“Why does printer say offline?”
“Why is my printer offline?”
“How do I get my printer online again?”
Do you have any of these questions or something similar in mind? Keep reading. Here you will get the answer and the solution to it.
Have you faced a situation in which you want to get a print and therefore select your printer to receive the message, “Your printer is offline”? We understand how frustrating it can be for you if you want an urgent print in the middle of work. You do not need to worry because there are some simple steps to take to get your printer working again!
In this article, we will share 12 practical and working methods to fix printer offline error.
What does the printer offline error mean
This arises due to a communication failure between the computer and the printer. It usually occurs on network printers, but home users can face this problem as well. Before we delve into solutions to this problem, let's first discuss why exactly this problem exists. This happens in one of the three cases.
The first is when the printer encounters an internal error or when the print queue is quite long and lastly when the connection present between the computer and the user is slow unresponsive.
How to fix printer offline error
Before we go through all the methods, let's take a look at some things that can be done before that can easily solve the problem in question
1. Restart the printer & computer
Sometimes, many a issues are resolved by simply restarting the computer and the printer. Therefore, it is the first things that you should try.
2. Unplug and plug the USB cable back in.
The USB cable may not be plugged in properly. Unplug and plug it back in.
There is also a possibility that the one that you have is damaged or broken, so try to use another USB cable and see if this works.
3. Make sure the printer's power cord is plugged into an electrical outlet
Make sure the power cord is in the plug and is not unattached or broken. The easies way to check that the power cord is fine is to check the light on the printer. If the light one the printer is glowing, the power is fine. If the printer does not turn on, then the problem could be with the electric outlet or the power cable.
4. If you have a network printer, restarting the router could solve the issue.
Network printers, sometimes, run into problems in connecting with the router and restarting or resetting the router are the only solutions.
5. Use a software to diagnose the issue
A diagnostic software can help you detect the issues, and it can either be a third party software or a software created by the brand itself such as the HP Print and Scan Doctor. These help in the efficient detection of problems.
Windows also comes with a default troubleshooter. Just go to the control panel and type “troubleshoot” in the search area.
Start the printer troubleshooter and wait for it to detect the issues.
The troubleshooter is efficient in finding out the most common issues and it will inform you of the details along with the steps to fix it. If the troubleshooter does not show any problems, you can try the methods listed below.
6. Modify printer settings
This would be for the Windows 10 printer offline error. Follow these steps carefully
1) Go to the Control Penal of your computer.
2) Open Devices and Printers next.
3) Here, you will find the default printer and if it is different from the one that you intend to use, change the settings and set it as your default printer.
4) The next step consists of checking the print queue.
5) If there are many undfinished jobs in the print queue, remove them from the list and clear it.
6) If the printer queue window shows you the message ‘Use Printer Offline’ checked, then uncheck this.
7. Restart the spooler service
The spooler service is a service used by the printer to get its work done. For this reason, it is practical to reset this to get the printer working again. Here’s how to restart the spooler service.
1) Press the Start key or Windows key along with ‘r’ key.
2) Type services.msc.
3) Press Enter or click OK.
4) This prompts the Services window to open. After this, locate the Print Queue or Printer Spooler option from the alphabetically ordered list.
5) Right click on the Print Queue or Printer Spooler option
6) Then select Restart.
This may or may not solve the problem and you may have to repeat the entire process of restarting the spooler and clearing the printer queue, if you face this problem again.
8. Change printer properties
The said method may not work if there is some other issue. In such a case, you can try changing the printer settings as follows
1) Go to the Control Panel.
2) Click Devices and Printers.
3) Right click on the desired printer.
4) Click Printer Properties.
5) Go to the ports window.
6) Select your printer's IP address from the list and select Configure Port.
7) Uncheck the SNMP port status.
8) Select OK to save the changes.
9. Manually configuring how to get printer online
These are very simple to follow and very workable steps listed here.
1) Go to the Control Panel.
2) Click Devices and Printers.
3) Right click on the desired printer and select ‘See what's printing’.
4) This opens a window. Select the printer from the same menu.
5) This would open a drop down menu. Uncheck the Use printer offline option.
10. Reinstall the printer drivers.
Users claim that we can easily fix this problem by reinstalling the printer drivers. Don't you take his word for it Go ahead and see for yourself
1) Go to the Control Panel.
2) Select Devices and Printers.
3) Right click the printing device that is in use and go to Remove Device.
4) You will receive a confirmation dialog. Click 'Yes'.
5) Download the latest driver from the printer manufacturer's site or use the CD provided with the printer. Drivers can also be updated by clicking Check for updates on the Windows update page. You can also install the drivers by connecting the printer and checking the updates for drivers.
You may need to use driver update software, if they are not updated by this method. The software will verify and update the latest printer driver on your device.
11. Install the latest updates
The first thing you have to do is enter Windows Settings , which you access by clicking on the cogwheel icons in the start menu or in the notifications menu. Once inside, click on the Update and security option that will appear last.
View History
Once inside Updates and security , you have to enter the Windows Update section (1) that appears in the left column. Being the first one, it will be the one you go to by default, but it never hurts to check it. Within Windows Update , click on the option View update history (2).
Feature Updates
You will enter the update history page, where you can see all the updates you have installed. First you will see the Feature Updates , which are the big updates that usually arrive every half year to add more features to Windows. Only the last one appears in my history because I reset the computer before installing it, and that is why the previous ones do not appear.
Quality Updates
Then you have the sections for quality updates, definitions (for Windows Defender) and other updates. In them you can see both the update date and the update code to be able to report them if you consider that it may be giving you a problem.
Uninstall updates
Another option in the update history is to uninstall some of them. To do this, once you are in the option See the update history, click on the Uninstall the updates link that will appear first, even before the list of all those that are installed.
A new window will open in which you can see all the updates that can be uninstalled. In it you will see the dates and descriptions, and when you click on Windows you will also see a support link for those specific updates. If you right-click on one you will see the Uninstall option , which will erase it from your system. Even so, if you have problems, don't rule out going to the links to seek support.
12. Remove printer drivers and packages
To continue with this method, it is important that you are using your Windows device as an administrator.
1) Type CMD in the search bar. This would open the command prompt.
2) At the command prompt, type printui s t2. Please note that the spaces are intentional. This opens the Print Server Properties window.
3) Now, you can go ahead and remove the driver and packages for the desired printer.
This may have resolved the problem and returned your printer to Online status.
Conclusion
If nothing listed above turns your printer back online, there may be some hardware failure in the printer.
In such a situation, we recommend that youi contact the printer manufacturer or a printer technician directly.
While the best thing could be to outrightly connect with our printer technicians and save yourself from the exhausting trial and error process.
Happy printing!
You might also like:
7 Emerging Technology Trends in Printing Industry in 2021
Discussion