You won’t be able to issue print commands or print anything from the computer, if the wired/wireless printer attached to your computer has gone offline.
In general, the problem of a printer going offline in Windows 11 is usually due to the paper getting jammed in the printer, the printer running out of paper and also due to the printer being unable to process the print job.
In such cases, clearing the paper jam, refilling the paper tray and restarting the printer is enough to make the printer online. If the printer still remains offline, you should be able to make the printer online by using any of the following methods.
1. Make Printer Online in Windows 11 Using Settings
An easy way to disable offline mode and make the printer online is by using the Settings App on your computer.
1. Open Settings > click on Bluetooth & devices in the left-pane. In the right-pane, scroll down and click on Printers & Scanners.
2. On Printers & scanners screen, select your Printer (it will be listed as offline).
2. On the next screen, click on Open queue option.
3. On the next screen, click on Use Printer Offline option to remove the check mark on this item.
4. Wait for the printer to come back online.
2. Make Printer Online Using Device Manager
If you prefer using Device manager, you can follow the steps below to make the printer online on your Windows 11 computer.
1. Right-click on the Start button and click on Device Manager in the WinX menu.
2. On Device Manager Screen, click on the Action tab and select Devices and Printers option in the drop-down menu.
Note: If Devices and Printers menu does not appear, wait for sometime and click again.
3. On Devices and Printers screen, right-click on the Offline Printer (it will appear Faded) and select See what’s printing option in the contextual menu.
4. On the next screen, switch to the Printer tab and click on Use Printer Offline option to remove the check mark on this item.
5. Wait for the printer to come back online.
Once the printer comes back online, it should start printing whatever was in the print queue.
3. Restart Print Spooler Service
In certain cases, you may need to restart the print Spooler Service.
1. Right-click on the Start button and click on Run.
2. In the Run command window, type services.msc and click on OK.
3. On the Services screen, right-click on Print Spooler and select the Restart option.
Note: Make sure the Startup Type for the Print Spooler service is set to Automatic option. If it is not, double-click on Print Spooler entry and change the startup type to Automatic.