Printer Not Printing

A printer not printing almost always comes down to one of four things: a job stuck in the queue, the app sending to the wrong printer or driver, a printer that has gone offline, or ink and toner that are not reaching the paper. The fastest fix is to cancel every job in the print queue, restart the printer and try again. To see which side the fault is on, print the printer's own status report or nozzle check from its buttons, then print the print test page from your computer. If the printer's page comes out and the computer's does not, the fault is on the computer. If the printer cannot print its own page properly either, start with the ink and print head sections.

Quick checks

• Read the printer's screen or lights. A paper jam, an open cover, an empty tray or a cartridge error stops everything. On Canon printers, paper settings that do not match the paper in the tray also stop a job.
• Look in the queue. If one job says Error, cancel it. Every job behind it waits until it is gone.
• Check which printer the app uses. Duplicate entries such as "Copy 1", a PDF printer or an old printer often end up selected.
• Offline? If Windows or your Mac shows the printer as offline, follow why is my printer offline first.
• New cartridges or toner: pull off every strip of tape and packing, then click each one firmly into place.

Clear the queue and restart the spooler

1. Windows 11: open Settings, Bluetooth & devices, Printers & scanners, select the printer, then Open print queue. Open the ... menu and choose Cancel all. Windows 10: select the printer in Settings, Devices, Printers & scanners, then Open queue, and use Cancel All Documents in the Printer menu.
2. If jobs refuse to leave, open Services, double-click Print Spooler and select Stop. Delete the files in %WINDIR%\system32\spool\PRINTERS, then select Start in Services with the startup type on Automatic.
3. Mac: open Print Center, delete jobs marked with an error and click Resume if the queue is paused.

Make sure you are printing to the right printer

Windows 10 and 11 can change the default printer on their own, picking the last one you used. In Printers & scanners, turn off Let Windows manage my default printer, select your printer and choose Set as default.

If the printer appears twice, for example once by name and once as "Copy 1", one of those entries usually points at an old connection. Print to the one marked Idle or Ready and remove the other. On a Mac, check the Printer menu at the top of the print window. Canon gives the same advice for both systems: choose the entry with your model's own driver, not another printer's.

Install the right driver

Since July 2026, Windows 11 sets up new printers that support it with Microsoft's IPP Class Driver, which Microsoft calls Windows Ready Print. That driver prints normally, but it may hide extras such as duplex options, ink levels or a color setting the maker's driver would show. A wrong or damaged driver can also send pages of symbols, a few lines of code or nothing at all.

1. Open Printer properties, then the Advanced tab, to see which driver is in use.
2. Download the full software package for your exact model from the maker's support site and install it. If Windows still picks its own driver, turn off Default install printers using Windows Ready Print in Printers & scanners, which needs an administrator account, and add the printer again.
3. If the old driver keeps coming back, remove the printer, open Print server properties from the Related settings at the bottom of Printers & scanners, and on the Drivers tab remove the driver package before adding the printer again.

On a Mac, when one printer misbehaves with every app, select it in System Settings, Printers & Scanners, click Options & Supplies and turn on Use Generic Printer Features. Apple suggests this when the maker's add-ons to the print window cause trouble.

Printer not printing in color

When the black text prints but color comes out gray or missing, work through these:

• A grayscale setting. Chrome's print window has a Color option that can be set to black and white, Adobe Acrobat has a Print in grayscale box, and the Mac print window has a Black & White box. In Windows, open Printing preferences and look for Grayscale, Black ink only or Color/Mono, and set it to color. The setting can be saved as the default, so it returns for every job.
• A driver with no color. Print the Windows test page from Printer properties. If it lists Color Support: No on a color printer, reinstall the maker's driver.
• One color cartridge empty or blocked. Print a nozzle check pattern. A row that is broken or missing shows which color is blocked. Run one head cleaning and print the check again, up to three rounds.
• Colors print but look wrong. A pink tint means cyan is weak, green means magenta is weak, and a blue tint means yellow is. The color test page shows each ink on its own so you can spot the weak one.

On a color laser printer, check each toner level in the printer's menu. Some models stop color jobs when one toner runs out and offer to print in black only.

Printer not printing black

If color works but black text is missing or faint, the black cartridge or its nozzles are the problem, even when the level shows full.

1. Reseat the black cartridge. Wipe its copper contacts with a lint-free cloth lightly dampened with distilled water, let them dry and click it back in.
2. Print a nozzle check and look at the black row. The large black cartridge on many Canon and Epson printers holds pigment ink for crisp text, and it dries in the nozzles faster than color ink when the printer sits unused.
3. Run one head cleaning, wait a few minutes and print the check again. Stop after three rounds, switch the printer off with its power button and try once more the next day.
4. On HP and Canon models where the print head is part of the cartridge, a new black cartridge brings a new head, which is the quickest fix.

The black printer test page uses black only, so it shows faint or broken black without wasting color ink. On a laser printer, faint black usually means low toner or a worn drum.

It will not print on both sides

If Print on both sides is missing or ignored, the driver may not know the printer has a duplex unit. In Printer properties, open Device Settings and set the duplex unit to Installed if your driver lists it. Printers without automatic duplex print one side, then ask you to flip the stack. Installing the maker's driver in place of a generic one usually brings the option back.

Not printing from a phone or one app

• iPhone and iPad: the printer must support AirPrint and share the same Wi-Fi network. A waiting job shows as Print Center in the App Switcher, where you can cancel it and try again.
• Android: search Settings for Printing and turn on the Default Print Service or your printer maker's plugin, then pick the printer at the top of the print preview.
• Only one app fails: print from another app. If a PDF fails in Adobe Acrobat Reader, select Advanced in the print window and choose Print As Image. Very large photo or graphics files can take minutes to start.

When it is a hardware fault

When the printer cannot print its own report or nozzle check after the steps above, the fault is inside the printer. Common ones are a print head that stays blocked after several rounds of cleaning and an overnight rest, paper that will not feed because the pickup rollers are worn or dirty, and on laser printers a failing drum or fuser. Wipe the rollers with a lint-free cloth lightly dampened with water before deciding the printer has failed. For streaks and gaps, the epson printer test page and canon printer test page guides explain how to read each brand's own nozzle check.

Check the warranty with the serial number from the status report. Most home printers have one year of cover. Keep the dated test pages, since they show the fault clearly to support staff. If a print head or fuser repair costs more than about half the price of a comparable new printer, replacing the printer is usually better value. Sheets that feed through completely empty have their own causes, covered in printer printing blank pages but has ink.

Printer not printing questions