Work relating to this issue has been done in the Finale v27.1 release, and users on this version should no longer encounter this issue. If you are using Finale v27.1 and need to turn off the print spooler for Finale to start, please use the Submit a Request option above to contact technical support.
When launched, Finale scans your computer for printing devices that it can use. If it finds a conflict with one of your devices, this conflict could cause Finale to hang when launched. To determine if the freezing of the application is due to a conflict with a printer, please follow the steps in this article to deactivate the Print Spooler service.
If you have already taken these steps, and have determined that stopping the Print Spooler service allows Finale to launch, please restart the Print Spooler service from the Services window and follow the steps below to manage your printing devices and try to narrow down the possible problem devices...
- Close any open programs.
- Hold down the Windows key on your computer keyboard and press the letter R at the same time to open the Run dialog box.
- Type "devmgmt.msc" (without quotes) into the field of the Run dialog box.
- Click OK.
- In the Device Manager window expand the Print queues section.
- Try disabling all of the printer devices by right-clicking each device and choosing Disable.
- Enable one device at a time, launching Finale after each reactivation to see which printer causes the issue.
- Once you have identified the problem printer, please try reinstalling the latest drivers available for that device.
If you have identified a certain printer as the problem but reinstalling the device driver still does not allow Finale to launch, please feel free to report that printer conflict to Customer Support. They will be able to report this conflict to our development team for consideration. In the meantime, you can either choose another available printer for use and leave the conflicting printer disabled, or you can stop the Print Spooler service, edit your Finale document, export the file to PDF (File > Export > PDF), restart the Print Spooler service, and then print the exported PDF.
If enabling printers one at a time per the steps above does not help to identify a certain problem device, then there are a few additional steps you can take to try to resolve the issue.
In some cases, restarting the Print Spooler service while Finale is running seems to help resolve the issue.
- Close any open programs (including Finale).
- Hold down the Windows key and press the letter R at the same time to open the Run dialog box.
- Type "services.msc" (without quotes) into the Run dialog box.
- Click OK.
- In the Services window that appears, locate the service named Print Spooler.
- Right-click the Print Spooler service and choose Stop.
- Relaunch Finale.
- If Finale launches successfully, then right-click the Print Spooler service again and choose Start.
- Close Finale, and then see if Finale can be relaunched without disabling Print Spooler.
- Close Finale.
- Right-click on the Finale desktop shortcut, and choose Properties.
- Choose the Compatibility tab.
- Select the checkbox to Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows 8.
- Click Apply and OK.
- Reopen Finale.
- Close Finale.
- Press the WINDOWS key on your computer keyboard once to open the start menu; type "Printers and Scanners".
- Click the Printers and Scanners option.
- Deselect Let Windows manage my default printer if it's selected.
- Click on the Microsoft XPS Document Writer and choose Manage, then choose Set as default.
- Reopen Finale.