How Does Brother Printer Activate Again while it’s showing as offline?

Emilee Boone
4 min readAug 7, 2021

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Every now and again, when you need to print a document you click “Print” but nothing happens. These are the steps you need to change your printer status from offline printer to online printer.

A normal everyday scenario. The printer menu shows you a message stating that the Brother printer is offline. You can quickly and easily get your printer online by following a few simple steps.

Sometimes printing is not possible. Sometimes, the device or computer may think the printer is offline but in reality, the printer has turned on and is ready to print.

This could be caused by an error between the printer and your computer.

Sometimes, it’s as easy as a cable not being attached correctly or an error caused by a paper jam.

A printer that appears as an “Offline” error could also be due to problems with the printer driver or software. It could be due to the age of your printer, or if you have installed any updates.

This printer offline-to-online troubleshooting tool can be used with any printer, including Brother, Canon, and Epson as well as HP.

How do I get my offline printer to work again online?

To make sure you don’t miss any items, follow each step to get your printer fixed from offline to online.

Cable checks and physical printer

Make sure both ends of your USB cable are securely inserted. Make sure that the Ethernet cable is securely inserted if the printer is connected to the network. You can check the internet connection of your printer if it is wireless.

Connecting by cable? Try using the printer cable to connect to multiple ports and sockets on your device.

To make sure that the problem is not solely with the cable, try using another cable. To check if your printer is functioning, you can attach a cable to your network device or computer. Your network connection could be the problem.

How to manually set the printer to “Online”

  1. Click the Start icon at the bottom of your screen and choose Control Panel. Next, select Devices and Printers.
  2. Right-click the printer and choose “See what’s printing”.
  3. Select “Printer” in the menu bar.
  4. Choose “Use Printer Online” in the drop-down menu.

All pending print jobs should be removed

  1. Right, click on the “See What’s Printing” menu and select “Cancel”.
  2. After the print jobs are deleted, click “Use Printer Online” again.
  3. You can restate your printer and PC if you have any remaining print jobs.

Removing and reinstalling your printer

Right-click the printer in Devices and Printers and choose “Remove device”.

Select the Add a Printer option under Devices and Printers.

How to remove printer drivers and packages

  1. You must sign in as an administrator to Windows.
  2. In the search bar, type CMD.
  3. At the command prompt, type “printui/s/t2” and the spaces will be added to the Print Server Properties window.
  4. Now, remove the driver and package for the printer.
  5. Select Add a Printer From Devices and Printers to add your printer.
  6. Now your printer should be online so you can continue printing.
  7. If the problem persists, contact the manufacturer of the printer or a technician.
  8. In some cases, it might be cheaper to buy a new printer than fix the problem.

You can also get your printer online in another way. These are the steps:

  1. You can use the online service to order your printer. Click on “Settings”, then “Printers”. Right-click the printer to open it and choose “Use Printer Online.”
  2. Clear out any print jobs by checking if they are present. Double-click on the printer you wish to use.
  3. Click on “Printer Menu” to select “Cancel All Files.”
  4. Printers that are jammed or have jobs may show errors and turn off.
  5. To get the printer online again, print a second time. To verify that the error is fixed, print a test page.
  6. Turn the printer off and find it.
  7. You should check to make sure that the printer is not jammed.
  8. To ensure that all connections work, check all network connections and wireless connections. Restart your device or computer.

If that fails, you’ll need to reinstall drivers.

  1. Go to “Settings”, then “Printers”, and choose the printer you wish to reinstall.
  2. Right-click the printer to open “Properties”.
  3. Look under the “General” and “Details” tabs for the driver button. Select it, then choose the driver.
  4. The driver may be available on the manufacturer’s site.
  5. Reinstall the printer. Go back to the “Settings”, and select “Printers”.
  6. You can delete the printer from your menu and then reinstall it using the “Add printer wizard.”
  7. Download the most recent printer driver from your printer manufacturer’s site.

These simple steps can be used if this fails:

  1. Click “Start”, then choose the “Devices and Printers folder. You can also type “Devices and printers” into the search bar. To open the settings menu, type “Printers”.
  2. Right-click on the icon to print. It could be part of your device name or the printer’s name. Check your device if you’re unsure. Click on the “See What’s Printing?” option. Or, Left-Click on the printer to select “Manage Device”.
  3. In the new window, click the “Printer” button. Uncheck “Use Printer Offline”. All items in your printer’s print queue will be printed.
  4. Internet-ink allows you to save 10% on compatible inks We are a trusted online printer ink supplier and our loyal customers enjoy the lowest printing ink prices.

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Emilee Boone
Emilee Boone

Written by Emilee Boone

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I am Emilee Boone working as an IT Engineer. I can help you to fix an avast and google chrome related issue such as google chrome antivirus settings, stop avast

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