"Error state" usually just means Windows and your Brother printer have lost sync with each other, not that anything's broken. Most of the time you can clear it yourself in under ten minutes using the steps below, no technician or replacement parts required.
What Causes a Brother Printer to Show an Error State
A Brother printer can land in an error state for a physical reason, a software reason, or both at once. Before trying anything else, check whether your situation matches one of these:
- A jammed or misfed sheet still sitting inside the paper path or rollers
- Low, empty, or misaligned ink or toner cartridges that aren't seated correctly
- A loose or damaged USB or network cable between the printer and your computer
- The printer set to "offline" or paused inside Windows, even though it's powered on
- A stuck or corrupted print job sitting in the Windows print spooler queue
- An outdated or corrupted Brother printer driver
- A recent Windows update that reset printer settings, permissions, or driver files
Once you know which one applies, the right fix below usually takes just a few minutes.
How to Fix a Brother Printer Stuck in an Error State
Work through these in order. Most people clear the error at Method 1 or 2 without needing to touch the spooler or driver at all.
Method 1: Rule Out the Physical Causes First
- Open the cover and check for any jammed or torn paper along the rollers
- Confirm the ink or toner cartridges are fully seated and not flashing a low warning
- Unplug and firmly reseat the USB cable, or confirm the printer is still on your Wi-Fi network
- Restart both the printer and your computer, then send a test print
If the error clears here, it was almost certainly a connection or paper-path issue, not a driver or software problem.
Method 2: Turn Off "Use Printer Offline" and "Pause Printing"
Windows sometimes flips a printer into these modes on its own after a dropped connection or a failed print job.
- Open Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Printers & Scanners
- Select your Brother printer and click Open print queue
- Click the Printer menu at the top of the queue window
- Uncheck both Use Printer Offline and Pause Printing if either is checked
- Try printing again
This alone resolves the error for a large share of users, since the printer was never actually offline, Windows just thought it was.
Method 3: Restart the Print Spooler Service
The Print Spooler is the Windows service that manages every job sent to your printer. When it stalls, the printer icon shows "Error" even though the hardware is fine.
- Press Windows key + R, type
services.msc, and press Enter - Find Print Spooler in the list, right-click it, and select Restart
- If it's stopped instead of running, right-click and choose Properties, then set Startup type to Automatic so it doesn't stop again after your next reboot
- Click Apply, then OK
Send a test print once the service is back to Running.
Method 4: Clear the Print Spooler Queue Manually
If restarting the spooler doesn't help, a corrupted job file is likely stuck in the queue folder itself.
- Open services.msc, right-click Print Spooler, and select Stop
- Open File Explorer and go to
C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS - Select everything in that folder and delete it
- Go back to services.msc, right-click Print Spooler, and select Start
- Restart your computer and the printer, then try printing again
This is the same fix Brother's own support team points to for network printers stuck showing "Error, Sent to Printer" in the Windows queue.
Method 5: Update or Reinstall the Brother Printer Driver
If the error started right after a Windows update or a new PC setup, an outdated or mismatched driver is the likely cause.
- Go to Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Printers & Scanners, select your Brother printer, and remove it
- Download the current driver for your exact model from Brother's support site
- Install it and reconnect the printer, restarting your PC if prompted
Reinstalling instead of just updating clears out any corrupted driver files a patch alone won't touch.
