How to Reset a Lexmark Printer: Every Method, By Model and Symptom

Turn the printer off. While it's off, hold down the reset button combination for your model - usually two or three buttons together, or on touchscreen models, the Settings > Device > Restore Factory Defaults path - until "Restoring Factory Defaults" appears on the display. Release the buttons, let the printer finish restarting, and it comes back with its original settings.

That's the core mechanic. But "reset my Lexmark printer" actually covers four different jobs, and using the wrong one is the single biggest reason people end up doing this twice. A factory reset won't touch your Wi-Fi credentials on most models. A network reset won't clear a stuck print queue. And neither one will fix a toner cartridge that's showing "Replace Cartridge" with toner still in it - that needs a supply reset instead.

Below is every method, organised by what's actually wrong, plus the parts of a Lexmark reset that trip people up even when they follow the steps correctly.

Which Reset Do You Actually Need?

Method 1: Soft Reset (Power Cycle)

This is the one to try first for almost anything - it clears the printer's volatile memory and any hung print job without touching a single saved setting.

1. Turn the printer off at the power button.
2. Unplug it from the wall - don't just switch it off, pull the cord.
3. Wait a full 60 seconds. This matters more than it sounds: Lexmark's control boards hold a residual charge for a short period, and powering back in too quickly sometimes reconnects the same corrupted job state you were trying to clear.
4. Plug it back in and power on.

If the printer was showing a generic error code, an unresponsive touchscreen, or was just "offline" for no clear reason, this fixes it more often than any other single step, and it's the one people skip because it feels too simple to work.

Method 2: Factory Reset on Touchscreen Models

Applies to most current Lexmark MFPs with a colour e-Task touchscreen - the MX, CX, MB, and MC series, along with newer CS and MS models.

1. From the home screen, tap Settings.
2. Tap Device.
3. Tap Restore Factory Defaults.
4. Choose Restore Settings, then select either specific setting groups or Restore All Settings to reset everything at once.
5. Tap Restore, and let the printer restart.

Before you reset: a full factory reset wipes saved scan-to-email shortcuts, fax destination lists, and any custom security or network settings you've configured. If the printer is on a managed office network and still reachable, log into the Embedded Web Server first and look for Export Configuration (sometimes a top-level link, sometimes under Settings, depending on the model) to save a .ucf settings file you can re-import afterward instead of rebuilding everything by hand.

The "restore specific groups" option is worth using deliberately rather than defaulting to "restore all." If the only problem is a corrupted paper-size default, there's no reason to also wipe your saved fax numbers, email shortcuts, and Bluetooth pairing.

Method 3: Factory Reset on Non-Touchscreen Models

Older and entry-level Lexmark printers without a colour display use a physical button combination held during power-on instead. This is where most of the confusion online comes from, because the combination genuinely differs by control panel generation:

• Numeric keypad panels (common on the E-series, X-series, and T-series): power off, then press and hold 2 and 6 together while powering the printer back on. Some models in this same family respond instead to # and 6. If one doesn't trigger the service menu within a few seconds, try the other before assuming the printer is faulty.
• Three-button panels with no keypad (common on older Pro-series and X-series inkjet all-in-ones): power off, then hold Menu>, Go, and Select together while powering back on. Release once "Restoring Factory Defaults" appears.

If neither combination responds, check the specific support page for your model number rather than guessing further. Lexmark changed panel layouts several times across the 2000s and 2010s, and a combination from one generation can do nothing at all on another.

Method 4: Reset Remotely via the Embedded Web Server (EWS)

Useful for office or shared printers where walking to the device isn't convenient, or where you need to reset a printer you manage but don't have physical access to.

1. Print a network setup page from the printer's menu to find its current IP address (or check your router's connected devices list).
2. Type that IP address into a web browser.
3. Log in with the admin credentials, or with the default PIN if one hasn't been set - this is on the printer's setup documentation or the underside label.
4. Go to Settings > Device > Restore Factory Defaults.
5. Select the settings to restore and confirm.

This is also the fastest fix if you're locked out of the EWS because you forgot the admin password: a factory reset clears it, since the password is one of the stored settings being wiped.

The Network Reset Nobody Mentions

Here's the part that catches almost everyone out: on most Lexmark models, a factory reset does not clear the network configuration. If your actual problem is a printer stuck on a static IP address of 0.0.0.0, or one that refuses to rejoin Wi-Fi after a router change, running a standard factory reset and finding the network problem still there afterward isn't a sign you did it wrong - it's expected behaviour.

The reason comes down to hardware. On networked Lexmark models, the network interface (Lexmark calls the underlying card technology MarkNet) stores its TCP/IP configuration separately from the printer's main NVRAM. The factory reset menu wipes the main settings; it leaves the network card's stored configuration alone by design, so a shared office printer doesn't lose its IP address every time someone resets a paper-tray default.

To actually reset the network side:

1. On touchscreen models: Settings > Network/Ports > [your connection type] > Restore Factory Defaults, or specifically re-enable DHCP if a static IP is the issue.
2. On button-panel models: this usually requires a separate combination from the general factory reset, or clearing it through the EWS if the printer still has any reachable IP.
3. After either, print a new network setup page to confirm it picked up a fresh DHCP-assigned address.

If the printer's IP is stuck at 0.0.0.0 and you can't reach the EWS at all, you're in a genuine chicken-and-egg situation - the fix there is usually a direct USB connection to run the reset locally, or a wired Ethernet connection with a laptop set to the same subnet, rather than trying to reach it over Wi-Fi.

Resetting the Toner or Supply Chip

This isn't a printer reset at all, and treating it like one is why people end up replacing perfectly good cartridges. Every genuine Lexmark toner cartridge has a small chip that tracks page count and communicates with the printer - it's the chip, not a sensor reading actual toner powder, that decides when to show "Replace Toner." Refill a cartridge without resetting or replacing that chip, and the printer will keep reporting it as empty regardless of how much toner is physically inside.

If you're seeing "Replace Unsupported Cartridge" specifically (different from a standard low-toner warning), that's the printer's cartridge-authentication system flagging the chip as non-genuine, damaged, or mismatched to the printer's region. On several models, powering off and holding 3, 4, and 6 together while powering back on brings up the option to accept the risk and continue with a non-genuine cartridge worth knowing exists, but also worth knowing it can permanently reject a specific cartridge on some firmware versions, after which that exact cartridge won't be accepted again even with a repeat reset.

Two practical notes before you go this route: mixing up starter (SWE) cartridges between two printers will trigger this every time, since they're firmware-locked to the printer they shipped with. And using compatible or refilled chips does typically void Lexmark's supply warranty, though whether it voids the printer's warranty depends on your region's consumer protection rules - check before assuming the worst.

Why This Behaves Differently on a Lexmark Than on Other Brands

Lexmark's laser printers run on what they call the Unison print system - toner and the imaging (drum) unit are separate consumables rather than one combined cartridge, and the toner formulation is designed to print at a lower fusing temperature than older Lexmark toners. Two things about that matter practically for anyone doing a reset:

First, because toner and imaging unit are tracked separately, a reset or a fresh cartridge swap won't reset the imaging unit's own page counter if you're chasing a "low imaging unit" warning, that's a different part with its own chip and its own countdown, and it needs its own replacement or reset, not the toner reset described above.

Second, Lexmark's own published lifecycle data puts Unison Toner's per-page carbon footprint as much as 46% lower than its largest competitor's cartridges, largely from that lower fusing temperature, which is also why, anecdotally, resetting or replacing a cartridge on these printers tends to bring the printer back to ready faster than on printers using older high-heat fusing systems. It's a small thing, but it's the kind of detail that explains why a "the same reset" can feel meaningfully different between printer brands.

What Actually Gets Erased

When a Reset Won't Fix It

A reset addresses corrupted settings and stuck software states - it can't fix anything physical. If you're seeing:

• Vertical streaks or bands on printed pages - that's the drum or fuser, not a settings problem.
• Repeated paper jams at the same spot - check the rollers and the paper path first; a reset changes nothing here.
• Grinding or clicking noises on startup - mechanical, not software.

Running a factory reset in these cases just costs you the time of re-entering your network and address book settings for no benefit. It's worth ruling out hardware causes first, because a reset genuinely won't touch them.

After the Reset: Getting Back Up and Running

1. Reconnect to Wi-Fi through the printer's setup wizard if the network reset (or a full factory reset that happened to include network settings on your model) cleared it.
2. Print a network setup page and note the new IP address if it changed.
3. On Windows or Mac, remove the printer from your devices list and re-add it rather than trying to reuse the old connection after an IP change, the existing driver entry will often still point at the old address and show "offline" even though the printer itself is fine.
4. Reinstall the latest driver from Lexmark's support site for your exact model rather than relying on a driver that shipped years ago on the install CD.
5. Run a test page from the printer's own menu first, before printing from a computer. This confirms the hardware side reset cleanly before you spend time troubleshooting a connection issue that may not exist.

Quick Reference by Series

Note the MB series split: the plain "adw" and the "adwe"/"i" variants look nearly identical on a spec sheet but use entirely different control panels - one letter is the difference between a touchscreen menu path and a two-line display with arrow keys. If your exact model isn't behaving the way its category suggests, check which exact suffix is on the front of the unit before assuming the steps are wrong.

Related Guides

How to Reset Lexmark Printer?

How to Reset Lexmark Printer to Factory Settings?

How to Connect Lexmark Printer to the Computer?