By Canon printers play an important role in the lives of many working professionals. These printers are highly efficient at performing even the most complex print jobs. However, it’s not uncommon to find your Canon printer going offline and bringing all your printing tasks to a standstill. This issue has become much more common in recent years. Users often wonder why is my Canon printer offline. Well, your printer may have gone into this state due to any reason ranging from a default setting issue, printer spooler error, inappropriate paper feeding, or a connection error. To fix it, you need to follow definite steps according to the particular cause. Keep reading to know the different ways to fix the Canon printer offline problem.
Why Is My Canon Printer Offline?
When you find the Canon printer not working and going offline, it means that it’s unable to get printing commands from your PC. This happens due to the following:
- Incorrect default printer configuration – It means that you haven’t chosen your Canon printer as the default printer.
- The spooler service of your printer is turned off
- There’s a problem with your Canon printer software. So, you must reinstall it.
- The SNMP status is enabled.
- You are working with an obsolete Canon printer driver.
- A faulty connection between your system and Wi-Fi will also make your Canon printer offline.
- The Use Printer Offline option is enabled.
Solutions for the Canon Printer Offline Issue
Before you go ahead and implement the resolutions, it will be best to check that your printing machine is getting the required power supply. Also, it must be firmly linked to your system through a wireless or USB cable.
1. Make your Canon printer the default printer.
Canon printer shows an offline error because of incorrect system settings. You need to ensure that it is selected as the default printer in your system.
- Launch ‘Control Panel’ and navigate to ‘Devices and Printers.’
- From the list of printers, right-tap on your Canon printer.
- Choose the ‘Set as default’
- You can ensure that your printer is set as default when it has a green checkmark on it.
2. Turn on the print spooler service.
The print spooler service manages every print command. You may ask why is my Canon printer offline if the spooler service is off and you don’t know about it. So, restart the service and fix the problem as follows.
- Hit the ‘Windows’ and ‘R’ keys simultaneously to launch the Run dialog box.
- Input’ msc’ in the dialog box and press Enter.
- You’ll see a window with various services. Click any service and hit the ‘P’ key.
- Hold the key, and you’ll see the ‘Print Spooler’ getting highlighted.
- Right-tap on the print spooler service and choose ‘Properties.’
- Navigate to the ‘General’ tab, locate the ‘Stop’ option, and hit ‘OK.’
- This service will now be temporarily disabled.
- Navigate to Windows Explorer. From here, go to this path: C:\\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS.
- Tap ‘Continue’ when asked for permission.
- Now, select and remove every file. Then, exit the window.
- Open the ‘General’ tab and tap ‘Start.’
- Modify the printer spooler’s ‘Startup Type’ to ‘Automatic.’
- Tap ‘OK.’
- Lastly, reboot your computer.
3. Reinstall Canon printer software
An issue with the printer software leads to the Canon printer not working problem. So, when you reinstall the printer software, it will fix the bug.
- Firstly, hit the ‘Windows’ and ‘R’ keys together.
- On the ‘Run’ dialog box, input’ devmgmt.msc.’
- Tap ‘OK.’
- Bellow’ Print Queues’, you’ll notice your Canon printing device. right-tap on it and pick ‘Uninstall Device.’
- Now you need to reinstall the printer software.
- Go to the official Canon printer website and download the software.
- Now you won’t find your printer offline.
4. Disable the SNMP status
SNMP stands for Simple Network Management Protocol. It collects and manages data from printers. You must ensure that it is not turned on. Otherwise, you’ll wonder why is my Canon printer offline?
- Right-tap on the icon of your Canon printer.
- Choose ‘Properties’ followed by ‘Ports.’
- Now tap ‘Configure Ports.’
- You will notice SNMP status enabled. On the checkbox beside it, put a tick and uncheck it. Then hit ‘OK.’
- Now exit the window and see if your Canon printer is still offline.
5. Install the latest printer driver
Obsolete drivers are often full of technical bugs. They result in many printer problems, especially the offline issue. Updating the driver is easy, and you can do so either manually or automatically.
- Go to your system and hit the Windows + R keys together to open the Run dialog box.
- Input ‘msc’ on it and hit Enter.
- Navigate to ‘Device Manager’ and launch ‘Print Queues.’
- Right-tap on the printer hardware and choose ‘Update driver.’
- You’ll get the question ‘How do you want to search for drivers?’ Tap ‘Browse my compute for driver software.’
- End by rebooting your system.
6. Set printer to online
Disabling the Use Printer Offline option is a useful fix for this issue. You can do it by following these steps.
- Navigate to the ‘Start’ icon on your system and choose ‘Control Panel.’
- From here, choose ‘Devices and Printers.’
- Right-tap your printer and choose ‘See what’s printing.’
- In the next window, select ‘Printer’ from the menu bar.
- Lastly, from the drop-down menu, choose ‘Use printer online.’
Additional Tips to Bring Your Canon Printer Online
Apart from following the measures above, there are some things you can check whenever your Canon printer goes offline. These checks include the following.
- Firstly, see if there are any pending print jobs. If there are, go to the ‘Printer’ menu and choose ‘Cancel all documents.’
- Often paper jams can also lead to this problem. So, ensure that you clear it. After clearing the printer jam, print a test page.
- If the printer is still offline, switch it off and then switch it on after some time.
Wrapping up
Now that you know all the causes behind this issue, you won’t wonder why is my Canon printer offline upon facing the issue. Fortunately, the troubleshooting for it is not very complex. If you need more help with resolving this or any other printer-related problem, connect with expert printer support services.
