Printer not printing? Work through this list
The checks we run in order, from the obvious to the driver reinstall, before anyone buys a new printer.
Printers fail for a small number of reasons and nearly always in the same ways. Work down the list and stop when it prints.
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Clear the queue
Open Settings, Bluetooth & devices, Printers & scanners, click the printer and Open print queue. Cancel every stuck job — one failed document blocks everything behind it.
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Restart the print spooler
Press Windows key + R, type services.msc, find Print Spooler, right-click and choose Restart. This clears the majority of "job stuck in queue" cases.
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Check you are printing to the right printer
Windows sometimes helpfully switches your default to Microsoft Print to PDF or a printer at a previous office. Set the correct one as default and turn off "Let Windows manage my default printer".
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Power cycle properly
Turn the printer off at the switch, unplug it from the mains for 30 seconds, and plug it back in. For a network printer, restart the router too if it has lost its address.
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Check the network address
Print a network configuration page from the printer menu and compare the IP address to the one in the printer port settings on the PC. If the printer got a new address from the router, give it a fixed one so it stops moving.
Tip: Most routers can reserve an address permanently for a device — worth doing for any office printer.
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Reinstall the driver
Remove the printer in Settings, then open Print Server Properties, Drivers tab, and remove the driver package as well. Download the current driver from the manufacturer rather than letting Windows pick a generic one, and add the printer again.
Common questions
It prints from one PC but not another.
That points at the PC rather than the printer — usually a driver or a firewall blocking the connection. Compare the two machines against step five.