Printer Says "Offline" in Windows 11 — How to Get It Printing Again

An "Offline" status almost never means your printer is actually broken. Nine times out of ten it's a stuck print job, a Wi-Fi hiccup, or Windows losing track of the printer. Work through these in order and stop as soon as printing comes back.

1. Power-cycle the printer and check the connection

Turn the printer fully off, wait 30 seconds, and turn it back on. If it's a USB printer, unplug the cable and plug it back into a different port. If it's wireless, make sure the printer's screen shows it's connected to the same Wi-Fi network as your PC — not a guest network or a 5GHz band the printer can't see.

2. Turn off "Use Printer Offline"

1. Press Windows + I to open Settings.
2. Go to Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.
3. Click your printer, then Open print queue.
4. Click the Printer menu and make sure Use Printer Offline is unchecked.

3. Clear the stuck print queue

One jammed document can freeze everything behind it. In the print queue window, click Printer > Cancel All Documents. If a job refuses to clear, restart the Print Spooler:

1. Press Windows + R, type services.msc, press Enter.
2. Find Print Spooler, right-click it, choose Restart.

4. Run the built-in printer troubleshooter

Go to Settings > System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters and run Printer. It resets the connection and clears most "offline" states automatically.

5. Reinstall the printer

If it's still offline, remove the printer (Printers & scanners > your printer > Remove) and add it again with Add device. Windows will reconnect it as a fresh device, which clears a corrupted status for good.

Still stuck?

If none of this works, the printer's IP address may have changed on your network. Assigning it a static IP in your router fixes the "keeps going offline" pattern permanently. Ask us and we'll walk you through it for your exact router.