What to do if Windows can't connect to the printer

windows printer problems

If your equipment does not allow you to print, there are many reasons that may be interfering with the communication operation. Most of these problems has a very simple solution.

In this article we will show you how to solve the problem of Windows when it cannot connect to the printer. In addition, we are going to give you a series of tips to prevent this problem from recurring in the future.

Check that it is connected to the computer and turned on

AirPrint Printer

The first thing we must do, as absurd as it may seem, is check if the printer is connected to our computer through the USB port. We must also check that the printer has the cable connected. Although it is not usual, it is likely that, during our cleaning work, it could have been disconnected.

If the printer connects via Wi-Fi to our computer, we must turn on the printer and check that it is correctly connected to our router.

This type of printer use the router to connect to all devices with printing capabilities, be they computers, tablets, mobiles...

configure wireless printer

These printers show this information on the home screen through an antenna or an inverted triangle. If there is no connection, a red X will be displayed on the antenna, implying that it has not been able to connect to the router.

Si we have recently changed the router and we had not remembered the printer, the time has come to access the printer settings and associate it with the router again.

Restart the printer and the computer

Another solution, quite absurd, is restart printer. Like any operating system device, it never hurts to restart it or turn it off, wait a few seconds and turn it on again so that the computer from which we want to print that there is a device connected.

We must also restart the computer from which we want to print. Rebooting will remove any programs that were open in memory, so if one of these was causing the connection problems, the problem is fixed.

Install manufacturer software

Update drivers with HP Support Assistant

Particularly, I have never been in favor of installing the software that the manufacturer of our printer offers us.

The main reason not to do it is that Windows, on its own, is capable ofe perfectly recognize the printer and install the corresponding drivers.

In addition, it is capable of allow us to choose both the type of paper in which we want to print as the quality of the document we want to print.

However, sometimes it may stop working as it did and force us to install the manufacturer's software.

The software offered by printer manufacturers it is full of useless apps to buy cartridges, print photos, print templates...

In addition, add a number of additional steps that force us to take much longer to send the document to the printer.

If your printer doesn't want to print at all and the print document is lost on your computer, you should try install the manufacturer's software.

Purge print queue

remove print queue

Al purge print queue, we eliminate all the documents that are in queue for printing, both from our computer and from the printer without having to turn off the latter.

This process can only be done through the Windows command line, accessing through the command prompt, executing it in administrator mode.

If we do not open the command line with administrator permissions, we will not have the permits in order to delete all pending print jobs on our computer.

To access the command line, we type CMD in the search box. In the first result displayed, Command Prompt, right-click and select Execute as an administrator.

Next, we write the following lines.

  • net stop spooler
    • This command freezes all print jobs.
  • net start spooler
    • With this command, we reactivate the print queue.

Reinstall the printer

If the printer has been working fine so far, it's likely that one of the apps you've recently installed is interfering with the operation of the printer drivers.

To rule out this being the case, the best we can do is remove the printer and reinstall. To delete a printer in Windows 10, we must follow these steps:

How to delete a printer in Windows

Delete Windows printer

  • We access the Windows configuration options (we can do it through the keyboard shortcut Windows key + i).
  • Next, click on Dispositives.
  • Next, in the left column, click on Printers and scanners.
  • Now, in the right column, click on the printer and select Remove device.

How to install a printer in Windows

Install printer Windows

The first thing to do is turn on the printer and connect it to our computer through the USB port. Automatically, Windows will recognize the printer and start installing all the necessary drivers for it to work.

Yes, the company works through a WiFi connection, we must perform the steps that I show you below:

  • With the printer on, we access the Windows configuration options (Windows Key + i) and access the Devices section.
  • In the left column, click on Printers and scanners.
  • Now, we go to the column on the right, where we must click on Add printer or scanner.
  • Automatically the equipment will recognize the printer connected to our network. To install it, click on Add device.

Contact the manufacturer

If none of the methods that I have shown you in this article solve the problem that your computer is presenting with the printer, you should access the FAQ section (FAQ for its acronym in English) where you will probably find a solution.

Contact your system administrator

If you are suffering from the problem at work, you do not need to try solutions, since, most likely, the reason why the printer does not want to communicate with our PC it is due to a problem with the IP configuration of the printer, a permissions problem, a network or server problem…

As a user of a corporate network, you will not have the necessary permissions to make the necessary modifications for the printer to work properly.

The job of a system administrator is to make everything work correctly and solve any problem that have computers and devices connected to the network.


Be the first to comment

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *

*

*

  1. Responsible for the data: Miguel Ángel Gatón
  2. Purpose of the data: Control SPAM, comment management.
  3. Legitimation: Your consent
  4. Communication of the data: The data will not be communicated to third parties except by legal obligation.
  5. Data storage: Database hosted by Occentus Networks (EU)
  6. Rights: At any time you can limit, recover and delete your information.