Canon Printer in an Error State? Here's How to Clear It

You send a file to the printer and Windows stops you with a short, unhelpful line: "Printer in error state." The Canon unit on your desk looks perfectly normal, powered on with paper in the tray, so the warning is hard to act on.

Here is the part that helps. An error state almost never means a dead printer. It means Windows can still see the printer, but the printer, or the connection carrying its status messages, is reporting a problem that needs clearing first. That might be a paper jam, an open cover, a low cartridge, a stalled print queue, or a driver that has lost two-way communication with the machine. The steps below work through those causes in order, from the quickest check to the most involved.

Causes of a Canon Printer in an Error State

Windows flags an error state when the printer reports a fault back to the computer, or when the channel that carries those status updates stops working. The usual triggers:

• A physical issue on the printer. A paper jam, an open cover or cartridge door, an empty or unrecognized ink tank, or a full output tray will each push the printer into an error state until you clear it.
• A stuck print queue. One failed or corrupted job can block everything behind it, and Windows flags the whole printer rather than the single document.
• A Print Spooler fault. The spooler is the Windows service that hands print jobs to the printer. When it hangs or crashes, printers commonly show as "error" or "offline."
• A driver problem. A missing, outdated, or mismatched driver, often after a Windows feature update, breaks the link that reports printer status, so Windows assumes the worst.
• An unstable connection. A loose USB cable, a failing port, or a wireless printer that has slipped onto a different network can all interrupt status reporting.
• A WSD port that has lost track of the printer. On network printers, the auto-discovery port Windows creates can stop following the printer if its IP address changes.

How to Fix a Canon Printer in an Error State on Windows

Work through these in order. Most people are printing again by step 3 or 4.

1. Clear anything physical first

Look at the printer itself before you touch the computer.

1. Check the printer's screen or status lights for a specific message (jam, cover open, ink, paper).
2. Open the covers and remove any jammed or torn paper, pulling it slowly in the direction the paper normally feeds.
3. Confirm paper is loaded correctly and the output tray is extended and not overfull.
4. Reseat each ink or toner cartridge, and replace any the printer reports as empty or unrecognized.
5. Close every cover firmly. The error should clear on the printer's own display.

2. Power cycle the printer and the PC

1. Turn the printer off with its power button, then unplug it from the wall.
2. Shut the computer down completely.
3. Wait about 30 seconds, plug the printer back in, and turn it on.
4. Start the computer, let it settle, and print a test page.

This step alone clears a large share of error states, because it resets both the printer's internal state and the spooler.

3. Turn off "Use Printer Offline" and clear the queue

1. Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.
2. Select your Canon printer and choose Open print queue.
3. Open the Printer menu. If Use Printer Offline or Pause Printing has a checkmark, click it to remove it.
4. Still in the queue, right-click every listed job and choose Cancel, then send one fresh test page.

4. Restart the Print Spooler

1. Press Windows + R, type services.msc, and press Enter.
2. Find Print Spooler in the list.
3. Right-click it and choose Restart. If it is stopped, choose Start.
4. If the error comes back quickly, stop the spooler again, open File Explorer to C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS, delete everything inside that folder, then start the spooler and reboot.

5. Run the Windows printer troubleshooter

1. Open Settings > System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters.
2. Run the Printer troubleshooter. On newer Windows 11 builds this opens in the Get Help app.
3. Apply any fix it suggests. It can reset the spooler and repair the port for you.

On older builds you can launch it directly: press Windows + R, type msdt.exe /id PrinterDiagnostic, and press Enter.

6. Reinstall the Canon driver

A damaged driver is one of the most common reasons the error keeps returning.

1. On Canon's official support site, look up your exact model and download the current driver package for your version of Windows. Do not run it yet.
2. Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners, select the Canon printer, and click Remove.
3. Press Windows + R, type printui /s /t2, and press Enter to open Print Server Properties on the Drivers tab.
4. Select the Canon driver, click Remove, and choose Remove driver and driver package.
5. Restart the computer, run the installer you downloaded, and reconnect the printer when it prompts you.

7. For network printers, switch to a fixed connection

If the printer is on Wi-Fi or Ethernet and the error keeps coming and going:

1. In your router settings, reserve a fixed IP address for the printer so it stops changing.
2. In Printers & scanners, open the printer's Printer properties > Ports.
3. Add a Standard TCP/IP Port pointing to that reserved address, set it as the active port, and remove the old WSD port.
4. Confirm Enable bidirectional support is checked on the Ports tab so status messages come through again.

One more setting worth changing: in Printers & scanners, turn off Let Windows manage my default printer, then set your Canon printer as the default yourself.

Troubleshoot a Canon Printer in an Error State on Mac

macOS does not use the phrase "error state," but the same faults show up as a paused printer, a job stuck "on hold," or a printer that will not take new jobs.

Check the printer and the connection

Clear any jam, close all covers, reseat the cartridges, and confirm the printer shows ready on its own display. For USB, try another cable and another port. For wireless, confirm the Mac and the printer are on the same network.

Resume the printer and clear the queue

1. Open System Settings > Printers & Scanners.
2. Select the Canon printer and click Printer Queue (or Open Print Queue).
3. If a Resume button is showing, click it.
4. Delete any stuck jobs with the x next to each one, then print a test page.

Remove and re-add the printer

1. In Printers & Scanners, select the Canon printer and click the minus (-) button to remove it.
2. Click the plus (+) button, wait for the printer to appear, select it, and click Add.
3. If macOS offers both AirPrint and a model-specific driver, AirPrint is usually the more stable choice.

Reset the printing system (last resort)

This removes every printer and all print jobs, so use it only when nothing above works.

1. In Printers & Scanners, right-click (or Control-click) anywhere in the printer list.
2. Choose Reset printing system and confirm with your administrator password.
3. Add the Canon printer back with the plus (+) button.