RPC Server is unavailable/Printer Spooler is not running

Hi there.

About two days ago, my parents' computer (Dell, XP) was attacked by Win32 blaster worm, and they basically freaked out and called me to come fix it. After deleting the files and cleaning it up, it seemed fine.

The next day they were trying to print and got nothing. The error message said that "The RPC server is unavailable." The other error I got when trying to reinstall the drivers/printer was "Operation can not be completed. The Printer Spooler Service is not running." There are no printers in the Printers and Faxes window, and the computer will not complete installation of the software for their HP officejet 4500 or their really old Epson.

I have googled this for several hours now and have tried anything I came across.

The first thing I did was check to see if they had the spoolsv.exe in the System32 folder - they didn't. I copied this file from their other XP computer to this one, hoping that would fix it. Nothing. I went into Services and verified that the RPC, RPC Locator, and Printer Spooler were all started and set to automatic. They were.

This computer is not connected to a network or printing wirelessly. It is directly connected via usb.

I'm desperate at this point and really don't want to do a windows re-install. Any help would be appreciated!

 

Try running a system restore to a point before the infection.

 

Yuck, I didn't want to do that either. They haven't backed up/created restore points in probably three months (since I was last here fixing their problems, hah!).

I'll start moving stuff and backing up to my external. Will report back afterwards.

Anything other suggestions in the meantime would be awesome.

 

Might try going into "Services" and starting the "Remote Procedure Call (RPC)" service, then starting "Print Spooler" service.

 

There should be a daily restore point on a properly configured system.

 

@plastidust: Already tried, no joy.

@plodr: Also tried, install wizard fails stating RPC service is unavailable.

Also also, the computer keeps failing to restore to a checkpoint. Tried it several times to different dates. Ugh.