Windows says the printer is in an error state

What causes it

• A physical condition on the printer: open cover, jam, empty tray, cartridge fault
• The printer is offline, asleep or has lost its network connection
• A loose or faulty USB cable, or a USB hub that cannot supply enough power
• A driver reporting bidirectional status incorrectly
• A stuck job in the queue holding the printer in a failed state

How to fix it, in order

Work down the list and stop when the printer recovers. The steps are ordered from most likely and least invasive to last resort.

1. Read the printer's own display first

   Walk to the printer and look at its panel or status lights. A jam, open door, empty tray or cartridge warning shown there is the entire explanation, and clearing it usually clears Windows too. Windows only ever repeats what the device told it.

2. Check covers, trays and cartridges physically

   Open and firmly close every door and cover, remove and reseat each ink or toner cartridge, and confirm the paper tray holds paper and its guides touch the stack. Also look inside the paper path for a small torn fragment. Sensors are unforgiving about doors that are almost closed.

3. Cancel everything in the queue

   Open Settings › Bluetooth & devices › Printers & scanners, click the printer, choose Open print queue and cancel all documents. If a job will not cancel, stop Print Spooler in services.msc, delete the contents of C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS, then start the service again.

4. Power cycle the printer properly

   Switch the printer off at its own button, unplug it from the wall for a full 60 seconds, then plug it back in and let it complete its start-up routine. This clears latched error states that survive a simple restart, particularly on inkjets that have parked the carriage in a fault position.

5. Check the connection

   For USB, plug directly into a port on the PC rather than a hub, and try a different cable and port. For a network printer, print a configuration page and confirm the IP matches the port configured under Printer properties › Ports. A printer that has changed IP looks exactly like one in an error state.

6. Clear Use Printer Offline and resume

   In the print queue window, open the Printer menu and make sure Use Printer Offline and Pause Printing are both unticked. These can latch on after a failure and keep the queue in a bad state even after the physical fault is gone.

7. Reinstall the driver

   Remove the printer in Settings, then remove its driver package in printmanagement.msc › Print Servers › your computer › Drivers, restart, and install the current driver from the manufacturer. A driver misreporting status is the usual culprit when the printer itself shows no fault at all.

8. Test from another device

   Print from a phone using AirPrint or Mopria, or from a second computer. If the printer prints happily from elsewhere, the fault is confined to the Windows install rather than the hardware, and a driver reinstall is the right direction.

Frequently asked questions