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Troubleshoot Canon Printer Offline Error With Some Easy And Effortless Hacks

Canon printers are quite famous their top quality and astonishing products. However, like all hardware and software-based devices, even Canon printers have issues and glitches while interacting with other systems. One of the connections issues which frequently appear on Canon printers is that their printer is offline, even it is properly connected with the system. As this is not a very major technical issue, it can be solved with some manual tweaking. But, before you start applying any kind of solution on your system or printer, make sure that your printer is properly connected with all the power outlet and network. Now, if everything is working fine then you can follow this article to know about other possible solutions of the Canon printer offline issue.

Major Causes of  the Canon Printer Offline Issue:

There are several problematic factors and sections in a system which is connected with the Canon printer is offline issue. Some of them are given below so just have a look at them.

  1. A poor network connection between the Canon printer and system
  2. Misconfigurations in Spooler Service
  3. Offline printing capability of the system
  4. Outdated or corrupted printer drivers
  5. Enabled SNMP service

Now, let’s move on and take a look at the solutions for resolving this issue

Best Ways to Solve the Canon Printer is Offline Issue:

There are many ways by which you can fix this issue on your system and some of them are provided below. Have a look at them and try to execute them as instructed.

  • Reconnect the Canon Printer to the WiFi

Most of the time, this type of issue appears on Canon printers due to connectivity problems. If your system is connected with your printer via a wireless network, then it is quite possible that this issue appears on your system because of some network problem. Now, in order to fix this problem, you need to reconnect your printer with the WiFi router. To do that, follow the given instructions:

  1. Press and hold the Wi-fi button on your Canon printer until the Wifi notification light starts blinking.
  2. Once the Wifi notification light starts behaving like that, press the WPS button on your router.

Now, your Canon printer will search for all the available network present around it. If it finds and establishes a connection with a network, the Wifi notification light will stop blinking automatically but it will remain still in a lit position. Once the notification light does that, check whether the issue is solved or not. Now, if you don’t want to use the WPS method for connection purposes, then you can set it up manually. The manual set up process is explained in the section below, so have a look at it.

  • Go to the Control panel of your Canon printer and open the Wireless LAN setup window from the Setting menu
  • Now, the Canon printer will start looking for available networks around it.
  • If it is able to locate your network, press the OK button to connect with your network/WiFi. However, if you are using any type of security lock on your Wifi router/network, then you need to type in the security password in order to establish the network connection.  

After that, you just need to check the existence of this issue by giving some printing commands.

  • Restart the Spooler Service

Sometimes, the Canon printer users can fix this issue by restarting the Spooler service in their system. That’s why we are going to try that same trick in order to solve this issue. If you want to try that trick on your system, follow the given instructions.

  1. Open the Run dialog box by pressing the “Window key + R”. Then type “ services.msc” on the dialog box and hit the Enter key or Ok button
  2. Now on the service window, locate the Print Spooler service option and double-click on it.
  3. A pop-up window will instantly appear on your screen. On that window, you need to hit the Stop button in order to pause the service
  4. Now you have to delete all the printing files. To do that, open up the Run dialog box once more and type “  C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS” on it. A folder will instantly pop-up on your window. Delete all the contents of that folder and then close it.
  5. After that, go back to the pop-up window and press the Start button. While doing this, make sure that the Status type option is set as Automatic.

Once the Spooler service starts working again, reboot your system. Now, check whether Canon printer offline issue still appearing on your system or not.

  • Disable the “Use Printer Offline” option

Now, the next workaround that you can try on this issue is taking away the skill of your system to work with the Canon printer, when it is offline. This action will ensure that your printer only works when it is perfectly connected with your system. However, if this workaround is unable to fix this issue, then you can change it back to its previous form. Now, to perform this workaround, follow the given steps.

  • First, open up the Control Panel window with the help of the WinX menu. Press Window key + X to launch the WinX menu. Then, click on the Control Panel option.
  • Now, on the Control Panel window, locate and select the Hardware and Sound.
  • On the sub-categories list of Hardware and Sound, you will find the Devices and Printers option. Click on that option.
  • In the Devices and Printers window, you will find the name and icon of your Canon printer. Right-click on it and open up the Context menu. Now, on the Context menu, you will get the See what’s printing option. Click on that option.
  • A new window will come up on your screen. There, you have to tap on the Printer option in order to open the drop-down menu. On that menu, you need to select two options. First, the “Cancel all documents option and then Use printer offline option.

Once you have done that, reboot your system and verify the existence of the issue. If it still persists, then proceed on to the next step.

  • Update the Printer Drivers

If all the solutions and workarounds mentioned in the above sections didn’t work for you, then it is quite possible that the real cause of this issue lies in your printer’s drivers. Many users have encountered the Canon printer offline issue on their system due to corrupted or outdated printer drives. Therefore, to solve that problem, the users had to reinstall or update their printer drives. Now, if you want to do that task on your system, then start following the steps given in the section below.

  • Open the Run dialog box by pressing the Windows key + R. Then, type “devmgmt.msc” on it and hit the OK button.
  • Now, on the Device Manager window, locate the printer drivers and then right-click on it.
  • A pop menu will instantly appear on the screen. On that menu, you need to click on the Update driver option in order to begin the updating process.
  • After that click, an option prompt will emerge on your screen. On that prompt, you have to select the  Search automatically for updated driver software option.

Once you do that, the driver update service will search the web for all the available driver updates for your system. Moreover, if the service finds any such drives on the web, it will automatically download and install them on your system. Now, after the installation process, you just need to reboot your system and check if the Canon printer offline issue still occuring on your system or not.

  • Uncheck the SNMP Status Enabled Option

The SNMP ( Simple Network Management Protocol) is a network protocol which is primarily used for printer network management services. Now, some users have reported that the SNMP service was creating the offline issue on their system. Thus, by disabling that service, this issue can be easily fixed. It might be possible, this method works for you. So, if you want to try it, then follow the given below instructions:

  1. Press the Windows key + S to open the Search bar. Then, type Control Panel in the dialog box and launch the Control panel window
  2. There, you have to select the Hardware and Sound option in order to open its window.
  3. Now, on the Hardware and Sound window, you will find the name and icon of your Canon printer. Right-click on it to launch the Content menu.
  4. On that menu, click on the Printer Properties option.
  5. A pop-window will emerge on your screen. On that pop- window, tap on the Ports tab and enter into it
  6. Inside the Ports tab, click on the Configure Port option. Then, check the box beside the SMP Status Enabled option.
  7. After that, hit on the OK button to apply all the setting changes that you have made.

Now, check that is your Canon printer says offline or not.


We hope that the solutions are suggestions mentioned in this article are helpful to you for overcoming the Canon printer offline issue. You just need to follow them as per the given instructions. If you still face this issue in your Canon printer, then get in touch with an expert for reliable assistance.