When a printer shows a solid Wi-Fi connection light on the machine itself but refuses to print documents from your computer or phone, the breakdown is happening between your device and the router—usually due to a stalled print queue, an IP address mismatch, or a driver port error.
Follow these steps in order from simplest to most thorough to get your print jobs moving again.
Before changing computer settings, rule out simple physical or network mismatches:
Check for hardware alerts: Look at the printer's display screen or indicator lights for blinking amber/orange warnings indicating low ink/toner, empty paper trays, or an unlatched cartridge door.
Verify both devices are on the exact same network: Confirm your computer or phone is not connected to a Guest Wi-Fi, mobile hotspot, or VPN. If your router broadcasts separate 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz names, ensure your computer and printer are on the same network.
Power cycle the printer and router: Unplug the printer and your Wi-Fi router from the wall for 60 seconds, plug the router back in first until its lights stabilize, then turn the printer back on.
Verification: Print a Network Configuration Page directly from the printer's Setup > Reports menu. If it prints cleanly and displays a valid IP address (such as 192.168.1.x), the hardware and Wi-Fi link are working properly.
A single corrupted document stuck at the front of the queue will block every new job sent behind it.
On Windows 10 & 11:
1.Uncheck Pause Printing and Use Printer Offline:
1 min.
Press Win + I to open Settings, go to Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners, click your printer, and select Open print queue. Click the Printer menu at the top and make sure both Pause Printing and Use Printer Offline are unchecked.
Verification: The title bar of the print queue window no longer displays "Paused" or "Offline."
2.Stop the Print Spooler Service:
1 min.
Press Win + R, type services.msc, and press Enter. Scroll down to Print Spooler, right-click it, and select Stop.
Verification: The Status column next to Print Spooler becomes blank.
3.Delete Stalled Spool Files and Restart:
1 min.
Press Win + R, type C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS, and press Enter. Delete every file inside that folder, then return to the Services window, right-click Print Spooler, and select Start.
Verification: The print queue is completely empty and ready for fresh print commands.
On macOS:
Open System Settings > Printers & Scanners and click your printer.
Click Open Print Queue... and click the X next to any stalled jobs (or click Resume if the queue is paused).Verification: The print queue list clears out completely.
Windows frequently installs wireless printers using a WSD (Web Services for Devices) port, which breaks whenever your router assigns the printer a new IP address. Pointing Windows directly to the printer's IP address fixes this permanently.
Find your printer's current IP address on the Network Configuration Page you printed earlier (e.g., 192.168.1.145).
Open Control Panel (search for it in the Windows Start menu) and click Devices and Printers (or View devices and printers).
Right-click your printer, select Printer properties, and switch to the Ports tab.
Click Add Port..., select Standard TCP/IP Port, and click New Port....
Enter your printer's exact IP address, click Next, and finish the wizard.
Ensure the checkmark on the Ports tab is now next to the new IP address port, then click Apply and OK.
Verification: Click Print Test Page on the General tab of Printer Properties; the test page prints within a few seconds.
If the driver itself is corrupted, remove the stale entry and re-add the printer cleanly:
On macOS: Go to System Settings > Printers & Scanners, select your printer, click Remove Printer, then click Add Printer, Scanner, or Fax..., select your printer under the Default tab, ensure Use is set to AirPrint (or your brand's driver), and click Add.
On Windows: Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners, select your printer, click Remove, restart your PC, and click Add device to re-detect it over Wi-Fi.
Verification: Open any document and send a print job; the printer immediately pulls paper and prints.