Hello everybody!
In today’s video, I’m going to tell you what to do if a Windows 10 computer can’t
see a network printer or a printer connected directly to this computer.
Quite often, after updating Windows 10 users face the problem of their computer being unable
to recognize the printer.
In most cases, the root of this problem is either a system failure or driver failure.
In this video, we will try to analyze all possible causes of why a Windows 10 computer
cannot detect its printer.
So, let’s begin.
There are many things that may cause this problem - corrupt drivers (or wrong drivers
because their bitness if different from that of the operating system), or some network
components which are disabled by default in Windows 10.
Check the USB port and cable For starters, it makes sense to check if the
USB cable and port you are using are in good working condition.
You might have pulled the cable accidentally, so now the cable is damaged or the connection
with the USB port is poor.
Make sure that one end of the cable is plugged tight into the printer, and the other end
- into the USB port of your computer.
Try plugging the cable into another USB port.
The next step is to examine the printer: is it powered on? does it have enough ink? and
so on.
If anything like that did happen, fix it and check the cable connection again.
If nothing changed, but the cable and the port are all right, you should look for issues
in the operating system.
Search and fix issues The first thing to help you fix the problem
is the system utility, with the obvious name “Troubleshoot.”
It will search automatically for any issues and try to fix them.
To start it, go to Settings / Update and Security / Troubleshoot.
Here, click on the printer symbol and run the utility.
Wait a bit until it completes the search and fixes the problems it can find.
Meanwhile, you may have to specify the device which is not working properly or confirm that
is is not listed at all.
When the search is over, the utility will display a report and suggest how to fix your
problem.
In most cases, the built-in troubleshooter can help you solve basic problems and even
some of possible system failures.
Add a printer Alternatively, you can try and add the printer
manually.
Usually, the operating system downloads all components required for the work of certain
devices from an official website.
To add a printer, open Settings / Devices / Printers & scanners.
Here, click “Add a printer or scanner”: usually, the operating system can detect a
device automatically, but if it didn’t happen, just click “The printer that I want isn’t
listed.”
Now check the shared printer by name or any other variant you prefer, type the device
name and click “Next.”
If you are using a network printer, then select either the TCP / IP option or the last option
on the list.
In the case with the network printer, specify its IP address, that is, The IP address of
the computer to which the printer is connected.
Find and install drivers If the printer still doesn't get detected
after all these steps, try installing the drivers manually.
Go to the official website of your printer’s manufacturer and find available drivers for
your device in the ‘Support” section.
It’s good if you can find drivers for Windows 10, But if there is no latest version, you
can also try the drivers initially created for Windows 7 or 8.
Download them to your computer.
Before you start the installation, I recommend visiting the Control Panel / Devices and Printers
and check if your printer is displayed there (that is, the system can recognize it, but
it doesn’t work), right-click on it and remove from the system.
Only after that, run the driver installer.
Sometimes, a driver is available but the operating system cannot install it automatically.
If that’s your case, this is what you should do:
Check the Device Manager for any new USB devices that require drivers to be installed.
You can usually spot them by the yellow exclamatory mark next to the device name.
Right-click on the “Start” button and select “Device Manager,”
To see if there are any USB devices with such symbol.
Extract the driver package to a convenient directory.
Right-click on the USB device with the warning symbol, and update the driver.
Specify “Browse my computer for driver software,” And give the path to the folder containing
the extracted drivers.
Otherwise, you can try automatic search.
Sometimes, users have difficulties even with finding a proper driver.
To download the one you need, go to the website of your device manufacturer, and check the
corresponding page to find the driver for a specific printer model.
Soon, you will see the search results, and there are high chances You will find what
you need.
Download and install the driver.
Another way is to find the driver by device ID.
To do it, click on the printer in the Device Manager and select “Properties,” then
open “Details” tab and choose “Hardware Ids” Search this information on the Internet.
In case with a network printer, one of the not-so-obvious causes behind the problem could
be the difference in driver bitness, When a shared network printer is used with
computers that run operating systems of different bitness: for example, the main computer has
Windows 10 64-bit, while the other - Windows 10 32-bit or even Windows 7 32-bit.
To solve this problem, install drivers for 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems to both
computers.
Network printer issues If you encounter network printer issues, enable
detection for the shared printer.
Shared access settings Most often it happens because of the wrongly
configured shared access settings.
Open Settings / Devices / Printers & Scanners.
Select the printer you want to share and click on “Manage.”
Choose “Printer properties” and switch to the tab “Sharing.”
Check the box “Share this printer.”
You can rename this shared printer, if necessary.
The new name will be used for accessing the printer from another computer within the network
(let’s say it’s a client computer).
Now add the printer on the client computer.
A little earlier in this video, you could see how to do it.
Firewall setup If the shared access settings are configured
properly but you still experience network printer issues, there might be a problem with
the firewall settings.
The point is that this security component has been made more robust in Windows 10, so
it both adds more safety and more issues.
There is a special video tutorial about configuring or disabling the firewall in Windows 10, so
you can watch it if you follow the link in the description.
One more thing about Windows 10 version 1709: because of a system error, computers having
4 Gb of system memory or less cannot detect network printers.
The best solution would be updating your Windows to the latest version, but if it is impossible
(for any reason) you can still fix the problem with the Command Prompt.
Open the Command Prompt with administrator rights,
And type the following command: sc config fdphost type = own
Restart the computer for the changes to take effect.
This command lets the operating system detect the network printer properly and use it when
necessary.
Fix error 0x80070035 Often, problems with detecting a shared network
printer are accompanied with a warning that says “The network path was not found.”
This is quite a complicated issue and the solution is not a piece of cake: you need
to configure SMB protocol settings, shared access and disable IPv6.
To configure SMB protocol, open the Control Panel / Programs and Features / Turn Windows
features on or off.
In the window that opens, check the box next to “SMB/CIFS File Sharing Support.”
To enable shared access, open Settings / Network & Internet / Ethernet / Change advanced sharing
options.
Here, enable “Network discovery” and “File and printer sharing.”
To disable IPv6, select “Change adapter options,” right-click on the network, choose
“Properties,” and uncheck the box next to Internet Protocol version 6.
Fix issues with Active Directory services When a shared printer is not available, it
is often accompanied with errors in the work of Active Directory - the system utility for
shared access.
In this case, the cause of the problem lies in Active Directory rather than in the printer
itself, and Active Directory is the component to be fixed.
Check if the “Print Spooler” service is enabled.
Type “services” in the search field and start the app.
This service should be running to be able to work properly.
Set up the printer again If all these methods failed to help you, there
is the last resort: set up the printer for your server (or main) computer again, and
then configure access to the printer for all computers within your network.
Summing up, a printer in Windows 10 can be unavailable for a number of reasons, both
hardware and software-related.
However, most of them have their roots in the software components, and you don’t have
to be an expert user to get everything to work properly.
That’s all for now!
I hope you find this video useful.
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Thank you for watching.
Good luck.