Fix Error Printing in Windows 10

If you are in an office environment or an educational institution, then you must know how important printers are! In these places, printers help you take hard copies of documents and files as needed. This printing process is not very easy as you think. For a smooth printing process, the printing and spooling service must run on your Windows 10 PC. The printing spooling service will add the paper to the printing queue. And, the connected printer will take up the task and complete the process by printing the content on paper. This data is transferred to print by a USB cable, Ethernet, or Wi-Fi connection. When your printer, does not print paper, you will end up with an error printing Windows 10 message. If you are struggling with how to proceed with this printing error message on your Windows 10 PC, this guide will shed some light on it. So, continue reading!

Fix Error Printing in Windows 10

How to Fix Error Printing in Windows 10

The Error Printing message is generally caused by a loose connection or outdated printer drivers. When this dialogue box appears on your screen, it could be accompanied by an error code for reference or no code. Make sure to not confuse this issue with the Missing or Damaged ink cartridge errors.  These are the different steps that you can use on your Windows 10 computer to solve the Error Printing message errors. 

What Causes Error Printing Message?

We have listed the possible reasons that may cause the said error message in your PC.

  • Windows 10 network printer error
  • Windows cannot connect to the printer
  • Status error printing
  • Printer in error state
  • Error printing wireless printer
  • Printer error 0x00000709 in Windows 10
  • Error printing HP/Brother/Canon/Epson
  • Error printing Windows 10/11/7
  • Printing issues with Windows 10 update
  • Error printing PDF Windows 10
  • Error printing restarting Windows 10

What Causes Printer Status Error Printing on Windows 10?

Here are some indispensable reasons that cause error printing message on your Windows 10 PC. Read them carefully to find which one troubles you.

  • Printer is not turned on
  • Printer is not connected to your computer
  • The Wi-Fi or USB connection is not set properly
  • A loose connection or outdated USB drivers also causes trouble
  • Few essential services are not running on your PC

Here are some amazing hacks that will help you fix error printing message. But, before following the below-mentioned methods, reboot your Windows 10 PC to resolve any temporary glitches associated with the device. If you did not attain any fix for the issue after rebooting your computer, follow the below-mentioned methods.

Method 1: Troubleshoot Hardware Issues

Paper and ink are two essential components in the printing process. You have to place the paper on the tray and this will be pulled out of the device. Once the paper is printed, it will be again pulled out of the device. If any of these factors do not meet, then you will face the discussed problem.

  • If there is any damage to the paper tray, the device will fail to pull the paper, and result in an error printing Windows 10 message. Check if the paper tray is empty and broken. Replace the paper tray if broken.
  • If you find the tray is knocked out of its position, you can fix this easily by placing the paper tray in proper position. On the other hand, if the tray is broken, seek professional help to repair it.

printer

Method 2: Troubleshoot Printer Connection

When you face printer status error printing error, the device wants to tell users that there is something wrong with the communication established between the printer and the system through the USB cable or network connection. To solve printer status error Windows 10 issue ensure whether the following steps are satisfied or not.

1. To restart your printer, switch off the power supply of the printer & then switch it ON again.

2. Now again check the connection of your printer.

3. If you have connected your printer using a USB cable, make sure your cable is working properly and the connections to the ports are fitted tight. You could also switch the USB port to see if this resolves the problem.

4. If you have connected your printer through wired networks, check whether the connection to your cable is properly done or not. Also, you can check whether the signal to your printer is flashing or not.

5. If the connection of your system with the printer is made through a wireless network, make sure your printer is connected to your computer network & the wireless icon will lit-up to show that you are connected.

select standard setup in Wireless LAN setup menu

Also Read: Windows Cannot Connect to the Printer [SOLVED]

Method 3: Run Printer Troubleshooter

The easiest and quickest way to solve any problem with a device or a feature is to run the troubleshooter associated with it. Windows 10 includes a troubleshooter tool for a wide variety of issues, and printer problems are also one of them. The printer troubleshooter automatically performs several actions like restarting the print spooler service, clearing corrupt spooler files, checking whether the existing printer drivers are outdated or corrupt, etc.

1. Press Windows + I keys to open Settings.

2. Now, click on Update & Security.

Now, select Update & Security.

3. Switch to the Troubleshoot settings page by clicking on the same from the left-hand panel.

4. Select Printer under the Get up and running menu and follow the on-screen instructions to run the printer troubleshooter.

run the troubleshooter for Printer

Check if you have fixed error printing Windows 10 issue.

Method 4: Verify Printer Port Settings

Few users have suggested that printer status error Windows 10 can be resolved by tweaking some printer port settings as instructed below.

1. Hit the Windows key and type Control panel. Then, click on Open.

open Control panel

2. Set View by > Category, then click on the View devices and printers option.

click on the View devices and printers. Fix Error Printing in Windows 10

3. Now, right-click on your printer and select Properties.

right click on your printer and select Properties.

4. Switch to the Ports tab and find the port to which your device is connected.

5. Then, click the checkbox that hosts the USB pin of the printer.

6. Save the changes by clicking Apply and OK.

Note: It is also quite possible that your printer is working just fine, but you have been sending the print request to the wrong printer. This might be the case if there are multiple printers installed on your computers. Set the one you are trying to use as the default printer to resolve the issue. Hence, right-click on your printer and select Set as default printer.

select Set as default printer. Fix Error Printing in Windows 10

Also Read: Fix Printer Driver is unavailable on Windows 10

Method 5: Disable Print Spooler Service

A print spooler is a mediating file/tool that coordinates between your computer and the printer. The spooler manages all the print jobs you send to the printer and lets you delete a print job that is still being processed. Problems might be encountered if the Print Spooler service is corrupted or if the temporary files of the spooler become corrupt. Restarting the service and deleting these temporary files should help in fixing error printing Windows 10 problems on your computer.

1. Before we delete the print spooler files, we will need to halt the Print Spooler service that constantly runs in the background. To do so, hit the Windows key and type Services. Then, click on Open.

open Services

2. Scan the list of Local Services to find the Print Spooler service. Once found, right-click on the Print Spooler service and select Properties from the context menu (or double-click on a service to access its Properties)

Right click on the Print Spooler service and select Properties. Fix Error Printing in Windows 10

3. Click on the Stop button to stop the service.

Note: Minimize the Services window instead of closing as we will need to restart the service after deleting the temporary files.

Click on the Stop button to halt the service

4. Now, open up the Windows File Explorer by hitting the Windows + E keys together and navigate to the following path

C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\printers

Note: You can also launch the run command box, type %WINDIR%\system32\spool\printers command and hit Enter key to reach the required destination directly.

Type WINDIR system32 spool printers in command box and press OK

5. Press Ctrl + A keys simultaneously to select all the files in the printers folder and hit the delete key on your keyboard to delete them.

6. Maximize/switch back to the Services application window and click on the Start button to restart the Print Spooler service.

Click on the Start button to restart the Print Spooler service

You should now be able to fix printer status error printing message and be able to print your documents without any issues.

Method 6: Change Print Spooler Service Recovery Options

Any incorrect recovery settings configuration of the print spooler service may also cause printer status error printing with your device. Therefore, you need to make sure that recovery settings are correct otherwise Printer spooler will not start automatically.

1. Open the Services window as you did in the previous method.

2. Locate Print Spooler then right-click on it and select Properties.

Right click on the Print Spooler service and select Properties

3. Switch to the Recovery tab and ensure that three failure tabs are set to Restart the Service.

Switch to the Recovery tab and ensure that three failure tabs are set to Restart the Service. Fix Error Printing in Windows 10

4. Click Apply followed by OK to save the settings. Now see if you’re able to fix printer status error Windows 10.

Also Read: How to Get Your Printer Back Online in Windows 10

Method 7: Update Printer Drivers

Every computer peripheral has a set of software files associated with it to communicate with your computer and the OS effectively. These files are known as device drivers. These drivers are unique for each device and manufacturer. Also, it is important to have the correct set of drivers installed to use an external device without facing any issues. Drivers are also constantly updated to stay compatible with the new Windows versions. If your drivers are not updated to their latest versions, update them by following our guide How to Update Device Drivers on Windows 10.

Right click on the problematic printer and select Update Driver

Method 8: Roll Back Printer Driver Updates

Sometimes, the current version of printer drivers may cause any conflicts and in this case, you have to restore previous versions of installed drivers. This process is called rollback of drivers and you can easily roll back your computer drivers to their previous state by following our guide How to Rollback Drivers on Windows 10.

Roll Back Printer Driver Updates

Wait until the previous versions of drivers are installed on your Windows 10 PC. Once done, check if you have fixed error printing Windows 10 issue.

Also Read: How to Print When You Don’t Have a Printer

Method 9: Reinstall Printer Drivers

Incompatible drivers must be reinstalled to resolve error printing message problems. You are advised to reinstall device drivers only if you cannot attain any fix by updating them. Steps to reinstall drivers are very easy and you can do so by using a third-party application or by implementing the steps manually as instructed in our guide How to Uninstall and Reinstall Drivers on Windows 10

Reinstall Printer Drivers

After reinstalling printer drivers, check if you can hear audio from Logitech speakers.

Method 10: Reinstall Printer Drivers in Compatibility mode

Few users have suggested that re-installing printer drivers in compatibility mode have helped them fix printer status error printing issue. Here are a few instructions regarding the same.

1. Click on the Windows key and type Device manager. Then, click on Open.

open Device manager

2. Expand Print queues then right-click on your Printer device and select Uninstall device.

Right click on your Printer device and select Uninstall. Fix Error Printing in Windows 10

3. If you’re prompted to confirm then again click on the Uninstall button.

4. Now go to your printer driver download webpage (e.g. HP) and download the latest drivers for your printer.

5. Right-click on the setup file and select Properties.

Right click on the printer setup file and select Properties

Note: If the drivers are in a zip file make sure to extract all the files and then right-click on the .exe file.

6. Switch to the Compatibility Tab and click on Run this program in Compatibility mode.

7. From the drop-down select Windows 7 or 8 and then click on Run this program as an administrator.

Run this program in Compatibility mode and Run this program as an administrator

8. Finally, double-click on the setup file and wait for the drivers to be installed on your device.

9. Once finished, reboot the PC and see if you can fix printer status error Windows 10 issue.

Method 11: Update Windows

Also, if there are any bugs in your PC, they can only be fixed after a Windows update. Microsoft releases regular updates to fix all these bugs thereby fixing error printing Windows 10 issue. Hence, ensure if you have updated your Windows Operating System and if any updates are pending in action, use our guide How to Download and Install Windows 10 Latest Update

Update Windows

After updating your Windows Operating System, check whether printer status error Windows 10 issue is resolved.

Also Read: Windows Cannot Connect to the Printer [SOLVED]

Method 12: Reconnect Printer

If all these steps do not work to fix printer status error Windows 10, you might need to completely uninstall the existing drivers and the printer and then reinstall them. The process of doing the same is simple but rather lengthy but this seems to fix error printing message on your Windows PC. Anyway, below are the steps to remove and add your printer back.

1. Open the Settings application by pressing the Windows + I keys together and select Devices as shown.

Click on the Devices setting

2. Move to the Printers & scanners settings in the left pane.

3. Find the problematic printer in the right-side panel and single click on it to access its options. Select Remove Device, let the process complete, and then close Settings.

Select Remove Device and then close Settings. Fix Error Printing in Windows 10

4. Type Print Management in the Windows search bar and click Open to launch the application.

Type Print Management in the Windows search bar

5. Double-click on All Printers (in the left panel or right panel, both are fine) and press Ctrl + A to select all connected printers.

Double click on All Printers

6. Right-click over any printer and select Delete.

Right click over any printer and select Delete. Fix Error Printing in Windows 10

7. Now, it is time to add the printer back, but first, unplug the printer cable from your computer and perform a restart. Once the computer boots back on, properly reconnect the printer.

8. Follow the above steps 1 and 2 to open the Printer & Scanner settings.

9. Click on the Add a printer & scanner button at the top of the window.

Click on the Add a printer scanner button

10. Windows will now automatically start looking for any connected printers. If Windows successfully detects the connected printer, click on its entry in the search list and select Add device to add it back otherwise, click on The printer that I want isn’t listed hyperlink.

click on The printer that I want is not listed hyperlink. Fix Error Printing in Windows 10

11. In the following window, select the appropriate option by clicking on its radio button (For example, select My printer is a little older. Help me find it if your printer doesn’t use USB for connection or select Add a Bluetooth, wireless, or network discoverable printer to add a wireless printer) and click on Next.

Select My printer is a little older and click on Next

12. Follow the on-screen instructions to reinstall your printer.

add a printer or scanner. Fix Error Printing in Windows 10

Now that you have successfully reinstalled your printer, try printing a test page to ensure everything is right back on track.

1. Open up Windows Settings and click on Devices.

2. On the Printers and Scanners page, click on the printer you just added back and would like to test, followed by a click on the Manage button.

click on the Manage button. Fix Error Printing in Windows 10

3. Finally, click on the Print a test page option. Muffle your ears & listen carefully for the sound of your printer printing a page and rejoice.

click on the Print a test page option

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We hope that this guide was helpful and you could fix error printing in Windows 10. Let us know which method worked for you the best. Also, if you have any queries/suggestions regarding this article, then feel free to drop them in the comments section.

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