Why Is My HP Printer Offline? 7 Ways To Fix It

Even if you’ve connected your printer properly, your HP printer can still show the “Printer offline” error message. It means that your printer is unable to communicate with your PC properly.

This error can occur due to many reasons, like IP address conflict, using an incompatible printer driver, incorrect printer settings, and so on. But they can also be as basic as your printer is in Sleep mode.

Check the Connection Status

First, you need to figure out if there are any connectivity issues. If you are using USB or LAN cable to connect the printer, try reconnecting the cable. You can also try swapping the USB ports on your PC or the LAN ports on your router.

Also, check if the printer is receiving proper signal strength. Poor signal strength can cause frequent disconnection, resulting in printer offline status. If that is the case, you can try reconnecting the printer to the Wi-Fi network again or connect to a different network, if available.

Likewise, you can print the network configuration page to see the wireless connection status of your printer.

1. Press the Wireless and Information buttons on your printer panel at the same time.
   
2. Your printer will then print the Network Configuration Page. You can see the connection status of your printer there along with other information like WPS PIN and Wi-Fi Direct information.
   

Wake Up the Printer

If your printer has been sitting idle for a long time, it can enter sleep mode. To verify if the printer has gone to sleep mode, you can look at the display panel of your printer. If the power indicator is glowing, but there is nothing showing on the screen, you can confirm the printer is in sleep mode.

This can cause the PC to show the printer offline when trying to print anything. HP printers have a dedicated Cancel button to wake up the printer from sleep. You can press the button once and wake it up from sleep mode.

Use HP Printer Troubleshooter

HP offers “HP Print and Scan Doctor,” a troubleshooting tool that helps diagnose issues with the HP printers and provide possible solutions to the users. It can also be used to troubleshoot your printer when it is showing an offline status.

1. Open HP Print and Scan Doctor application on your PC.
   
2. Click the Start button on the home screen of the app.
   
3. Select your printer profile on the next screen and click Next.
   
4. You can then follow the on-screen instructions to resolve the issues with your printer.
   

Switch to Online Mode

You can either switch your printer to online or offline mode as per your necessity. If it has been set to offline mode, it will start showing the printer offline message and prevent you from printing. You can check it easily and switch back to online mode.

1. Open Control Panel.
   
2. Then click Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers.
3. Right-click your HP printer and choose See what’s printing.
   
4. In the new window, click the Printer tab.
5. Uncheck Use printer offline.
   

Assign a Static IP Address

Printers frequently run into problems when you connect them wirelessly to the network. It is because the lease time of the DHCP IP address assigned to the printer ends after a specified period. And, when the router renews the printer’s IP, the IP set on the computer does not match the actual IP of the printer. This IP conflict can make the printer go offline. Therefore, we recommend you use a static IP with your printer.

Since you can not assign a manual IP when your printer is offline, you should first connect the printer to your PC via a USB cable. Then follow these steps.

1. Open HP Smart on your PC.
   
2. Choose the Printer Settings tab.
   
3. Click Advanced Settings under Settings.
   
4. Select Network on the menu bar.
5. Expand the Wireless (802.11) menu on the left hand side.
6. Choose Network Address (IPV4).
   
7. Check the box next to Manual IP and assign a Manual IP address, Subnet Mask and  Default Gateway.
   
8. To know these details, you can use the ipconfig and arp -a command.
9. Open Command Prompt on your PC.
   
10. Type ipconfig and hit Enter key. You will see the Subnet Mask and Default Gateway there.
    
11. Now type arp -a and press Enter.
    
12. Assign a unique IP that is not in the arp list. In our case, we can assign any IP that is not in the list and between 192.168.10.1 and 192.168.10.255

After assigning a manual IP, you should now add the printer to your PC using that IP.

1. Open Settings.
2. Choose Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.
3. Click Add device.
   
4. Click Add manually.
5. Choose Add a printer using an IP address or hostname.
   
6. Then click Next.
7. Type the IP address specified earlier and click Next.
   
8. The printer will now be added to the computer using a static IP address.

Tip: To avoid this hustle and bustle, you can connect your PC and printer using the Wi-Fi Direct SSID of the printer. You can get the Wi-Fi Direct details from the network configuration page of your printer. Simply press the Wireless and Information button on the printer’s button panel simultaneously to get the printout with Wi-Fi Direct information.

Disable SNMP Status

SNMP stands for Simple Network Management Protocol. It helps to relay management information between the client devices and network devices. When it comes to printers, SNMP is used to retrieve the printer’s status like Ready, Printer Offline, Empty Paper Tray, Low Ink and more.

Sometimes, when the SNMP mechanism fails to work, your printer keeps showing offline status despite it not being offline. You can try disabling the SNMP status and see if you can start printing again.

1. Open Control Panel.
   
2. Go to Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers.
3. Right click your printer and choose Printer properties.
   
4. Jump to Ports tab.
5. Select the port. By default, it will be set to Standard TCP/IP Port if you have connected your printer over Wi-Fi.
6. Click the Configure Port button.
   
7. Uncheck SNMP Status Enabled and click OK.
   

Use Official Drivers From HP

If you have added your HP Printer through Windows Settings, the printer may remain offline and you may not be able to use it. You need to install the genuine HP printer drivers for using the printer correctly. You can visit the HP official website and get drivers for your printer.

1. Load HP page for driver downloads on your web browser.
2. Type the name of your printer in the textbox under Enter your product name and select it.
   
3. On the next page, go under the Installation Software section and download the drivers.
   
4. Once downloaded, launch the .exe file and follow the on-screen instructions to add the printer driver.