1. Reboot or Unplug to Start Fresh
It’s become a cliché in tech circles, but with printers, it’s true more often than not: Sometimes you just need to turn it off and turn it back on again. Often, that means pressing and holding the power button until it shuts down (though it may ask you to clear the queue first). If this doesn’t work—mine sometimes says “busy” and won’t let me power it off—you may have to unplug it completely, then plug it back in.
It’s nice when this works, but it means there’s no permanent solution to this recurring issue, and much like a router that stops broadcasting, you may have to go through this process whenever the printer drops its connection. You could, however, plug your printer into a smart plug and use a voice assistant like Alexa to reboot it on command.
2. Move It Closer to Your Router
I can’t tell you why, but I’ve seen many Wi-Fi printers that just seem to have weak signals, even if all my other devices work fine in the same location. My printer is much more reliable if the router is in the same room, and my father-in-law’s printer only works if he opens all the doors upstairs before trying to print.
Even if the Wi-Fi signal in that room seems fine, try moving your printer closer to the router if you’re having connection issues. If your printer has a sub-par Wi-Fi chip, it may need a super strong signal to stay connected. (This should go without saying, but make sure the Wi-Fi name and password are correct.)
3. Remove and Re-Add Your Printer in Windows
I find that my printer often thinks everything’s peachy, even though it shows as “Offline” in the Windows Printer & Scanner settings. If this happens, go to Settings > Devices > Printers & Scanners, select your printer, and remove it. Then click Add a Printer or Scanner to re-add it to the device list. Incredibly (and frustratingly), this often gets things up and running again.
4. Update Your Drivers and Firmware
As with all technology, it helps to begin your troubleshooting journey by updating all the relevant software. Head to your printer manufacturer’s website—whether it’s HP(Opens in a new window), Brother(Opens in a new window), or someone else—and search for your printer’s model number in the support section.
Download the latest driver, software package, and/or firmware update to ensure every link in the chain is as up-to-date as possible. If you’re having connection issues, it’s possible one of those updates fixed it somewhere along the line since you bought the printer.
5. Plug the Printer Into Your Router Directly
If you’re flexible about where you store your printer, your best bet is to remove it from the Wi-Fi network entirely and hard-wire it to your router. Connecting it with a wire may not solve all your problems, but it will ensure its connection to the network is much more stable, lessening the number of troubleshooting steps you have to go through every time.
If you have Ethernet in your home, try connecting it to the network that way—you may find an Ethernet jack hidden somewhere on your printer (check its manual; I’ve seen them in very hard-to-find places). If you don’t have Ethernet in the house, this is one area where powerline adapters(Opens in a new window) can come in handy.
6. Connect to a PC and Share
If you aren’t able to connect your printer to the router directly, you have another option: connect it to your computer over USB, then use your computer’s built-in printer sharing to print from other PCs in the house.
Once plugged in and set up as a wired printer, you can share a printer in Windows. Go to Settings > Devices > Printers & Scanners, click on your printer, and choose Manage > Printer Properties. Under the Sharing tab, you should have an option to share that printer.
Mac users can do something similar from System Preferences > Sharing > Printer Sharing—just check the Printer Sharing box, check the box next to the printer you want to share, then add it from your other computers as if it were a normal network printer.
This solution can sometimes be finicky in its own right, but it’s worth a shot if your printer just refuses to stay connected to Wi-Fi on its own.
