Printer Offline

Why is my printer offline when it is switched on and ready? Because "printer offline" means your computer asked the printer for its status and got no reply. The printer is usually fine. The computer is looking for it at an old IP address, on a different network or through a port that stopped answering, or a single stuck job has frozen the queue. The fastest fix is to restart the printer, the router and the computer, then clear the queue. To confirm where the fault sits, print the printer's own network report from its control panel, then send the printer test page from your computer. If the report prints but the test page never arrives, the fault is in the connection or the computer, and the fixes below cover it for Windows 11, Windows 10 and Mac.

Quick checks

• Look at the printer's screen or lights. A paper jam, an open cover or an empty cartridge can make Windows report the printer as offline or in an error state. Clear the error first.
• Restart in order. Turn the printer off and unplug it for 30 seconds, restart the router, then restart the computer. This clears stuck connections on all three.
• Check the network name. The computer and the printer must be on the same Wi-Fi network. A guest network, a VPN on the computer or a range extender with its own network name all keep them apart. On HP printers, do not join the network called DIRECT-xx: that is the printer's own direct link, not your home Wi-Fi.
• USB printers: plug the cable straight into the computer, not a hub, and try another port and cable. HP recommends a cable no longer than 3 m.

Turn off Use Printer Offline and clear the queue

One failed job blocks every job behind it, and Windows sometimes switches a printer to offline mode by itself after a job fails.

Windows 11:

1. Open Settings, Bluetooth & devices, Printers & scanners and select the printer.
2. Select Open print queue, then the ... menu, then Cancel all.
3. To reach the offline switch, press Windows + R and run rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /o /n "Printer name", using the name exactly as Settings shows it. This opens the classic queue window.
4. Open its Printer menu and untick Use Printer Offline and Pause Printing.

Windows 10: open Settings, Devices, Printers & scanners, select the printer and choose Open queue. The Printer menu has the same Use Printer Offline item.

Mac: open Print Center from Applications, then Utilities. On macOS Ventura and earlier, open the printer's queue from Printers & Scanners instead. If a Resume button shows in the toolbar, the printer is paused: click it. Delete any job marked with an error.

Restart the Print Spooler

The Print Spooler is the Windows service that hands jobs to printers. When it hangs, every printer can show offline and jobs refuse to cancel.

1. Search the taskbar for Services and open it.
2. Double-click Print Spooler and select Stop.
3. Open %WINDIR%\system32\spool\PRINTERS in File Explorer and delete the files inside. They are the stuck jobs.
4. Back in Services, select Start, set Startup type to Automatic and select OK.

Check that the printer is still on your network

Print the printer's network report from its control panel. HP calls it the Network Configuration Page, Epson the network status sheet, Brother the Network Configuration Report and Canon the LAN settings details. The HP printer test page guide lists the buttons for HP models without a screen. Read three lines on it: the connection status, the network name and the IP address.

• Not connected, or the wrong network name: the printer lost its Wi-Fi settings, often after a new router or a password change. Run the Wi-Fi setup on the printer's screen, or use the maker's app: HP Smart or the HP app, Epson Smart Panel, Canon PRINT or Brother Mobile Connect.
• Connected, but the signal is weak: move the printer closer to the router. HP suggests keeping it within 8 m, with no thick walls or metal in between.
• A mesh or dual band router: many home printers only use 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. When a router shows one network name for both bands and steers devices between them, some printers drop off. In the router's settings, give the 2.4 GHz band its own name or turn off band steering, connect the printer to that name, then switch it back if you like.

Fix an IP address that changed

This is one of the most frequent reasons a printer keeps going offline. Your router lends each device an address for a while. After a power cut or a router restart, the printer can come back with a new one, but a Standard TCP/IP port in Windows still points at the old address. Canon's own manual says a new port is needed every time the machine's IP address changes.

1. Note the printer's IP address from its network report, for example 192.168.1.37.
2. Windows 11: in Printers & scanners, select the printer, then Printer properties, then the Ports tab. Windows 10: select the printer, Manage, then Printer properties.
3. Look at the ticked port. If its name or address is an old IP, select Add Port, choose Standard TCP/IP Port and New Port, type the current IP address, then select Next and Finish.
4. Tick the new port and select Apply. Print a test page from the General tab.

Stop it happening again by reserving the address. Open your router's settings page, find the DHCP or LAN section and add an address reservation (some routers call it a static lease) for the printer, using the MAC address printed on its network report.

The makers have tools that repair the port for you. Brother's Network Connection Repair Tool is in Brother Utilities, under Tools. Canon's IJ Network Device Setup Utility diagnoses and repairs the network connection. HP's Diagnose & Fix sits behind the wrench icon in HP Smart on Windows. Epson suggests reinstalling its Drivers and Utilities Combo Package, which sets up the connection again.

WSD ports and SNMP status checks

Two Windows settings make a printer look offline even when it prints.

WSD ports. If the port name starts with WSD, Windows finds the printer by discovery instead of by address. That follows an address change, but it stops working if the discovery services are off. Open Services and set Function Discovery Provider Host and Function Discovery Resource Publication to Automatic, start both, then restart the printer. If a WSD printer still drops out every few days, switch it to a Standard TCP/IP port pointing at a reserved address, as above. That is the most stable setup for a home network.

SNMP status. On a Standard TCP/IP port, Windows asks the printer for its status using SNMP. A printer that has SNMP switched off, or uses a different community name, never answers, and Windows shows it as offline while jobs still print. In Printer properties, open Ports, select Configure Port, untick SNMP Status Enabled and select OK. You lose detailed messages such as paper out in Windows, but the status stops flipping to offline.

Remove the printer and add it again

When the port and network look right but the printer still shows offline, start over with a clean setup.

1. In Printers & scanners, select the printer and choose Remove.
2. Restart the computer.
3. Select Add device next to Add a printer or scanner (on Windows 10, Add a printer or scanner). If the printer does not appear, choose Add manually and add it by its IP address.

Since July 2026, Windows 11 sets up new printers that support it with Microsoft's IPP Class Driver, which Microsoft calls Windows Ready Print, so the printer may install without the maker's software. That is normal and prints fine. If you need features such as ink levels or scanning, install the full software package from the maker's support site afterwards. To make Windows use the maker's driver instead, an administrator can turn off Default install printers using Windows Ready Print in Printers & scanners, then remove and add the printer again.

Mac: open System Settings, Printers & Scanners, select the printer and remove it, then choose Add Printer, Scanner, or Fax. If it is not listed after a minute, add it by its IP address. As a last resort, Control-click the printer list and choose Reset Printing System, which removes every printer and its presets, then add them again.

Printer offline on HP, Canon, Epson and Brother

• HP: open HP Smart, or the newer HP app that is replacing it, and run Diagnose & Fix. On a Mac, it is in the printer menu at the top of the screen. HP retired Print and Scan Doctor in May 2025, so ignore guides that send you to it. Check for printer firmware in the app under the printer's settings, or on the control panel under Printer Maintenance or Tools.
• Canon: run IJ Network Device Setup Utility. Canon also points to firewalls: if your security software asks about Canon software, set it to always allow.
• Epson: print a nozzle check from the printer's buttons first to prove it works on its own. Then clear the Epson queue, untick Use Printer Offline and restart the router. The epson printer test page guide has the button steps for each model.
• Brother: run the Network Connection Repair Tool. You can let Brother's Status Monitor start it on its own when the printer drops, unless your office gave the printer a fixed address, since the tool can change it.

If the printer is online but jobs vanish or print wrongly, the guide on why is my printer not printing picks up from here. Sheets that come out empty are covered in printer printing blank pages. A USB printer that Windows never sees at all is a connection problem: see usb device not recognized.

When it is a hardware fault

Suspect the printer itself when its own network report says it cannot connect even next to the router, after you have restored its network settings from its menu and set up Wi-Fi again. Plug it in by USB or an Ethernet cable to confirm: if it prints that way, the Wi-Fi part of the printer has failed. A printer that drops off every few minutes with a strong signal and current firmware is also a candidate for repair.

Most home printers come with a one year warranty. Enter the serial number from the status report on the maker's support site to check yours, and keep the dated reports you printed as evidence. A fair rule of thumb: if a repair costs more than half the price of a comparable new printer, replacing it is usually the better choice. Once it works again, print a test page from the computer, as in how to print a test page windows 11, to confirm the whole path from computer to paper.

Printer offline questions