Printer is not printing: queue, restart, drivers
| Look at the queue first | |
| Restart in the right order | |
| Drivers and defaults | |
| Network printers drop first | |
| Share it once, properly |
Look at the queue first
Nine times out of ten the printer is fine and one stuck job blocks
everything behind it. Open the print queue, cancel the failed job, and
the rest usually flows through on its own.
Also check the obvious: paper, toner, open covers, and that you sent
the job to this printer and not to «Microsoft Print to PDF».
Restart in the right order
Order matters: cancel all jobs, power the printer fully off for thirty seconds, restart the Print Spooler service (or the PC itself), then power the printer back on. Random restarts in random order just move the stuck job around.
Drivers and defaults
If it prints garbage or wrong trays, the driver is suspect — especially after a Windows update. Reinstall the vendor driver (not the generic one Windows offers), then set the right printer as default so the next job does not silently go elsewhere.
Network printers drop first
A printer that vanishes after every weekend lost its DHCP lease: give network printers static addresses or DHCP reservations, then add them by IP, not by auto-discovery. Auto-found printers reappear as «Copy 1» duplicates that confuse everyone; one IP entry stays put.
Share it once, properly
One shared queue on a print server beats five direct IP setups: driver updates happen once, permissions live in one group, and the queue name («Floor3-Color») tells users where to walk. Direct printing is for single-user desks only.