Offline Printer Status Overview
Windows 10 says the printer is offline? It doesn't matter if you are using an HP, Epson, Canon, or Brother printer. It is extremely common for your printer to be offline, which means you cannot print files for your work or study. Or, in some cases, Windows 10 thinks the printer is offline, so your printer won't print, but actually, the printer is online but won't print for you.
You can also get the answer for, "Why is my printer offline?" here.
Since the printer must be online to print as usual, you must change the printer from offline to online in Windows 10 if you want to print with your Canon, HP, Samsung, Brother, or Epson printer.
Why does my printer say offline?
Mainly, your printer must be connected to the Internet (wired or wireless) or USB cable. Only in this way can the printer connect and work seamlessly with your PC in Windows 10.
And you can see from the printer is offline problem that the leading cause lies in the connection problems. At some point, it may be due to the printer being disconnected. On the other hand, the offline printer appears due to network problems.
How to fix the issue, and how do I get my printer online?
Bottom line, it is recommended to solve this offline wireless or laser or 3D printer from the perspective of network connection, driver problem, and printer settings.
Before more advanced solutions, sometimes reconnecting the printer and restarting your PC can be efficient to resolve the printer disconnecting in Windows 7, 8, and 10.
Solutions:
Solution 1: Check the printer hardware
An offline printer in Windows 10 means that your Epson, Canon, or HP printer cannot communicate with your PC. Therefore, you need to make sure that there is nothing wrong with the connection between your computer and the printer. Get a few things verified in order to get the printer online in Windows 10.
You need to check the different network connections for different connections between PC and printer, USB printer, or wired or wireless printer.
- Turn off the printer for a few minutes and then restart it.
- Check if your printer is connected properly.
- Log into Windows 10 with a local administrator account.
- If you are connecting the printer to the PC via the USB cable, try to make sure the cable is in good condition with a good USB port.
- If you are using the wireless network, make sure the indicator light is on.
Or, if it is the wired network, check the condition of the Ethernet network.
It is then can help you to know the answer to the question, “Why does printer say offline in Windows 10”. If there are no connection problems with your printer, you can read on to resolve your offline printer driver and settings problem.
Solution 2: Change the printer status
You may have accidentally or neglected your printer offline in Windows 10. Therefore, to change your HP, Epson, or Canon printer from offline to online, you need to go into the printer settings to try.
You can probably find the related setting to get a printer online and make it responsive. It works on Windows 10.
- Go to Start > Settings > Devices.
- Under Printer and Scanner, find and right-click the icon with a green check mark to see what is printing.
If the icon does not have a green check mark, you need to right-click Set as Default Printer and then right-click to see what is printing.
Then you can see the printer queue popping up in Windows 10.
- Under Printer, clear the Pause printing and Use printer offline check boxes.
So you can use the online printer in Windows 10. And the offline printer will no longer exist in Windows 10.
Solution 3: Restart the spooler service
The queue service is a Windows system service. Sends jobs to the printer. When you print a file or some documents, the print queue feeds the print image to the background at a slower speed.
However, the spooler would stop working automatically for unknown reasons, leaving your printer status offline in Windows 10. Now go down to restart it and resolve the printer showing offline as Canon or Brother in Windows 10.
- Press Windows + R to open Run.
- Enter service.msc in the box and press OK to enter the Services window.
- In the Services window, select Print Spooler and click Restart the service.
Once you restart the spooler service, you can try printing again. This time it won't show you that the printer is offline in Windows 10. Your printer will start printing.
Solution 4: Disable the SNMP protocol on printers
From the reports of many users, it is discovered that the printer disconnects when SNMP is enabled in Printer Properties. Here SNMP is the abbreviation for Simple Network Management Protocol that is used to collect and organize information from devices on the same network and adjust the information to change the device's behavior. Therefore, there is a high probability that this SNMP standard changes the network printer and prompts you to disconnect in Windows 10.
Now you'd better disable this network protocol to see if Brother or Canon or HP or Epson will disconnect after that.
- In the Hardware and Sound Control Panel, find and right-click the printer to open Printer Properties.
- In the Printer Properties window, on the Ports tab, scroll down to locate the Port whose box is checked, and then press Configure Port.
- Then discover and then uncheck the SNMP Status Enabled box to disable SNMP network monitoring.
- After you click on OK to save your changes, you can try using your printer, and the offline printer will not jam is not responding or not connected in Windows 10.
Solution 5: Update the printer driver
To switch the printer offline to online or simply to improve the performance of the printer in Windows 10, it is recommended to update the drivers from HP, Epson, or Canon.
Before you start updating your printer driver, go to Start > Settings > Devices > Printer & Scanner > Remove Device.
The moment you uninstalled Windows 10 offline printer, try connecting to a PC or network. And it is about time you update the driver for your Ricoh, Canon, HP, Epson printer.
It is natural that you can go to the printer manufacturer's website to download the recently released Windows 10 printer drivers. However, to avoid inconvenience and difficulties, you can make full use of Driver Booster to help you update printer drivers in Windows 10. Convenient enough, Driver Booster is able to download and install the printer driver automatically.
- Download, install and run Driver Booster on Windows 10.
- Click the Scan button to allow Driver Booster to search for the missing, outdated, and even faulty drivers.
Here, if the printer driver is incompatible and makes the printer offline in Windows 10, you need to update it in Driver Booster.
- Locate the printer driver, and then let Driver Booster update it for you.
After Driver Booster has helped you install the latest Epson, Canon, or HP printer driver, your offline printer can also be activated online in Windows 10.
Solution 6: Run the Printer Troubleshooter
It is available, and you can take advantage of the Windows built-in tool to fix the reasons why your printer is disconnected in Windows 10. In addition, it is able to identify and fix the printer problem.
- Search for Troubleshoot in the search box and press Enter to navigate to Troubleshoot.
- Under Troubleshoot, locate the Printer and choose Run the troubleshooter.
If there is a problem with your printer in Windows 10, the printer troubleshooter will let you know. And if possible, it will also fix the offline printer problem automatically.
Solution 7: Add a new printer
Designed only for the printer using the network connecting to the PC. Considering that the above ways are useless for you to resolve offline printer status in Windows 10, you can check if you can add another printer for this PC.
Go to Start > Settings > Devices > Printer and scanner > Add a printer.
So you may have a hard time adding a second printer on your own by increasing an IP address and printer port.
To conclude, from this article, you can get the most common but practical solutions for offline printer problems for Windows 10.
You can connect with our experts to get the specific solution for some particular printer makes, such as HP, Epson, or Canon. Suggestions about this printer will not print error.
You might also like:
Best Solutions for “Printer is offline” Error in Windows 10
How to Fix “Printer is Offline” & Connectivity Error on Mac
10 Ways to Resolve "Printer is offline" Issue
Printer is Offline: 10 Fixes to Restore It Online in Windows 10
Discussion