Printer Error 0x000003e3 “Operation Could Not Be Completed”: How to Fix

Applies to: Windows 11 and Windows 10, connecting to a printer shared from another PC or a print server.

What error 0x000003e3 means

Code 0x000003e3 is Windows error 995, “The I/O operation has been aborted”. On its own it only says that a step was cancelled. With printers, that step is almost always the driver: when you connect to a shared printer, Windows tries to copy and install the driver from the PC that shares it (this is called Point and Print), and something stops it.

The usual reasons:

• Since Windows updates from August 2021, installing a driver this way needs administrator rights. A standard user account gets blocked.
• An older or different version of the same printer driver is already on your PC and clashes.
• The Print Spooler service on one of the PCs is stuck.
• The sharing PC isn’t set up to share printers on your network.

The fixes below go from quickest to most thorough. You’ll need an administrator account for most of them.

Fix 1: Restart the Print Spooler on both PCs

Do this on your PC and on the PC the printer is connected to:

1. Press Win + R, type services.msc and press Enter.
2. Find Print Spooler, right-click it and select Restart. If it’s stopped, select Start.
3. Double-click it and make sure Startup type is Automatic.

Or run these two commands in an administrator Command Prompt:

net stop spooler
net start spooler

Then try connecting to the printer again.

Fix 2: Check sharing on the PC with the printer

On the computer the printer is plugged into:

1. Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners and select the printer.
2. Select Printer properties, open the Sharing tab and make sure Share this printer is ticked. Note the Share name.
3. Go to Settings > Network & internet > Advanced network settings > Advanced sharing settings and turn on File and printer sharing for Private networks.
4. Make sure the network itself is set to Private on both PCs, not Public.

If your PC can’t reach the other computer at all, you’ll usually see error 0x80070035 “The network path was not found” instead; fix that first.

Fix 3: Remove the old printer and driver

A half-installed copy of the printer often causes 0x000003e3 on every new attempt. Clear it out on your PC:

1. In Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners, select the shared printer (if it’s listed) and select Remove.
2. Press Win + R, type printui /s and press Enter. This opens Print Server Properties.
3. On the Drivers tab, select the driver for that printer, then Remove > Remove driver and driver package > OK.
4. If Windows says the driver is in use, restart the Print Spooler (Fix 1) and try again.

Only remove the driver for the printer you’re fixing. Leave Microsoft’s built-in drivers (such as Microsoft Print to PDF) alone.

Fix 4: Install the driver first, then connect

This fixes most cases, because Windows no longer needs to copy the driver from the other PC:

1. Download the printer’s driver from the manufacturer’s website (HP, Canon, Epson, Brother and so on). Pick the version for your Windows and for 64-bit.
2. Run the installer on your PC. If it asks how the printer is connected, choose to install the driver only, or skip the connection step.
3. Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners > Add device. Next to Add a new device manually, select Add manually.
4. Choose Select a shared printer by name, type \\PCNAME\ShareName (the other PC’s name and the printer’s share name from Fix 2) and select Next.

When the driver on your PC matches the one on the sharing PC, Windows uses it and the connection completes. If you sign in as a standard user and Windows asks for an administrator password, enter it; that’s the Point and Print safety check working as intended.

If connecting by name also says the name is already in use, see “The local device name is already in use” to clear old mapped connections.

Fix 5: Add the printer by IP address

If the printer is plugged into your network (Wi-Fi or Ethernet) rather than into another PC with a USB cable, skip sharing entirely and connect to it directly:

1. Find the printer’s IP address on its display or by printing a network configuration page from its menu.
2. Go to Printers & scanners > Add device > Add manually.
3. Choose Add a printer using an IP address or hostname, enter the IP address and follow the steps. Pick the driver you installed in Fix 4 when asked.

This way each PC prints straight to the printer, and the other computer doesn’t need to be switched on.

Fix 6: Run the printer troubleshooter and check updates

• Go to Settings > System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters and select Run next to Printer. On recent Windows 11 versions this opens the Get Help app, which runs the same checks.
• Install pending updates on both PCs under Settings > Windows Update. Mismatched update levels between the two PCs can break printer sharing.
• If printing broke right after one specific update and nothing else helps, you can uninstall it from Windows Update > Update history > Uninstall updates as a temporary measure. Security updates fix real holes, so reinstall it once a fix is available.

If system tools fail with their own errors along the way, repair Windows system files with SFC and DISM.

Fixes to avoid

Some guides suggest deleting whole branches of the registry under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print (Printers, Monitors, Providers). That removes every printer and print component on the PC and can leave printing broken. Removing the one driver in Fix 3 does the same job safely.

Others suggest setting RestrictDriverInstallationToAdministrators to 0 so any user can install printer drivers. Microsoft warns this makes PCs vulnerable to the PrintNightmare class of attacks and recommends it only temporarily. Installing the driver first (Fix 4) avoids needing it.

Related guides

• Error 0x80070035: network path not found
• “The local device name is already in use”
• Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation

Official sources: for more detail, see Microsoft’s own documentation:

• Microsoft Support: KB5005652, Point and Print driver installation behavior
• Microsoft Learn: rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry

Frequently asked questions

Why does 0x000003e3 only happen on one PC?

That PC usually has an old or different driver for the same printer, or a standard user account that can’t install drivers. Fix 3 and Fix 4 on that PC usually solve it.

Do I need an administrator account?

Yes, to install printer drivers. Once the driver is installed, standard users can connect to and print to the shared printer.

Does the PC sharing the printer have to stay on?

Yes, when the printer is shared from a PC over USB. If the printer has its own network connection, add it by IP address (Fix 5) so it works without the other PC.

Is 0x000003e3 the same as error 0x0000011b or 0x00000709?

No. They’re different printer connection errors with different causes, although restarting the spooler and reinstalling the driver help with all of them.