Windows 10 Computer says Printer is Offline

Owned by Marc Miller
Last updated: Jun 06, 2018
4 min read

Problem

Windows 10 computer says a printer is offline. Windows 10 computer refuses to send print jobs to printers listed as "offline"

Solution

Due to multiple issues all having the same error message, one must troubleshoot from base level hardware on up. You may want to review Easy to solve printer issues before continuing. If your printer shows online to other people but constantly switches between online and offline for you, you may want to skip down to steps 3) or 4)

1) Check Printer Connection

The "printer offline" status is your printer’s way of telling you that something is wrong with the communication between your computer and your printer, via USB cable or network connection (wireless and wired). So one of the first things you check is your printer’s connection with your PC. 

  1. Power off and then power on your printer to restart it. Wait for a while for it to be fully ready. 
  2. Check your printer connection:
    1. If your printer is connected via USB cable: make sure the cable to your printer is well connected and pushed in all the way. If problem persists, make sure you’re connecting the cable to your computer via a working USB port by moving the cable to another USB port.
    2. If your printer is connected via wired network: make sure the cable to your printer is well connected to the Ethernet port, you should here a slight snap when you connect if the cable is pushed all the way in.. Then make sure the port your printer connect to on your router is working as well. Check if the network signal light on your printer is flashing. If you cable is kinked or has heavy objects on the cable, the signal may be weak or distorted.
    3. Note: Your printer could go offline if the connected cable is loose, too old, or broken, you may need to replace them if needed.
  3. If your printer is connected via wireless network: Check your printer and make sure that it’s connected to your PC network. The lit-up wireless icon on your printer usually indicates that you’re connected

2) Check Printing Status

  1. Turn your printer off and then turn it back on again. 
  2. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and I at the same time. Click Devices.
  3. Click Devices and printers.
  4. Right-click the icon with a green check-mark and click See what’s printing. If what you see here is a grey icon without the green check-mark, right-click the icon and click Set as Default Printer
  5. Click Printer. If you can see a tick next to the option Pause printing, click click to remove the tick.

3) Restart the Computer Restart and/or Restart the Print Spooler Service

  1. Sometimes the only issue is that the computer has frozen up or using too much memory and cannot process the job. Restart the computer is a quick fix that will resolve many issue.
  2. If restart the computer does not work, you may want to try to restart the print Spooler Service. Microsoft has step by step instructions available.

4) Update Printer Driver

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and I at the same time. Click Devices. 
  2. Click Devices and printers. 
  3. Right-click your printer and click Remove Device.

  4. You can update your printer driver manually by going to the manufacturer’s website for said printer, and searching for the most recent correct driver. Be sure to choose only driver that is compatible with your variant of Windows 10.

  5. If no driver exits for windows 10 because the printer is too old, try searching for a similar but newer model. E.G. Ricoh Afficio 6001 instead of Ricoh Afficio 6000.

Warning: If your printer is too old to support Windows 10, it is likely no longer receiving security updates and likely insecure. Do not print anything you want to keep private on this printer. Replacing older printers is recommended.

5) Add a Second Printer and Configure Manually

NOTE: This method only works when your printer is connected via network instead of USB cable or wireless. 

If none of the above methods work, you can still set a manual IP address for your printer and add a port on your PC for them to match.

You will very likely have to do this if the printer is old enough that it does not have a Windows 10 specific driver.

You need to have an IP address for your printer. You can usually find it inside the printer's configuration information page.

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and I at the same time. Click Devices.
  2. Click Devices and printers. Then click Manage
  3. Right-click your printer and select Printer properties.

  4. Click the Ports tab, then Add Port.
  5. Select Standard TCP/IP Port, then click New Port.
  6. Click Next.
  7. Type in the printer’s IP address. Click Next.
  8. You will then manually choose the driver to use. If no driver is present for your printer model, go to the manufacturer's website, download and install the driver and repeat this step.
  9. When it asks "do you want to share this printer" click NO
  10. Click finished, you may want to print a test page.
  11. If the printer initially shows "online" but within a minute changes to "offline" with no change in printers status such as going to sleep, you may be dealing with a communication protocol issue.
  12. Windows 10 expects to be able to constantly talk to printers via SNMP. If the printer is old enough, it will use protocols which are old and insecure and disabled by default on Windows 10. By disabling the SNMP port for a printer, you are telling your computer, do not try to constantly talk to this printer. just print.
  13. Repeat Steps 1) to 3), Instead of adding a new port, you will want to Configure Existing Port
  14. Search for the checkbox next to SNMP. Remove the check and click ok.