Open Printer Queue With a Shortcut in Windows 10

If you have a local or network printer connected to your Windows 10 PC, you may need to open its queue or printing status window occasionally to remove print jobs which have got stuck or pause printing.  You can create a special shortcut with a rundll32 command which will allow you to access the printing queue directly with one click.

In Windows 10, you can manage the printer queue using Devices and Printers in the classic Control Panel app or in Settings->Devices->Printers and Scanners.  Instead, you might want to save your time and create a special shortcut to open the queue of the specific printer just with one click.

Open Printer Queue With a Shortcut in Windows 10

First of all, you need to find the exact name of the installed printer.

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to Home\Devices\Printers & scanners.
3. Find the desired printer in the list on the right and note its name.
   

Now, do the following.

1. Right click the Desktop and select New - Shortcut.
2. In the shortcut target box, type or copy-paste the following command:

    rundll32.exe printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /o /n "Your printer name"

   Replace the "Your printer name" portion with the actual printer name connected to your device. For example, I will use "Microsoft XPS Document Writer".

3. Give your shortcut some recognizable name:
4. Set the desired icon for the shortcut and you are done.

You are done. Once you click the shortcut you created, the printer's queue for the specified printer will be opened on the screen.

You can assign a global hotkey to shortcut you created.

Open Printer Queue With a Hotkey in Windows 10

In Windows 10 you can assign global hotkeys for every installed application without using third party software. A special text box in the shortcut properties allow you to to specify a combination of hotkeys which will be used to launch the shortcut. If you have set those hotkeys for the shortcut in the Start menu folder, then they will be available in every opened window, every application.

I covered this feature in the following article:

Assign global hotkeys to launch any app in Windows 10

To assign global hotkeys to the Open Printer Queue shortcut you created, do the following.

1. Press Win + R shortcut keys together on your keyboard to open the Run dialog. Tip: See the ultimate list of all Windows keyboard shortcuts with Win keys).
2. Type the following in the Run box:

   shell:Start menu

   The text above is a shell command. Read the following articles for details:

   • The list of shell commands in Windows 10
   • CLSID (GUID) shell location list in Windows 10
3. The File Explorer window will appear with the Start menu folder location. Copy your shortcut there:
4. Right click the shortcut and select Properties in the context menu. Tip: Instead of right click, you can also double click on the shortcut while you hold down the Alt key. See How to open file or folder properties quickly in File Explorer.
5. Set your desired hotkey in the Shortcut key textbox, and you will be able to launch the app quickly at any moment using the hotkeys you specified:

That's it.

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