Printer offline-How can I change it to "on-line"

Anonymous
2011-01-04T17:10:46+00:00

How can I change a printer that is networked from "off-line" to  "online" to one computer?

Ours is accessible to my computer but not my wife's as her status is "off-line."

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Internet and connectivity

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2011-01-05T05:30:21+00:00

Hi WVseagull,

Check the status of the printer at Control Panel. Set it to online if it’s shown as offline. If this doesn’t fix the problem, check whether installing the vista driver available at your printer manufacturer’s website helps.

Step 1:

a. Click Start, go to Control Panel and select Hardware and Sound.

b. Click Printer.

c. If the Printer is offline, it shows “Offline” status. If the Printer is online it shows “Ready”.

d. If the Printer is offline, set it to online.

e. Right-click on the printer and select “Use Printer Online”.

f. The display should change to ready when the printer is set to online.

Step 2:

If still you are facing issues, then update the printer driver. This should fix the problem.

Update drivers: recommended links

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Update-drivers-recommended-links

Hope this information is helpful.

Praseetha K

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

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84 additional answers

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-12-02T23:44:52+00:00

    I fixed this for some networked printers by turning off SNMP under Ports>Port Configuration in Printer Properties.

     

    Bryce

     

    This is "it" if the "Standard procedure" (ticking unticking) is not working.

    (And to be sure: You can re-enable it immediately and the printer still will work. Something seems to be getting messed up in Win 7 and this fixes it. Microsoft should look into this WHY this happens and why this can only be fixed by this work-around)

    Thanks Bryce!

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-12-23T20:49:01+00:00

    This fixed my problem. I have been dealing with a printer that seems to intermittently just go offline. I disabled snmp under ports> port configuration and my printer immediately went online.  

    Windows 8.1

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-01-16T18:06:06+00:00

    well, i wasted 30 minutes trying to find a way to make my Epson rx595 running over a network come back to online use. I could print to it from the computer connected directly to it, but not from the other one. I had that annoying use printer offline showing.

    I finally just went to devices and printers,

    clicked remove printer

    add network printer

    selected the Epson again and re- added it.

    that solution took me all of 2 minutes.

    should have just done that in the first place instead of trying to find the proper way to resolve it.

    works fine for now.

    hope this helps.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-01-16T18:07:30+00:00

    I cannot find a way to change the printer status to "Ready." There is no option to select "Use Printer Online" when I right click on the printer. I checked with the printer manufacturer site for printer drivers, and it said that with my tablet, it has to be done automatically, not updated from their site. I can't say for sure, but it seems that this problem began when there was an automatic update of my Windows program. Any ideas?

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