and that connection doesn't always survive a Wi-Fi drop, a VPN, or the printer waking up from sleep. When it breaks, jobs sit in the queue with nowhere to go. Kyocera's own support advice for network printers is to use a Standard TCP/IP port set to the printer's correct IP address.

1. Get the printer's IP address from a status page (see Fix 2).
2. Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners, click your Kyocera, and choose Printer properties.
3. Open the Ports tab and look at which port is checked. If its name starts with WSD, or it shows an IP address that doesn't match your status page, it needs to change.
4. Click Add Port, choose Standard TCP/IP Port, and click New Port. Type in the IP address from the status page and finish the wizard.
5. Make sure the new port is checked, click Apply, and print a test page from the General tab.

To stop the address from changing again later, reserve it in your router's settings or give the printer a static IP address.

Fix 6: Reinstall the Kyocera Driver From Scratch

If jobs freeze again right after you clear them, the driver is the next suspect. A damaged driver, or two copies of the same printer (say, one set up over USB and one over the network), can send the Kyocera data it can't finish.

Removing the printer alone doesn't do it, because Windows keeps the old driver files. Here's how to clean it out properly:

1. Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners and remove every entry for this Kyocera, including extras with names like "(Copy 1)."
2. Press Windows key + R, type printui.exe /s /t2, and press Enter. This opens Print Server Properties on the Drivers tab.
3. Select each Kyocera driver tied to that printer, click Remove, choose Remove driver and driver package, and confirm. If Windows says the driver is in use, restart the Print Spooler (Fix 3) and try again.
4. Download the current driver for your exact model from Kyocera's official download center. For most models, that's the KX driver.
5. Install it, restart your computer, and add the printer back. If it's a network printer, use a Standard TCP/IP port (Fix 5).

Stay away from third-party driver download sites. They can hand you the wrong version or bundle software you don't want. Our Kyocera printer driver guide has more detail, and if the trouble started right after a Windows update, check out our guide to Kyocera printer issues after a Windows update.

How to Clear a Stuck Kyocera Print Job on a Mac

1. Open the queue. Click the Print Center icon in the Dock while the job is waiting. You can also find Print Center in Applications > Utilities.
2. Resume the printer if it's paused. A paused printer holds every job. Click Resume in the toolbar.
3. Delete the stuck job. Select it and click Delete Job. If a single job shows as paused, select it and click Resume Job instead.

If your office uses Job Accounting (see Fix 4), your Mac needs the account ID as well. Ask whoever manages the printer to confirm it's set up in the Kyocera Mac driver.

Last Resort: Reset the Printing System

If jobs keep freezing on your Mac, open System Settings > Printers & Scanners, Control-click an empty spot in the printer list, and choose Reset Printing System.

Be aware that this removes every printer on your Mac, along with your saved presets and print history. Afterward, download the current Kyocera macOS driver for your model and add the printer again. Our Kyocera printer setup guide can help with that step.