Technology is weird sometimes. I can control my thermostat with my voice, but somehow printers feel just as confusing and unreliable as they were 10 years ago. If your printer is throwing you an error (or just ignoring your demands entirely), here’s how to troubleshoot the problem so you can get back to work.
Check Your Printer’s Error Lights
Frustrating as they can be, printers do sometimes tell you what the problem is so you can avoid trial-and-erroring your way through the troubleshooting process. Your printer may be showing an error message through a series of cryptic flashing, colored lights on the printer itself.
It isn’t always clear which lights mean what, though, so you may need to check the manual to decode what your printer is saying. If you lost the manual, you can usually download a PDF copy from the manufacturer’s support page for your printer.
Once you’ve figured out the error—e.g., printer jam or no ink—jump down to the corresponding section of this guide to diagnose it further. (If your printer isn’t showing an error, keep reading.)
Clear the Printer Queue
Sometimes, your computer’s print queue can get jammed up with old documents that failed to print for one reason or another, holding up the document you need right now.
Right-click on the printer icon in Windows’ notification area, then choose Open All Printers to see a list of currently queued items. In macOS, you can see the queue from System Preferences > Printers & Scanners > Open Print Queue. Right-click any old items and clear them to get things chugging again.
Alternatively, in Windows, you can restart the print spooler, which will try to print those documents as if they were just added to the queue (so you don’t have to clear them).
There are a few ways to do this, but the easiest is probably from the Command Prompt. Open the Start menu, search for “Command Prompt,” right-click the option that appears, and choose Run As Administrator. Then paste in the following commands, pressing Enter after each one:
net stop spoolerdel %systemroot%System32spoolPRINTERS* /Q /F /Snet start spooler
With any luck, this will bring your printer back to life and you’ll get the document you’ve been waiting for.
Solidify the Connection
This may sound silly, but if I had a nickel for every hour I’ve wasted troubleshooting something that wasn’t plugged in, I’d be halfway to buying a Snickers bar. Ensure the USB cable is plugged in snugly at both ends, and that the power cable is plugged into the wall. You never know when someone unplugged it to charge their phone without telling you.
If you’re trying to print over Wi-Fi, try plugging your computer in via USB. If that works, you know the problem exists with the Wi-Fi connection and can focus your effort there.
Is your printer getting a good enough signal? See if the printer shows up in your router’s network list, or try moving the printer closer to the router to see if it’s just out of range. No joke, my father-in-law’s printer doesn’t work unless all the upstairs doors are open, because they impede the already-weak Wi-Fi signal.
Ensure You Have the Right Printer
Again, this may seem basic, but are you sure you’ve directed the document to the correct printer? If you’ve used your computer with multiple printers—say, if you go back and forth between your home and office, or if you just got a new printer at home—Windows may be trying to send documents to the wrong printer.
Try printing the document again, and be sure to choose File > Print from the menu rather than using a shortcut. Then, pay close attention to the options that appear—if the drop-down menu shows a different printer than the one you want, click it to select the correct printer before continuing. In some programs, like Google Chrome, you may even need to click See More for a full list of connected printers.
Install the Drivers and Software
When you plug a printer into your PC, Windows will usually grab the necessary drivers for you. But in rare cases, you may need to head to the printer manufacturer’s website, look up the support page for your model, and download the driver or software package manually—so if you haven’t done so, try that now.
Add Printer
If you’re using your printer over Wi-Fi, you may need to add it to Windows’ list of available printers before Windows will offer it as an option. In Windows 10, head to Settings > Devices > Printers & Scanners and click the Add a Printer or Scanner button. If you’re still using Windows 7 (you shouldn’t be), this is under Control Panel > Devices and Printers.
On a Mac, go to System Preferences > Printers & Scanners and click the plus sign. Your PC should search for printers on the network, and when it finds the one you’re looking for, click on it to add the printer to your list. Now, you should be able to print a document.
Check that Paper Is Installed (Not Jammed)
I’m going to guess you’ve already ensured paper is in the tray, but just in case: put paper in the tray. Sometimes, though, printers are finicky—there may be paper loaded, but if the printer can’t grab hold, it’s going to think it’s empty. Try removing the paper tray, re-aligning the paper, and sliding it back in.
In other instances, there may be some paper jammed in the mechanism. Usually your printer will tell you so, and you just need to open the access panel and pull the crumpled paper out. (Again, you may need to refer to your manual if you aren’t sure where it opens up.)
In some cases, your printer can say there’s a paper jam even if you don’t see a sheet of paper stuck in the mechanism. When that happens, you may have smaller bits of paper or other residue stuck inside the rollers that you can’t see. This means you would have to remove some of those components to clear the problem. If you aren’t comfortable doing so, bring it into a PC repair shop for help.
Fiddle With the Ink Cartridges
If your printer tells you it’s out of ink, but you know it isn’t, there are a few things you can do. First, the print head may be clogged or dirty, and you can clean it out through your printer’s built-in cleaning routine (which you’ll find detailed in the manual).
Alternatively, if your printer’s heads lie on the ink cartridges themselves—the little copper strip where the ink comes out—you can blot it with a wet paper towel to clean it up. Once ink starts to flow more freely onto the towel, give it a quick dab with a dry paper towel before re-inserting the cartridge.
If you have a laser printer, you may be able to get a bit more toner out of the cartridge by shaking it from side to side, then re-inserting it.
It’s also possible your printer just doesn’t realize you put in new ink cartridges. If it doesn’t detect new ink automatically, there may be a setting on the printer that allows you to “reset” the fill levels. Check your printer’s manual to see how on your specific model.
Remember that certain third-party cartridges may cause problems, too, so try genuine cartridges from the printer manufacturer to see if they work better.
Run the Printer’s Self-Test
If you still can’t figure out the problem, it may help to run a few diagnostic tests. Both your printer and your computer can print test pages that may help you narrow down your issue.
You can usually run your printer’s self-test by pressing a series of buttons as the printer boots up, which you’ll find outlined in your printer’s manual. Windows’ test pages can be printed by heading to Settings > Devices > Printers & Scanners. Select your printer, then click Manage > Print a Test Page.
If your printer’s own test page comes out fine but Windows throws an error, you can be reasonably sure you have a software problem. If the printer can’t even print its own test page, then you’ll want to focus on repairing the printer rather than driver or software issues. If you’re lucky, your printer may even give you a test page with an error code or other information on it you can decipher.
