Printer Offline After Every Reboot

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After updating Win10 to 20H2, my wireless HP printer shows as “Offline” (it’s not) after every reboot. Deleting and reading the printer seems to solve the problem, but only until the next reboot. The Patch Lady (Susan) alluded to known printer problems with 20H2, but mostly non-HP printers (e.g. Dymo).

After fruitless sessions with both MS and HP, an online search uncovered a suggestion to sequentially turn on and then off the LPR Port Monitor (Control Panel/Programs and Features/Turn Windows Features On and Off/Print and Document Services/LPR Port Monitor). This (for unknown reasons) does do the trick, but again only until the next reboot.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

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If the printer is in a “sleep” mode when the system is booted, the system may not recognize it as being online.

 

 

--Joe

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Yeah, the printer (HP 8600) does indeed go into “sleep” mode after a period of non-use, but this was never a problem before the Win10 upgrade.

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If you wait up to 15 minutes does the printer become available without you doing anything?

There’s a good chance that the problem is Windows 10’s very slow browser election/automatic network discovery. This has been an ongoing problem with various ‘solutions’ bandied about for years (like disabling IPv6… don’t do it) but Microsoft just doesn’t seem interested in fixing a problem that became much more prevalent after the general disuse (for very good reasons) of SMB1.

The reason deleting/re-installing works is because it forces Windows to look around aggressively using specific ports used for printing rather then wait for its own automatic network discovery to query all devices on the network for all ports and protocols in use to work out each device’s purpose.

‘Offline’ means the printer’s capabilities (trays/media availability, etc.) cannot be determined by Windows in order to send an appropriate print ‘job’ successfully. However, even in ‘sleep’ mode the printer should respond to a network ‘are you there’ query, much like PC’s can be woken (e.g. Wake-On-LAN and other events) via their usually ‘always on’ network adapters (wired or wireless).

The printer response can be manually checked with a ‘ping’ to its IP address and, depending on the printer, a successful response may be all that’s needed for Windows to re-query its surroundings using automatic network discovery. (The HP printer’s own control panel should display its current IP address… but this will mean waking it from ‘sleep’.)

If a ‘ping’ works to bring the printer awake then, in the absence of an MS fix, it’s probably better to set it to use a static IP address rather than one assigned by DHCP. This way you can use a batch file to automate a ping to the printer IP address.

Note: It was many years ago but, when a ‘ping’ didn’t work, we used to use a one-line batch file to point Angry IP Scanner v2.21 in commandline mode at the IP address of a massive multifunction printer/scanner/photocopier to bring it back online rather than walk downstairs and halfway across the building just to touch its on/off button. I’ve just checked and Angry IP Scanner v2.21 is still available from SourceFourge (ipscan.exe – 109KB) and works with Windows 10 so post back if you want to give it a try. There’s a knack to it these days… and I’ll have to work out the syntax again to use it against a single IP address. It’s quite slow otherwise.

Instead of Angry IP Scanner v2.21, these days I would experiment with Scottie’s LAN Scanner Tool v2.02. It’s small, incredibly fast and understands about Windows 10. It carries out an ARP scan of the entire network then 2 NBTSTAT scans (which, amongst other info, shows the master browser). Although primarily used for name resolution/MAC retrieval, these astonishingly quick network scans may/should be enough to wake the printer if it responds appropriately to NETBIOS packets (from the NBTSTAT scans). Its possible disadvantage – depending on your network – is that it might bring other ‘sleepers’ awake by scanning every network device.

Hope this helps…

3 users thanked author for this post.

doriel, wavy, SoxFan47

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Thanks, Rick for your prompt and detailed response. It’s this kind of support that makes the Ask Woody forums a lifeboat in a sea of misinformation.

As to your questions…

• After 15+ mins there is no change in the printer status
• A ‘ping’ confirms that the printer is indeed active, but does not change its status to
  “online”
• As you suggested, I reinstalled with a static IP and…so far, so good.

If the static IP doesn’t work out long term, I will take a look at Scottie’s LAN Scanner Tool as you suggested.

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I never use static IP for printing at home. I enter the DNS name of the printer (from the router connected device list) instead of the IP. Then the printer IP can change without me having to reconfigure anything.

cheers, Paul

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I have been using an HP wireless MFP LaserJet for several years now.

But since last year at some point (not with the latest MS update), I find that the printer itself is frequently offline (such as when I try to print something, and Windows immediately sends a printer offline notification). The printer and the PC each have their own sleep settings, and I suspect it has something to do with that.

The workaround that I have found is to open “Devices and Printers” then right click on the printer and select “Troubleshoot”. This seems to wake up the Windows print spooler service, and then the pending print job then completes ok.

The weird thing about all this is that prior to running the print troubleshooter, the HP Smart App recognizes the device and I can scan OK, but Windows refuses to accept the printer as online until I run the troubleshooter. What the heck?

That obviously means my network is ok and the device is connected OK. Print spooler?

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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To check if it’s the spooler, run these commands from an admin Command Prompt.

net stop spooler
net start spooler

cheers, Paul

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