Common printer and network problems in small offices

First, work out whose problem it is

One question narrows this faster than anything: can anyone else print? It splits printer problems into two completely different investigations, and skipping it is why people spend an afternoon on the wrong one.

1. 1Nobody can print: the printer, its network connection, or its address. Keep reading.
2. 2One person cannot print: that computer’s driver or queue. Skip to the section below.
3. 3It prints but looks wrong: driver or settings, not the network.
4. 4It prints slowly: often a driver sending images instead of text.

The disappearing printer, and why a fixed address fixes it

Most office printers get their address automatically from the router. That address has a lease, and when the lease expires — typically after a weekend, or a power cut — the printer can come back with a different one. Every computer is still pointed at the old address, so the printer has "disappeared".

This is why it fails on Monday mornings, and why restarting everything appears to fix it for a while.

1. 1Print the printer’s network configuration page from its own control panel to see its current address.
2. 2Give the printer a fixed address, either set on the printer or reserved for it on the router.
3. 3Update the computers to point at the fixed address.
4. 4If you use it, confirm the printer name resolves consistently, because name-based connections fail the same way.

When it is only one computer

1. 1Clear the print queue. One stuck job blocks everything behind it, and the queue does not always show it clearly.
2. 2Restart the print spooler service on Windows, which clears jams the queue view hides.
3. 3Remove the printer and add it again, which is faster than diagnosing a corrupted driver.
4. 4Check the person has not been set to a different default printer, which is the answer more often than it should be.

The network problems that look like printer problems

Printers are often the first thing to complain when the network is unhappy, because they sit at the far end of the office on weak Wi-Fi and nobody notices until printing fails.

1. 1If the printer is on Wi-Fi and in a corner, weak signal may be the real cause. A cable solves it permanently where one is possible.
2. 2If printing fails at the same time each day, look for a scheduled backup or update saturating the connection.
3. 3If the printer works from some computers and not others, check they are on the same network — a laptop that joined the guest network cannot see it, and guest isolation is working correctly when that happens.