Waiting for printer connection

Anonymous
2023-12-14T05:51:25+00:00

“Waiting for printer connection” pop up started coming up a couple of weeks ago and has been causing multiple issues.

Excel and Word randomly do not open, and then when I open the program again it tells me the file is already in use yet nothing is open. Task manager shows nothing open or running. I have to restart my computer each time to use the document or workbook and I sometimes I need to do this more than once before it will decide to randomly work.

I cannot print new documents or workbooks, it becomes unresponsive and then the program has to close. I can only print from saved documents, which o can’t always open!

MYOB cannot print now, I have to save as a pdf and then print. I know MYOB isn’t “Microsoft” but this only started when this pop up started. I have never experienced this issue before.

This is happening on all four computers and started at the exact same time.

I have tried turning off all network sharing connections and still no change.

This is really impacting my day to day operations ans these programs are all I use. It causing a significant loss of time.

Can someone please help?

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Performance and system failures

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.

0 comments

47 answers

Sort by: Newest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2023-12-20T21:41:21+00:00

    I had the same problem.
    Popup box saying "Please wait for printer connection or cancel connection" would randomly appear in Word, Visio etc and I couldn't continue to work.
    Only option on popup was cancel _ but hitting cancel I would get "This actions cannot be completed because the other program is busy. Choose 'Switch to' to activate the busy program and correct the problem" Buttons Switch to or Retry.

    This problem came after adding a new HP printer a few days ago (driver came from MS) and an update. So could be either one of those two events in my case.

    For me I removed all printers and so far so good. Will try adding a printer back in again when I need it.
    I am suspicious of the windows update as I hear there have been other printer issues.

    Was this answer helpful?

    10+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. SD - IA 180.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2023-12-14T06:23:24+00:00

    Hi Kel,

    I'm Sumit, here to answer your query at the Microsoft Community.

    I see some reports on Reddit related to the same issue. I wonder if it is due to updates.

    Does the issue persist in a clean boot state?

    Type “msconfig” (without quotes) and press Enter.

    In the System Configuration window, select the Services tab.

    Check the box next to “Hide all Microsoft services”. Ensure you do it carefully, and not disable all Microsoft services.

    Click on “Disable all”.

    Select the Startup tab and click on “Open Task Manager”.

    In the Task Manager window, select each startup item and click on “Disable”.

    Close Task Manager and click on OK in the System Configuration window.

    Restart your computer.

    More details: https://aka.ms/wincleanboot

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments