A shared printer experiences an outage when users submit numerous print jobs at the same...

In networked print environments, print jobs are processed through a system service called the print spooler. CompTIA A+ stresses that when shared printers fail due to job overload, the problem often lies with a hung or overloaded spooler service, especially when multiple jobs are sent simultaneously. The spooler queues, organizes, and processes print jobs; if it becomes overwhelmed or corrupted, printing stops completely even though the network and printer hardware remain functional.

After verifying network connectivity—as the question states— the next logical and CompTIA-aligned troubleshooting step is to restart the spooler service (D). Restarting it clears stuck or corrupt jobs, reinitializes print processing, and restores functionality without requiring a full server reboot or reinstallation of drivers.

Rebooting the server (A) may work but is unnecessarily disruptive and affects multiple services. Reinstalling printer drivers (B) is only warranted for driver corruption issues and is not the first step for spooler congestion. Resetting the printer to factory defaults (C) erases settings and is far too drastic for a simple print queue issue.

Therefore, the most efficient and technically correct action is restarting the print spooler service, restoring printing immediately while maintaining normal server operations.