Does your HP printer stop working properly? Are you seeing the printer offline message as well? Don’t worry, if your HP printer doesn’t print, try the methods provided in this post and you will make it work.

There are some very common reasons why your HP printer doesn’t print properly, but luckily, the printer problem is not that hard to fix.

Here’s a list of the troubleshooting methods, you don’t have to try them all, just start from the one that you haven’t tried before and move further:

  1. Basic troubleshooting
  2. Update the printer driver
  3. Change the settings of the printer
  4. Cancel all print jobs
  5. Use the HP Print and Scan Doctor
  6. Repair corrupted system files
  7. Check Windows Function Discovery services

1. Basic troubleshooting

If you’re connecting your HP printer via a USB cable, then this should be the first thing you check, i.e. check the status of connections and make sure that the USB cable is tightly fit in the printer and the computer.

If you’re using the HP printer’s wireless network but suddenly it stops printing, you can restore the printer network settings to default settings by pressing the Wireless button and the Cancel button together from the printer control panel and then hold them for three seconds. Once restored, retry the connection and see if it works.

2. Update the printer driver

If there is nothing wrong with the connections, the next method you should try is to update your printer driver, since an up-to-date printer driver always ensures the best printing performance and fewer bugs.

To update your printer driver, here’s what you can do (please note that the following screenshots are taken on Windows 11, but the instructions work on Windows 10 as well):

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and X at the same time, and select Device Manager.
  2. Double-click to expand the category Print Queues or Printer. Then right-click your HP printer driver and click Uninstall device.
  3. Then go to the HP Support site to find the Software and Drivers section and search for your “HP (your model name)” printer.
  4. Select the correct driver install package and download it to perform an installation. Also, it’s recommended to download and install the HP Smart app to complete setup and support for you.
  5. Once downloaded, double-click the package to install the driver.
  6. Once installed, restart your computer and your printer, then check and see if the problem is fixed.

But if you’re looking for an easier solution, then you should consider updating your HP Printer driver in a different way with the help of Driver Techie.

Its ever-growing driver database allows you to always have access to the latest device drivers that you need. More importantly, Driver Techie simplifies the driver update process, so all it takes is just 3 clicks (for Pro users), and all your drivers are updated.

To use Driver Techie to find you the latest drivers:

  1. Download and install Driver Techie, then launch it.
  2. Click Scan Now.
  3. After the scan, select all the drivers you need to update and click Update All. Then all your drivers will be updated automatically without you having to do anything else.

Please note that Update All is available for Pro subscribers only, otherwise, you can only manually update the driver one at a time. To see how to manually update the drivers one by one, please check this post.

If you’re a Pro user of Driver Techie, and need our technical support to help with the HP Printer won’t print problem, please feel free to contact <support@drivertechie.com>.

3. Change the settings of the printer

If you never set your HP printer as default or manually select it as the printer to print, then your computer won’t assign the printing tasks to your HP printer automatically. In that case, you should set your HP printer as the default printer in this way:

For Windows 10

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and the S key together to open the Search box. Type Printer & scanners and hit Enter.
  2. Scroll down the page, and uncheck the Let Windows manage my default printer checkbox.
  3. From the list of printers, click your printer name, and then click Manage. If there are multiple printer names that match yours, select the printer that is idle or online.
  4. Under Manage your device, click Set as default.
  5. Try to print again and see if it works.

For Windows 11

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and the S key together to open the Search box. Type Printers & scanners and hit Enter.
  2. Under the Printer preferences, toggle off the Let Windows manage my default printer option.
  3. From the list of printers, click your printer name, and then select Set as default.

4. Clear all print jobs

Another reason why your HP printer won’t print is that there might be a failed print job stuck in the print queue. In this case, you need to cancel all the print jobs first.

To do so:

  1. Again, on your keyboard, press the Windows key and the R key together to open the Run box. Type control panel and hit Enter to open Control Panel.
  2. Select View devices and printers.
  3. Right-click on your HP printer and select See what’s printing.
  4. Click on the Printer menu and select Open As Administrator.
  5. Back to the Printer menu again and select Cancel All Documents.
  6. Click Yes to confirm the changes.

5. Use the HP Print and Scan Doctor

HP has launched a free tool, HP Print and Scan Doctor, for users to fix printing and scanning problems. It can automatically resolve this HP printer won’t print problem that causes by some basic reason. Since it’s an official repair tool, we believe it’s useful somehow.

Let’s see how to use this HP Print and Scan Doctor:

  1. Click to download HP Print and Scan Doctor.

  2. Once downloaded, run HPPSdr.exe from the download location on your computer.
  3. Once HP Print and Scan Doctor is open, click Start, and then choose your printer. (If your printer is not listed, turn it on and click Retry. If there is a connection problem, follow the instructions in the tool.)
  4. If a screen displays prompting to turn on printer updates, click Yes and continue.
  5. If a screen displays prompting to make your printer the default printer, click Yes and continue.

6. Repair corrupted system files

If all the abovementioned fixes fail to resolve the issue, you need to check if there are corrupted system files on your computer, which could possibly cause your HP printer to stop printing.

Try to use the System File Checker to repair these files:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and the R key together to launch the Run box. Type cmd and press Ctrl, Shift and Enter together to open the command prompt as administrator.
  2. Once the command prompt pops up, type the command sfc /scannow and hit Enter. (Do not forget the blank space in the command)
  3. Wait for the verification to complete.
  4. Once completed, restart your computer and printer to see if the issue persists.

7. Check Windows Function Discovery services

If your printer uses a WSD port, make sure Function Discovery services start automatically and are currently running. Here’s what to do:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and the R key together to open the Run box. Type Control and hit Enter to open Control Panel.
  2. Select View devices and printers.
  3. Right-click on your HP printer and select Printer Properties.
  4. Click the Ports tab and look for a WSD port in the list.

If you see a WSD port, make sure the check box is ticked, and then continue with the following steps.

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and the X key together to open Device Manager. Select the Services tab.
  2. Find Function Discovery Provider Host and Function Discovery Resource Publication in the service list.
  3. To make sure the Status is Running and the Startup Type is Automatic, right-click on one item, and select Open Services.

  4.  In the coming up window, scroll down the service list and find Function Discovery Provider Host and Function Discovery Resource Publication, right-click on each item, and select Properties.
  5. Change the Startup Type to Automatic, click Start under the Service status, click Apply, and then click OK.
  6. Close the Services window and retry your print jobs.

Hopefully, your HP printer will come back to normal. If all the methods above fail to resolve the HP printer won’t print problem, then it’s recommended to seek advanced assistance from HP Support. If you have any other questions, please feel free to comment below.