Printer is On but Says Offline

It’s a weekday and you want to print some important documents for the upcoming meeting. You open the file for printing the documents, you see that the printer is on but says offline. What will you do next? Well! You have to fix the problem. The printer offline status could hamper your work and delay your tasks, thus it needs to be fixed as soon as possible. So, if your Printer is on but says offline, follow the mentioned guidelines and fix this problem.

My Printer is Connected but Says Offline, What should I do?

You can follow the below-mentioned troubleshooting guidelines to fix the Printer Connected but offline issue. Follow the steps carefully to avoid mistakes in the troubleshooting process:

Check Printer Connection

If your printer is connected but offline, that means there is something wrong with the communication between your computer and printer or the USB cable or network connection is not perfect. Thus, you have to check and make sure that the printer is properly connected to the computer. Here are the steps to follow for doing this:

  • Turn off your printer and turn it on to restart the device. Wait till your device is fully ready.

  • Check the printer connection.

If your printer is connected using the USB cable, you need to check and make sure that your device is properly connected. You must connect the cable to the PC through a working USB port. 

If your printer is connected using the wired network, you need to check and make sure that cable is connected to ethernet cable properly. All the ports must be working fine. The loose, broken, or old cable could also be the reason that your Printer connected but offline. You need to replace them all. 

If the device is connected through a wireless network. You need to check and make sure that the printer is properly connected to wifi and its working.

Update Printer Drivers

Sometimes the faulty printer drivers are also the reason behind printer offline error. Thus, you need to update the driver to fix this issue. 

There are two ways to update the printer driver- Manual Update and Automatic Update 

Manual Update

To manually update the printer drivers, you can visit the printer manufacturer website and check for the recent printer drivers. Check and make sure that you choose only compatible drivers for your Windows 10 device.

Automatic Driver Update

In case, you do not have the time or computer skills, or patience to manually update the printer drivers, then you can update simply by using the Driver Easy. The Driver Easy will automatically find the right drivers for your printer and install them on your device.

  • Download the Install the ‘Driver Easy’.

  • Run the ‘Driver Easy’ and click the ‘Scan Now’ button.

  • Click on the ‘Update’ button to download the right driver version correctly and then install it manually.

  • Click on the ‘Update All’ button to download and install the right driver version automatically on your device.

  • Once you have updated the drivers, check to see if ‘Printer is on but says offline’ issue is resolved or not.

Restart the Spooler Service

Your device may not work if the Print Spooler service is not working fine. In most cases, this service is turned off. Thus, you need to restart it:

  • Press the ‘Windows Logo Key + R’ button from the keyboard. After that, type ‘services.msc’ in the search bar and hit the Enter button.

  • Press the P key to locate the printer spooler faster and check if the device is running. 

  • Right-click on the ‘Print Spooler’ Service and click on the ‘Start’ button.

  • If you want, you can even restart the service. Right-click ‘print Spooler’ and click on ‘Restart’.

So, if your Printer is On but Says Offline, try these troubleshooting guidelines and bring your printer back to the online state. In case you are still not able to fix the problem, you can contact the experts and seek their assistance to troubleshoot the issues. 

Also Checkout –  Wireless Printer Offline , Window 10 Offline Printer