How do I change my printer status to online? It is currently offline and will not allow me to print.

Anonymous
2010-03-25T14:58:35+00:00

I cancelled some print requests and it put my printer to status offline and I cannot figure out how to get it back to online!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2010-03-26T03:05:11+00:00

Hi Steve7878,

You may also try these:

1.       Open the Start menu and click on the "Printers and Faxes" icon. This will open a window with a list of the printers currently set up on your computer.

2.       Double-click on the icon of the printer you want to change to online. A pop-up window detailing all current print jobs will open.

3.       Go to "Printer" in the menu bar of the pop-up window and uncheck "Use Printer Offline." This action will change the printer from offline to online.

Also change the default printer by following the steps in “Change your default printer” http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/Change-your-default-printer

Diana DMicrosoft Answers Support Engineer

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-10-01T22:19:36+00:00

    does NOT work ,,,,,,,,

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-11-27T16:57:39+00:00

    Not the least bit helpful. I have windows 10 which changes EVERYTHING

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-07-20T16:51:18+00:00

    I love all these people making guesses but not identifying the problem.  Reminds me of my auto mechanic, try this, try that, rather the find what causes the problem.

    In my case, the assigned port had become unchecked, possible by a power outage.  I just reassigned the port to the original port (USB002) and all the files in the print queue printed. No delete and add printer needed.  In my case that's difficult since I have my printer added twice, one to print portrait for some apps and one for landscape for other apps. Big headache to add again.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-07-12T05:39:11+00:00

    Did you do any recent updates? And are you running Zone Alarm? Zone Alarm sometimes has issues with blocking a sharing program.. a quick fix is uninstall ZA  and reinstall ZA if you want, after you test the printer again. Just another thing to try... might work.

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