Welcome back, in today’s video I’ll be covering many possible solutions to fix a
printer not working or printer problems in Windows 10. A problem with a printer could
be caused by a number of reasons, hopefully today’s video will help. Remember to leave
a like if the video helped and feel free to subscribe too it really helps me out. Let’s
get into the first method to fix the problem. We’ll be looking at three different types
of problems, printer not detected, printer detected but not working and printer offline.
Feel free to try all of the solutions for all the types of problems to increase your
chances of fixing it. This video is primarily aimed at those of you with personally owned
printers, so if yours in on a network, it’s probably best to contact the network manager.
Let’s move on to some general solutions first.
The first few possible solutions will focus on the printer itself. It’s worth turning
it off and then unplugging your printer’s power connector now and then after 10 to 15
seconds, plug it back in and turn it on. Simply turning it off and on again could solve some
minor issues. Of course, only unplug it when it’s not in use.
If you think the problem is with the mechanical elements of the printer or the ink cartridges,
I would recommend you read the manual or contact the manufacturer as they would be better placed
to suggest things to do in this instance. The next thing to look at is the connections
and the ports. If your printer uses USB, try using it on another port, perhaps at the back
of your desktop computer if you have one. It’s possible that your printer may be USB
two rather than three, and this could cause compatibility problems. Try a few ports before
moving on. Also, check that the ports and the wires are in good condition. If there
are any faults, or broken connectors then you may need to replace them. If your printer
is wireless, ensure it is in range and also revert to the manual for the correct connection
process as this will differ depending on the manufacturer. Also, if you are using a wireless
printer, try using the wire if you have one as this might fix any problems with the wireless
connection. Now that we’ve reset and checked the printer
and its connections, let’s look at some of the possible solutions we can try within
Windows 10. We’ll first check to see if Windows is detecting your printer, checking
this will allow us to determine whether the problem is with the connections, the printer
itself or if its software related. To check, first go to the control panel. You can get
there by searching for it in the search bar. In the control panel, click on where it says
“view devices and printers” which is the link in blue under the hardware and sound
heading. You should see your printer in the printer section, it will be likely be named
as the manufacturer and then the model number. If you don’t see your printer, then the
problem is likely to do with the connection, so check again. It’s also worth trying your
printer on another PC if you can, to rule out connection problems.
If your printer still isn’t showing up on this screen, there are a few things that we
can try. If you do see your printer here, then you can use the chapters to skip ahead
to the fixes for when Windows is detecting it. However, you could try some of these fixes
just in case. It’s worth mentioning that your printer may be disguised as another device
with a generic USB name for example in here. If that is the case, continue with the video
and try all of the possible solutions. Let’s move on to the few quick fixes if your printer
is not being detected. The first thing to try is to check your printer’s
manual to see if there’s any buttons to press. Some printers may require you to press
a certain button in order to allow it to be detected by Windows.
Next, if using a wired printer, try cleaning the ports of both the connector cable and
on your PC and printer. If you can, try another cable and also make sure that you are fully
inserting the cables into the ports. The next thing I recommend trying is deleting
the printer software if you have it, you should be able to uninstall it by going to the settings
page, then to apps and then it should be somewhere on the list. Delete or uninstall any software
that you have for the printer and then try a fresh install of it from the manufacturer’s
website. Finally, I’ll leave a link to an article
that focuses on a specific bug within Windows on the most recent update, so check that out
if this issue has just occurred in a recent update. If you are sure this issue is caused
by the recent update, you can uninstall that update. Click the card onscreen now for a
video showing you how to uninstall an update but please only do this if you are one-hundred
percent certain the update caused the printer issue.
If your printer still isn’t being detected, it might be worth contacting the manufacturer,
however you could continue with the video as some of the fixes might cover the issue
you’re having. It will make sense which fixes you are able to try, although you may
not see your printer’s name as it might show up as an unrecognised device but treat
it as if it was the printer. If your printer is detected by Windows 10,
but isn’t working, we’ll now move on to fixing that. Firstly, we’re going to use
the built in troubleshoot feature in Windows 10. Windows will automatically try and fix
printer problems. To run the troubleshooter. Go back to the devices and printers section
in the control panel using the method we covered earlier. Now find your printer in the printers
section and right click on it. Now select troubleshoot and allow Windows to check for
and fix any problems it finds. If Windows returns a problem but can’t fix it itself,
research this specific problem online for a fix. However, we might fix it in the rest
of this video, so stick around just in case. If you don’t have a printer to troubleshoot,
go to the main settings page by clicking the cog icon within the start menu. Then choose
devices, and then printers from the options on the left. Click on the “run the troubleshooter”
link on the right side of this page. We’ll now try uninstalling and reinstalling
the printer. You can do this one even if your printer is not currently being detected properly.
To do this, go back to the devices and printers section in the control panel and find your
printer, or what you think your printer is if it isn’t being detected properly. Right
click on it and select remove device. You will need admin privileges to do this. Now
reconnect your printer to your PC and Windows should automatically reinstall it. If it doesn’t
reinstall automatically, try restarting Windows. The next method we’re going to try is to
update our device drivers. We’ll first let Windows automatically search for driver updates.
Again, this can be done in the control panel, if you’re still on that screen. This time
right click on your printer and select properties. Look for a tab called driver and click on
it. If you don’t see the driver tab, go to hardware and then double click on your
printer from the list of devices on this screen. You should now see the driver tab so click
on that. If you think a recent driver update may have caused it then you can select roll
back driver and follow the steps. Whether or not a recent driver update caused the problem,
it’s worth checking for driver updates, so this time click on update driver and then
choose the automatic option. Allow Windows to search for and install any driver updates
if it finds them. If Windows wasn’t able to find any driver updates, I would now recommend
looking for them on the manufacturer’s website. Search your printer manufacturer such as HP
and navigate to the drivers section on the website. Search for your specific model and
then download and install the driver updates from there. Just ensure you are downloading
them from the official website. We’re now going to try resetting and clearing
the print spooler. This is done within Windows and first you want to go to services. You
can get there by searching for services in the search bar. In the new window, go to the
standard tab. This option is at the bottom. In the standard tab, find the service called
print spooler and double click on it. Now click stop. Leave this window open, but now
type the following in the search bar: “%WINDIR%\system32\spool\printers” and then hit enter. I’ll put this in the
description if you want to check it or copy and paste it. You should be in the printers
folder, if the text hasn’t worked in the search bar then just follow the file path
at the top of the window on my screen to get here. Delete the contents in this folder and
you will need admin privileges to do this. Now go back to services and the double click
on print spooler to open up the window again. Choose start and make sure it is set to automatic
in the start-up type drop down box. The next possible solution will be to set
the printer as default. To do this, go to the main settings page by clicking the cog
icon within the start menu. Then choose devices, and then printers from the options on the
left. Now click on your printer and then select open queue. Now click printer in the new window
and select set as default. Stay in here for the next method.
The final solution I have is to clear the print queue, select any documents in here
and remove them to clear the print queue. And so those are all the methods I have, if
you haven’t already, try restarting your PC now to check if that fixes it. Also, if
you still have no luck, I would recommend contacting the manufacturer or search your
specific make and model of printer to see if there are any problems with that exact
device. Also click on the card now to watch my video showing you ten easy things you can
do now to speed up your Windows 10 PC. I really hope I was able to help you today, remember
to leave a like and feel free to subscribe if the video helped. Thanks so much for watching
and I will see you in another video!