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
    2018-08-05T10:27:27+00:00

    it's a computer thing  -  they are not quite brilliant - which makes them really frustrating for non techies to use

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-07-27T04:44:04+00:00

    The only way I have been sure of going from offline to online has been to power off the pc and the printer, then turn the pc on then the printer.

    I have no explaination why other methods don’t work consistently. Nor why the printer goes offline. Maybe its a timeout thing ?

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-07-26T18:30:41+00:00

    I have a customer who had an offline printer,

    removed the check mark next to the "use printer offline" parameter

    printer would not come to the online status

    rebooted the pc, the document in the queue printed and the printer went directly back to offline status.

    was able to remove the printer and reinstall with a different name.

    the old name caused a sharing error.

    has anyone run into this issue and how did you correct the root cause?

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-06-26T15:54:38+00:00

    It says I must contact my administrator

    Who is my administrator

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