What to do when your HP printer not responding? This usually caused by an incompatible driver. The printer driver is either outdated or corrupted, thus stopping you from printing normally.
It can also be your Printer Spooler service, and you might need to restart the service for it to work again. In this post, we’ll walk you through the steps to fix the issue.
Try these fixes
- Restart the Print Spooler service
- Reinstall the printer driver
- Use the generic driver
- Use the Windows Troubleshooter
Method 1. Restart the Print Spooler service
Your HP printer may not be responding because the Print Spooler Service on your computer is not working properly. To fix it, you’ll need to restart the service:
1) On your keyboard, press the Windows + R key and enter services.msc in the Run box.
2) Scroll down to locate Printer Spooler. Right-click it and select Restart.
3) Check if your HP printer is able to print now.
Method 2. Reinstall the printer driver
When the HP printer is not responding, you can fix it easily by reinstalling the printer driver. Here’s how:
1) On your keyboard, press the Windows + R and enter devmgmt.msc.
2) Expand the Printers category. Then right-click your printer and select Uninstall device.
3) Tick the option Delete the driver software for this device, and click Uninstall to confirm.
3) Now the Printers category will be gone. You can either install the latest driver automatically with Driver Easy within 2 clicks or use the following steps to do it manually if you like.
4) Go to Settings > Devices.
5) On the left pane, select Printers & scanners.
6) Select your printer, and click Remove device. Select Yes to confirm.
7) Once complete, click Add a printer a scanner and select your printer.
8) Once the printer is ready for use, the printer driver not available error should be solved. You can print a test page to check if this issue persists.
9) If not, you can go to the manufacturer’s website to download the latest driver and install it manually, or you can choose to update it with Driver Easy. (You can do it for free if you like, and the Pro Version comes with full support and a 30-day money back guarantee.)
If you need assistance, please contact Driver Easy’s support team at support@drivereasy.com.
10) It’s better for you to reboot your computer for the changes to take full effect.
If this method doesn’t do the trick, you can try the fix below.
Method 3. Use the generic driver
If the printer driver is already updated, but the HP printer is still not responding, there might be something wrong with the manufacturer’s driver. Therefore, you can use the genetic driver:
1) On your keyboard, press the Windows + R and enter devmgmt.msc.
2) Expand the Printers category. Then right-click your printer and select Update driver.
3) Select Browse my computer for drivers.
4) Choose Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer.
5) Select Generic printer device, and click Next to continue.
6) Now the driver should be updated to the generic device now. You can check the status of the printer. If you’re still having the HP printer not responding problem, you can perform a Windows Update or try the Windows built-in troubleshooter, below.
Method 4. Use the Windows Troubleshooter
If the methods above fail to solve your HP printer not responding issue, you can let Windows find the real problem for you. Here’s how:
1) On your keyboard, press the Win + R key, and enter control in the Run box.
2) Select Large icons, and click Device and Printers.
3) Right-click your printer, and select Troubleshoot.
4) Follow on the on-screen instructions to complete the troubleshooting.
Generally, restarting the Printer Spooler and installing the printer driver always works when your HP printer is not responding. Feel free to drop us a line if you have further questions or problems.
