Synology DSM print jobs stuck paused — driver vs spool

Q: Why are my Synology DSM print jobs stuck on Paused?

When Synology DSM print jobs stay paused, it is usually because CUPS on the NAS encounters an error and auto-pauses the printer. Common causes are driver mismatches between Windows and DSM, USB backend issues (especially on DSM 7), or jobs being double-spooled through SMB. Simplifying the DSM queue to a raw or generic driver and letting the client handle rendering often resolves it.

Q: Is it better to use DSM's print server or print directly to a network printer?

If the printer supports Ethernet or Wi-Fi, printing directly from Windows or macOS with the vendor driver is usually the most stable option. The DSM print server is mainly useful for sharing USB printers; however, on newer DSM 7 systems, USB support is limited, which can lead to jobs stuck paused in the NAS queue if the backend or driver stack fails.

Q: What is the difference between driver and spool problems on Synology DSM?

A driver issue typically causes corrupted output, unsupported format errors, or wrong paper handling. A spool problem looks like jobs staying in Paused or Held on DSM, or disappearing from Windows but never printing. Separating responsibilities—using the full vendor driver on the client and a simple spool queue on DSM—helps avoid both types of issues.

Q: How do I clear a stuck Synology DSM print queue?

First cancel jobs in the Windows print queue and restart the Print Spooler service. Then, in Synology DSM, open Control Panel > External Devices > Printer or the CUPS web UI at http://NAS:631, delete pending jobs, and restart the CUPS service or reboot the NAS if needed. After that, send a fresh test job using the updated driver and spool configuration.

Updated: December 2, 2025 · Answered by Joe B. in 5 mins

Joe B.

Reviewed for technical accuracy

Specialities: Synology DSM print server, CUPS & spooler issues, USB & network printers, Windows & macOS printer drivers, IPP/LPR queues, “print job stuck on paused” errors

Fix “Synology DSM print jobs stuck paused” — clear the NAS print queue, fix driver vs spool conflicts, and get Windows/macOS printing again

Technician

Hey there — we can definitely help with Synology DSM print jobs stuck on Paused. On a Synology NAS, printing is handled by the built-in DSM print server (CUPS), while Windows or macOS still uses its own printer driver and spooler on the client side.

When those two disagree — for example, wrong PPD/driver, double-spooling, or a stalled queue on the NAS — you get symptoms like print jobs stuck paused on Synology, “Unable to send data to printer”, or jobs that disappear from the PC but never reach the printer.

To point you at the right driver vs spool fix, I need to narrow it down a bit: is the printer USB-connected to the Synology NAS or a network printer shared via DSM? Which DSM version (6.x or 7.x) are you on, and are your clients mainly Windows 10/11 or macOS? Finally, where exactly do you see “Paused” — in the Synology DSM printer queue, on the Windows print queue, or both?

Customer

It’s a USB printer plugged into a Synology DS218play. DSM 7.1. We’re printing from a mix of Windows 10 and Windows 11 PCs. Everyone prints to the shared printer on the NAS.

What happens is: jobs leave the Windows queue, but on the Synology side they either show as “Paused” in the DSM printer panel or never show at all. Sometimes Windows says “Print job stuck in queue” or “Unable to connect to printer”. If I restart the Print Spooler service on a PC, it helps for one or two jobs, then the Synology print queue gets stuck paused again.

Technician

Thanks, that’s really clear — you’re hitting a classic Synology DSM print jobs stuck paused scenario with a USB printer on the NAS.

Under the hood, DSM uses CUPS as its print server. Your Windows PCs send a job using their own Windows printer driver to the NAS, and then CUPS applies a second PPD/driver and spools the job again. When the two sides don’t match, a few things can happen:
• Windows renders the print job to a format your printer driver expects, but DSM’s CUPS queue is configured with a different model or generic PPD, so CUPS treats the data as invalid and pauses the printer queue.
• The Synology DSM print server is set to spool and filter jobs, while Windows is also doing full processing (“Render print jobs on client computers” disabled). The result is effectively double-spooling, which can cause jobs to hang or stay in a “Processing / Paused” state.
• If the DSM printer service hiccups (CUPS backend crash, USB reconnect, DSM 7 USB printing limitations), CUPS will often auto-pause the printer and require a manual resume before any more jobs print.

The good news: we can usually fix Synology print jobs stuck on Paused by cleaning up the driver configuration and setting the spool path so there’s only one place doing the heavy work — either driver on the PC, raw queue on DSM or vice versa.

Customer

We originally installed the printer on DSM using the External Devices > Printer wizard, picked the closest driver it offered, and then used Synology Assistant on Windows to add the shared printer. On the PCs it shows up as “Synology Printer on NAS”.

I’ve noticed that when jobs are stuck, if I open http://nasname:631 and log into the CUPS web interface, I often see the printer with a red “Paused – Unable to send data to printer” message. Hitting Resume works once, then the print jobs get stuck paused on Synology DSM again after a while.

Technician

Perfect — checking CUPS at http://NAS:631 is exactly what I’d have you do. Since the error shows there, we know Windows is handing the job to DSM correctly and the jam is happening at the Synology print server / CUPS layer.

At a high level, we want to answer three questions:
1) Is CUPS using the right PPD/printer model, or is it trying to “convert” already-rendered Windows data and failing?
2) Are we using the correct protocol between Windows and Synology (RAW/TCP, LPR, or IPP via CUPS)?
3) Are we letting one side do the rendering (driver on Windows) and making the other side a “RAW spool queue” so it doesn’t re-process the job?

The most stable setup for Synology DSM print jobs that keep pausing is usually:
• On DSM / CUPS: queue configured as close to “raw” as possible, or with a very basic PPD.
• On Windows: correct vendor driver installed, and the printer connection configured to “Render print jobs on client computers” so Windows does the heavy lifting.

We’ll also want to peek at the CUPS ErrorPolicy and log level; CUPS tends to hard-pause printers on errors, which is great for diagnostics but annoying in production.

Customer

That makes sense. Right now the DSM wizard has the printer set as a generic model because our exact one wasn’t listed. On the Windows side, we’re using the full OEM driver from the manufacturer for that printer model.

I also see that in the Windows printer properties for the Synology-shared printer, the “Render print jobs on client computers” box is unchecked, so it’s probably spooling through the NAS. Could this mismatch be what’s causing paused print jobs on the Synology queue?

Technician

Yes, that combination is a very common reason for Synology DSM print jobs stuck paused.

What’s happening is roughly this:
• Windows is sending a partially processed job because it thinks the server (Synology) will finish the work.
• DSM’s CUPS queue is using a generic PPD which expects a different data format, so it fails to talk to the USB printer correctly.
• When the backend fails, CUPS marks the printer Paused, and subsequent jobs pile up in a “Held / Processing” state until you manually resume.

A very practical way to stabilize things:
1) In CUPS (http://NAS:631), edit the printer and switch it to a very simple or raw queue (e.g. a generic driver, or explicitly a “Raw Queue” if available) so DSM is just forwarding whatever it receives.
2) On each Windows client, open the printer’s Sharing / Advanced tab and enable “Render print jobs on client computers”. That tells Windows to use the full OEM driver locally and send ready-to-print data through DSM.
3) After changing these, clear all old jobs from the Synology DSM printer queue, restart the CUPS service (or reboot the NAS in a maintenance window), and then send a fresh test print.

This driver vs spool split — driver on Windows, DSM as lightweight spooler — usually stops the “paused” loop for USB printers connected to Synology.

Customer

The jobs usually get stuck when several people print at once. Single test pages sometimes work, but real print runs during the day end up back in the Paused state on CUPS.

We’re using the default “Samba shared printer” setup that Synology Assistant created. Would it be better to configure the Windows printer as an IPP/LPR queue directly to CUPS instead of SMB? I’ve seen people mention that for fixing Synology DSM print jobs held in queue.

Technician

Great observation. The protocol absolutely matters for driver vs spool behavior.

When you use the Synology-shared printer via SMB:
• Windows talks to Samba on the NAS, which then hands the job off to CUPS.
• Debugging who is pausing what can be harder because Windows, Samba, and CUPS all have their own spool layers.

When you configure the printer as IPP or LPR directly to CUPS (e.g. ipp://NAS:631/printers/PrinterName or lpr://NAS/queue):
• Windows sends jobs straight into the Synology DSM CUPS queue.
• Settings like ErrorPolicy, raw queue, and job control are clearer and easier to debug.

For stubborn Synology print jobs stuck paused, I usually suggest:
• Re-adding the printer on Windows using IPP to CUPS with the correct queue name (you can see it in the CUPS web UI).
• Still keeping Render print jobs on client computers enabled and using the vendor driver.
• Leaving SMB printing for file shares only, not for the printer path.

This streamlines the path so there’s one spooler on the PC and one CUPS queue on DSM, instead of adding Samba into the mix.

Customer

That helps. Another thing: we upgraded from DSM 6 to DSM 7 a while ago. The printer used to work fine on DSM 6, but after DSM 7 the Synology print server has been flaky — jobs randomly pause, sometimes the USB printer disappears until we replug it.

I’ve read that DSM 7 removed some USB printer drivers. Could this be part of why print jobs keep getting stuck paused on DSM, even when the driver and spool settings look right?

Technician

You’re right to be suspicious — DSM 7 did change printer support on some models.

Synology’s own docs and community threads note that USB printer support is deprecated or removed on newer DSM 7 systems, and certain models no longer offer an official print server at all. In those cases, DSM may still expose CUPS, but the underlying USB backend / driver stack is much less reliable than it was in DSM 6.x.

In practice, that can look like:
• CUPS seeing the printer but frequently logging backend errors, then auto-pausing the queue.
• Jobs that stay stuck in “Processing / Paused” on DSM even though Windows reports success.
• A need to frequently clear the Synology print spool or physically replug the printer.

The workaround many DSM 7 users use when they still want a NAS-based print server is either:
• Run a Docker container with a dedicated CUPS server and point clients to that instead of Synology’s built-in print service.
• Or retire the NAS print server entirely and print directly to a network printer (Ethernet/Wi-Fi) using vendor drivers on each PC.

We can absolutely still try to stabilize your existing setup with the driver vs spool tweaks, but it’s good to know DSM 7 is not as printer-friendly as DSM 6 used to be.

Customer

Understood. For now I’d like to keep using the NAS as a shared print server — it’s in a closet with the printer and has always been convenient.

What I really need is a practical checklist: how to stop Synology DSM print jobs staying paused, how to tell if it’s actually a driver mismatch vs spooler problem, and what to do on Windows vs on the NAS. I’m okay going into CUPS or DSM settings as long as it’s step-by-step.

Technician

Totally fair — let’s turn this into a concrete Synology DSM print-queue un-sticking checklist. Here’s the driver vs spool plan I use on real setups:

1) Confirm where jobs are pausing.
• If jobs stay in the Windows queue as Paused, the problem is usually the Windows spooler, port type, or driver.
• If jobs leave Windows but show as Held / Paused in CUPS on DSM, the problem is at the Synology print server / USB backend.

2) Clean the queues.
• On Windows: cancel all pending jobs and restart the Print Spooler service.
• On DSM: in Control Panel > External Devices > Printer or via CUPS, delete any stuck jobs so the Synology print spooler is empty.

3) Make DSM as “raw” as possible.
• In CUPS, edit the printer and pick a raw or generic PPD so the NAS isn’t trying to interpret driver-specific data.
• Avoid extra filters or options in DSM like page scaling or special finishing if you can; leave those to the OEM driver on Windows.

4) Push rendering to the client.
• On Windows, ensure “Render print jobs on client computers” is checked on the shared printer’s Advanced / Sharing tab.
• Use the manufacturer’s exact printer driver on each client, not a random generic driver.

5) Use a direct IPP/LPR connection to CUPS.
• Instead of SMB sharing, add a new printer on Windows that uses IPP (http://NAS:631/printers/QueueName) or LPR with the proper queue name.
• Point it at the same CUPS queue on Synology you cleaned up in step 2.

Once this is in place, your Synology DSM print jobs should flow through as raw data from Windows, with CUPS acting mainly as a traffic cop, not a second driver.

Customer

That’s helpful. One more thing: sometimes when the Synology printer queue is paused, even after I hit Resume in CUPS, the next job pauses it again immediately.

I’ve seen people talk about the CUPS ErrorPolicy setting and “retry-job” vs “stop-printer”. Would changing this help with Synology DSM print jobs that keep switching back to Paused, or is that just masking the real problem?

Technician

Great question — that’s digging into how CUPS handles errors.

By default, many CUPS setups (including Synology’s) use an ErrorPolicy equivalent to stop-printer or abort-job. That means if the backend hits a USB or protocol error, CUPS will pause the printer until you manually intervene. It’s good for catching real problems, but it’s exactly why you keep seeing “Status: Paused – Unable to send data to printer”.

Switching ErrorPolicy to something like retry-job can make CUPS re-attempt the print instead of pausing, which is helpful if the issue is just a sleepy USB printer or momentary connection glitch.

That said, you’re right: it mostly changes the symptom, not the cause. The real fixes for Synology DSM print jobs stuck paused are still:
• Matching or simplifying the driver/PPD situation (driver on client, raw queue on DSM).
• Using the right protocol (IPP/LPR) and avoiding unnecessary translation.
• Keeping DSM’s print support limitations in mind on newer NAS models / DSM 7.

I’m okay with adjusting ErrorPolicy as a final polish once things are otherwise stable, but I wouldn’t rely on it as the main fix.

Customer

Makes sense. For this office, the goal is simple: stop Synology DSM print jobs from getting stuck on Paused so staff can just hit Print and not think about the NAS.

Can you summarize the exact steps we should take, and if needed, can you walk us through our Synology DSM print server vs Windows driver configuration one-on-one?

Technician

Absolutely — here’s the short version I recommend when Synology DSM print jobs are stuck paused and you’re trying to sort out driver vs spool:

1) Empty all queues. Clear pending jobs on every Windows PC and in DSM/CUPS so we’re starting clean.
2) Make DSM a raw or generic queue. In CUPS, pick a raw or very basic driver so Synology forwards data instead of heavily processing it.
3) Use vendor drivers and client-side rendering. On Windows, install the correct OEM driver and enable “Render print jobs on client computers”.
4) Connect via IPP/LPR directly to CUPS. Re-add the printer on Windows using IPP or LPR to the Synology queue instead of SMB.
5) Test under load. Send multiple jobs from different users and confirm they no longer stick in “Paused” on DSM.

If you’d like, I can go through your exact Synology DSM printer queue, CUPS config, and Windows driver settings step-by-step, using screenshots from your environment. Open the chat and we’ll make sure your NAS print server stops pausing jobs and just quietly prints.

Quick answer: the accepted fix

Accepted fix when Synology DSM print jobs are stuck on Paused: treat the NAS as a lightweight CUPS spooler. Use a raw or generic queue on DSM, move all real rendering to the Windows or macOS driver, enable “Render print jobs on client computers” on shared printers, and connect via IPP or LPR directly to CUPS instead of SMB. After clearing old jobs and restarting the print services, this driver-vs-spool layout usually stops the Synology queue from pausing itself.

Why Synology DSM print jobs get stuck on Paused

When Synology DSM print jobs stay paused in the queue, it’s rarely “just Windows being weird”. DSM uses CUPS as a print server, and CUPS has strict rules about driver data and backend errors. A mismatch between the Windows printer driver and the DSM PPD, an unsupported USB backend on DSM 7, or jobs being double-spooled through SMB can all cause CUPS to mark the printer as Paused – Unable to send data to printer. Once that happens, new jobs either queue up indefinitely on the Synology NAS or bounce between “Held” and “Processing” without ever reaching the printer.

How to test your Synology DSM print queue after fixing driver vs spool

After you adjust the Synology DSM print server to use a raw or generic queue and move rendering to the client, test in two steps. First, from a single Windows PC using the correct OEM driver and an IPP/LPR connection to CUPS, send a test page and confirm the job appears in CUPS, runs, and the printer actually outputs a page without pausing. Then, have several users print at once to simulate real-world load. Watch the CUPS web interface to ensure the Synology DSM print jobs no longer get stuck on Paused and that the queue automatically returns to Idle between jobs.

Synology DSM print jobs stuck paused — quick troubleshooting tips

Before you blame the printer hardware, line up your DSM print server, drivers, and spool settings.

Quick path: check whether Synology DSM or Windows shows the job as Paused → in DSM/CUPS, switch the printer to a raw or generic driver → on Windows, use the proper OEM driver and enable client-side rendering → connect printers via IPP or LPR directly to the CUPS queue instead of SMB → finally, clear old jobs and restart both the Windows spooler and the Synology print service. In many cases, this driver vs spool cleanup is enough to stop print jobs on Synology DSM from getting stuck paused.

Disclaimer: This information is AI-generated and intended for general guidance only. Always follow Synology’s official DSM and print server documentation and your printer manufacturer’s instructions. For advice tailored to your NAS model, DSM version, and printer, please consult a verified expert on Whizz-Tech before changing production settings.

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FAQ

Why are my Synology DSM print jobs stuck on Paused?

When Synology DSM print jobs stay paused, it’s usually because CUPS on the NAS is hitting an error and auto-pausing the printer. Common causes are driver mismatches between Windows and DSM, USB backend issues (especially on DSM 7), or jobs being double-spooled through SMB. Fixing the driver vs spool setup and using a raw or generic queue on Synology often resolves it.

Is it better to use DSM’s print server or print directly to a network printer?

If your printer has Ethernet or Wi-Fi, printing directly to the printer from Windows/macOS with OEM drivers tends to be the most stable option. Synology’s DSM print server is handy when you must share a USB printer, but on newer DSM 7 systems USB support is limited, which can lead to jobs stuck paused in the NAS queue if the backend or driver stack misbehaves.

What’s the difference between driver and spool problems on Synology DSM?

A driver issue usually shows as corrupted output, wrong paper handling, or “Unsupported format” errors in CUPS. A spooler problem looks more like jobs staying in “Paused / Held” on DSM, or vanishing from Windows but never printing. Separating responsibilities — full driver on the client, simple spool on DSM — is the best way to avoid both types of issues.

How do I clear a stuck Synology DSM print queue?

First, cancel any jobs in the Windows print queue and restart the Print Spooler service. Then, log into DSM, open Control Panel > External Devices > Printer or the CUPS web UI at http://NAS:631, delete any pending jobs, and if needed restart the CUPS service or reboot the NAS. After that, send a fresh test print using your updated driver vs spool configuration.

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Filed under: Printer won’t print

Joe B.

Fix “Synology DSM print jobs stuck paused” — clear the NAS print queue, fix driver vs spool conflicts, and get Windows/macOS printing again

Quick answer: the accepted fix

Why Synology DSM print jobs get stuck on Paused

How to test your Synology DSM print queue after fixing driver vs spool

Synology DSM print jobs stuck paused — quick troubleshooting tips

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Expert will respond in minutes

Save time & money

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