Printer shows Offline or “Printer is in an error state” — how to fix it

Updated 2026-08-15 · VNIT — 10 years repairing printers & laptops · Nationwide support

Your printer is plugged in, the power light is on — but Windows insists it is Offline, or throws “Printer is in an error state” and nothing prints. The good news: this is almost always a connection or software problem, not a broken printer. Work through the steps below in order and most machines come back within a few minutes.

Quick answer — the 5 things that fix it most often

1. Check the machine physically — power on, no jammed paper, paper in the tray, ink or toner not empty, cable seated at both ends.
2. Turn off “Use Printer Offline” — Settings → Printers & scanners → your printer → Open print queue → Printer menu → untick Use Printer Offline.
3. Clear the queue and restart the print spooler — cancel all documents, then restart Print Spooler in Services.
4. Set the right default printer and send a test page.
5. For network printers — check the IP address, give the printer a static IP, then remove and re-add it by IP.

Why does a printer show Offline while it is switched on?

“Offline” does not mean the printer is off. It means Windows sent a request and got no answer back. So the fault sits in the path between the computer and the printer, not usually inside the printer itself.

Two families of cause:

Connection

• USB cable loose, damaged inside, or plugged into a failing port (hubs are a common culprit).
• A network printer dropped off the Wi-Fi, or DHCP handed it a new IP address, or it sits on a different subnet from the PC.
• Firewall or antivirus blocking the printer port.

Software

• “Use Printer Offline” got ticked — sometimes by accident, sometimes by Windows itself after a failed job.
• The print queue is stuck on one failed document and blocks everything behind it.
• Driver corrupted or mismatched, very often right after a Windows update.
• Paper jam, empty tray or empty cartridge — the printer reports an error and Windows shows it as “error state”.

Step-by-step fix (works on every brand)

Step 1 — Look at the machine first. Power light on? Any paper caught in the feed or output path? Paper in the tray? Ink or toner not empty? On a laser, open the cover and check no torn sheet is stuck near the fuser. On an inkjet, a blinking light usually means an empty cartridge.

Step 2 — Untick “Use Printer Offline”. Go to Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Printers & scanners, click your printer, then Open print queue. In the queue window open the Printer menu and untick Use Printer Offline.

⚠️ If that option is greyed out, Windows cannot reach the printer at all. Skip ahead to the cable and network steps — the tickbox is not your problem.

Step 3 — Clear the queue and restart the print spooler. Any one of these works:

• In the queue window: Printer → Cancel All Documents.
• Press Windows + R, type services.msc, find Print Spooler, right-click → Restart.
• Command Prompt as administrator: net stop spooler then net start spooler.

Step 4 — Fix the default printer. In Printers & scanners, turn off “Let Windows manage my default printer”, then set your real printer as default by hand. Windows switching defaults on its own is a frequent cause of jobs vanishing.

Step 5 — Network printers: pin the IP address. Print the network configuration page from the printer's own menu to see its current IP. Then, from the printer's web page or control panel, give it a static IP outside the router's DHCP range. Otherwise the router will hand it a different address one day and the printer goes offline again.

Step 6 — Remove and reinstall the driver. Remove the device completely, download the current driver from the manufacturer for your exact model, and reinstall. For a network printer, choose “Add printer using IP address” rather than by name — it is far more reliable.

Quick lookup: symptom → cause → what to do

Notes for each brand

The steps above apply to every brand, because the offline state lives in Windows and in the connection — not in the badge on the printer. A few habits worth knowing:

• Canon and Brother on a network — these are the ones that most often need a static IP before they stay reliable.
• Epson inkjets — an “error state” that will not clear is often the waste ink pad counter being full, not a connection fault at all. If your Epson also blinks its lights or shows an E-code, read ink pad end of service life and error E-11 / E-12 instead — the fix there is a counter reset, not a driver reinstall.
• HP — HP Smart often manages the printer separately from Windows, so check its status there too.

When it is worth calling a technician

Handle it yourself when it is the offline tickbox, a jammed queue or a tired cable — those take minutes. It is worth getting help when:

• You have been through every step above and it is still offline.
• The USB port or the network card on the printer looks physically damaged.
• The driver refuses to install properly, on more than one computer.
• You suspect real hardware trouble — jammed fuser, clogged printhead, faulty board.

VNIT repairs printers of all brands on site in Ho Chi Minh City, and gives you a written quote before any work starts.

Frequently asked questions