HP Printer Stopped Working After Windows Updated? Here's Why

Your PC installed a Windows update, and now your HP printer will not print. The job sits in the queue and never moves, the printer shows as "Offline," or Windows acts like the printer was never set up.

This is almost always a software problem, not a broken printer. A Windows update changes things on the PC side: the printing service, the driver, the port, and the security rules around shared printers. Your HP printer is usually fine and just needs to be reconnected to Windows properly. The steps below fix it on Windows 11 and Windows 10, in the order a technician would actually try them.

Why a Windows Update Stops Your HP Printer

A few different things go wrong when Windows installs a monthly update or a version upgrade.

• Windows replaced your HP driver. Windows Update ships its own printer drivers. After an update it can install a generic "Microsoft IPP Class Driver" or an older HP driver over the one you set up. Printing then stalls, loses features like duplex or tray selection, or fails outright.
• The Print Spooler was reset. Every cumulative update restarts the spooler, the Windows service that manages print jobs. A job that was stuck before the update, or a startup type that flipped to Manual, leaves the spooler down and nothing prints.
• The printer switched to Offline. Updates re-run hardware detection. If the PC cannot reach the printer at that moment, because the printer is asleep or Wi-Fi dropped, Windows marks it Offline and does not always clear that on its own.
• The port changed to WSD. Windows sometimes rebuilds a network printer on a WSD port instead of the Standard TCP/IP port you had. WSD depends on discovery that breaks when the printer's IP address changes, and that is one of the most common reasons a printer reads "offline" straight after an update.
• A security change blocked a shared printer. Since the PrintNightmare patches, updates have tightened how Windows connects to a printer shared from another PC or a print server. That shows up as error 0x0000011b or "Windows cannot connect to the printer."
• The update itself has a printing bug. It happens. Microsoft has shipped updates that made USB printers spit out pages of random text and network code, and as recently as the August 2026 updates, updates that broke printing and PDF export in some Windows apps. When the fault is Microsoft's, the fix is a later patch or a documented workaround, not your printer.

You do not need to work out which one hit you. Work through the fixes in order.

Before You Start: Three Quick Checks

These take about two minutes and clear a good share of post-update problems.

• Power cycle both devices. Turn the printer off. Shut the PC down fully, wait 30 seconds, then start both again. This resolves a surprising number of update glitches on its own.
• Check the connection. For USB, reseat the cable at both ends and use a port directly on the PC rather than a hub. For wireless, confirm the printer shows a steady Wi-Fi light and is on the same network name as the PC. Older HP models need the 2.4 GHz band.
• Install any pending updates. Go to Settings > Windows Update, install everything offered, and restart. Microsoft often ships a follow-up patch that fixes a printing bug the first update caused.

If the printer still will not print, keep going.

Fix 1: Restart the Print Spooler

A stalled spooler makes every printer fail at once, so check it first.

1. Press Windows key + R, type services.msc, and press Enter.
2. Scroll to Print Spooler in the list.
3. Right-click it and choose Restart.
4. Double-click Print Spooler, set Startup type to Automatic, then click OK.

If jobs are still stuck:

1. Right-click Print Spooler and choose Stop.
2. In File Explorer, open C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS and delete every file inside. This only clears pending jobs and is safe.
3. Go back to Services, right-click Print Spooler, and choose Start.

Send a test print.

Fix 2: Clear "Use Printer Offline" and the Stuck Queue

Windows turns this setting on by itself after a failed job and often leaves it on after an update.

Windows 11

1. Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.
2. Click your HP printer, then click Open print queue.
3. Open the Printer menu at the top of the queue window.
4. If Use Printer Offline has a check mark, click it to clear it. Do the same for Pause Printing.
5. Right-click any old jobs and cancel them.

Windows 10

1. Open Control Panel > Devices and Printers.
2. Right-click your HP printer and choose See what's printing.
3. Open the Printer menu and clear the check next to Use Printer Offline.

The status should change to "Ready" within a few seconds. For a fuller walkthrough of offline errors, see our HP printer offline guide.

Fix 3: Reinstall the Full HP Driver

Download the new driver before you remove the old one, so you are not left without a printer partway through.

1. Get the current driver

• Find your exact model number on the front or top of the printer, for example OfficeJet Pro 9015e or LaserJet M209dw.
• Go to HP's official site, 123.hp.com or support.hp.com, and enter your model.
• Download the full software and driver package, not the basic driver only. For many newer models HP points you to the HP Smart app from the Microsoft Store instead. Use whichever HP lists for your printer.

2. Remove the old driver

• Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners, click the HP printer, and choose Remove.
• Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps and uninstall any existing HP printer software.
• Press Windows key + R, type printui /s /t2, and press Enter. On the Drivers tab, select your HP driver, click Remove, choose Remove driver and driver package, and confirm.
• Restart the PC.

3. Install and reconnect

• Run the HP installer you downloaded, or open HP Smart.
• Choose your connection type and follow the prompts. For USB, connect the cable only when asked.
• When it finishes, open Printers & scanners, confirm the printer is listed, and set it as the default.
• Print a test page.

Fix 4: Run HP Print and Scan Doctor

HP Print and Scan Doctor is a free Windows tool made for exactly this kind of problem. Run it before anything more technical.

1. Download it from HP's support site and open the file. There is no installation.
2. Select your HP printer from the list.
3. Let it check the driver, the spooler, the port, and the connection. It repairs many of these on its own and tells you in plain language what it could not fix.

The tool is Windows only. On a Mac, open the HP Smart app and run Diagnose & Fix.

Fix 5: Check the Printer Port

If your printer connects over the network and has read "offline" since the update, Windows may have moved it to a WSD port.

1. Open Control Panel > Devices and Printers, right-click the HP printer, and choose Printer properties.
2. Open the Ports tab. If the ticked port is named WSD followed by a long string of characters, that is likely the problem.
3. Find the printer's IP address. On the printer, print a Network Configuration page from the settings or wireless menu, or check the connected device list in your router.
4. Back on the Ports tab, click Add Port, choose Standard TCP/IP Port, click New Port, enter the printer's IP address, and finish the wizard.
5. Make sure the new Standard TCP/IP port is ticked, click Apply, and print a test page.

To keep this from breaking again, reserve the printer's IP address in your router so it never changes. Routers usually list this as DHCP reservation or address reservation.

Fix 6: Fix a Shared or Network Printer That Stopped

If you print through a printer shared from another PC or a work server and you now see error 0x0000011b or "Windows cannot connect to the printer," an update tightened a printer security rule and the old connection no longer meets it.

• On a home setup, the cleanest fix is to connect to the printer directly by its IP address using Fix 5 above, rather than through the shared connection.
• On a work or managed computer, do not edit the registry yourself. Send the exact error text and the update's KB number to your IT team. They have a supported way to handle this across every affected machine at once.

Fix 7: Uninstall or Pause the Update

Use this when the printer broke the moment a specific update installed and none of the fixes above helped.

1. Open Settings > Windows Update > Update history, then click Uninstall updates.
2. Remove the most recent quality update, the one with the newest install date and a KB number. Restart.
3. Go back to Settings > Windows Update, click Pause updates, and pause for a week or two so the same update does not return right away.
4. Check HP's support page for your model and Microsoft's Windows release health page for that KB. If a corrected update is already out, install it rather than staying unpatched.

If the trouble started right after a Windows version upgrade rather than a monthly patch, you can roll the whole upgrade back from Settings > System > Recovery > Go back, but only within 10 days of the upgrade.

Stop It Happening at the Next Update

A short setup change keeps Windows from replacing a working HP driver every time it updates.

• Turn off automatic driver replacement. Open Control Panel > System > Advanced system settings > Hardware tab > Device Installation Settings, choose No, and save. Windows still updates itself, it just stops pushing its own printer drivers over yours. You update the HP driver yourself from HP's site when you need to.
• Keep the full HP installer saved on the PC or a USB drive, so a reinstall takes two minutes instead of a search.
• Use a Standard TCP/IP port with a reserved IP, not WSD, for network printers.
• Print one test page after any large update, before you need the printer for something time-sensitive.

Which Fix to Try First