Printer Says Out Of Paper: Quick And Easy Fixes

At times, while using your printer, you may face quite a frustrating problem. You stack the papers, connect your printer, but as you try to perform a printing task, your printer says it’s out of paper. The situation is quite annoying and can shoot up randomly without any prior notice.

Most of the time, this issue is triggered by simple software misconfigurations. However, in a few situations, this issue can be caused by serious hardware problems as well. Now, if you are one of those whose printer keeps saying out of paper, even if there are enough papers loaded, then follow this article till the end.

Here, we have provided some of the best ways to resolve this issue and after applying those hacks, hopefully, you’ll be able to fix this printer issue by yourself. But, before going into them, let’s have a look at the main causes of this error.

Printer Keeps Saying Out Of Paper: Prominent Causes

Many system and printer problems can trigger this situation where your printer will say it’s out of paper when it’s not. Listed below are the common causes of this issue.

1. Paper Jam and dirty pinter rollers
2. Improper printer settings
3. The Print Spooler server is turned off
4. File corruption issue in the printer caches folder.
5. Outdated printer drivers
6. Serious Hardware problems.

Now that you have identified all the major causes of this out of paper error message, let’s take a look at its solutions.

Ways to Resolve the Out of Paper Error

When your printer says it’s out of paper, the first step is obviously to check if there is a sufficient amount of paper actually loaded. If no problem is found there, then try to look for torn, damp or bent papers and replace them. Apart from that, verify whether or not all the papers are the same type and length and also follow the guidelines of the printer. Now, if after following these primary steps, the issue is still not resolved, then try to follow the fixes as discussed below.

Reset the Printers

The next thing that may fix this error is the resetting method. And to apply that solution on your system, follow these steps:

1. Turn on your printer and then unplug the power cable without turning the printer off.
2. After that, wait for half a minute and then plug the power cable.

After you do that, check the status of the issue, whether it’s fixed or not.

Clean the Rollers of Your Printer

The accumulation of dirt and other greasy stuff in the rollers of printers can generate this error message in your printer and system. So, in order to resolve this error, you need to clean the rollers and to do that follow the given steps.

1. First, turn off the printer and unplug all its power cables.
2. Then, get a lint-free piece of cloth and a bottle of distilled water or cleaning alcohol.
3. After that, open the rollers of your printer and then wipe them with the cloth and rotate them upward with the help of fingers.
4. Now, leave the rollers into a dry place for about half an hour. Then place them into your printer and connect the power cable.

Now, try to print something and check if the issue is resolved or not.

Turn On the Print Spooler Service

Sometimes, the Print Spooler service of Windows turns itself Off because of some setting misconfigurations or OS updates. And, you may face this issue because of this reason as well. Now, to fix it, you need to start the Print Spooler service manually and to execute that follow the steps given below.

1. Press the Windows key+ R key to launch the Run Dialogue Box. Then, type services.msc on that box and hit the OK button or the Enter key. This will bring up the Service window on the screen.
2. In that window, you will find a list of those services and features which are available on your system. From that list, try to locate the Print Spooler option and check its activity status. If the status of the Print Spooler services is showing Running then move on to other solutions. However, if it is displaying anything else, then double-click on the Print Spooler option.
3. This will open the Print Spooler Properties window. In that window, tap on the General tab and hit the Start button.
4. After that, click on the Apply button and then OK button in order to save all the changes.

Now, you just need to restart your system and check whether the error is fixed or not.

Clean the Caches Files of the Printer

In a few cases, users have noted that their printer is showing out of paper when it’s not when there is a file corruption in the cache files of the printer. And it is might be possible the same factor is triggering this issue or error in your system and printer. Now, in order to avoid this, you need to clear those corrupted cache files and to perform that try to follow the given steps.

1. Press the Windows key + E key at the same time to launch the File Explorer window. Then you need to locate the Printers folder. The path of that folder is ‘C:\windows\system32\spool\printers’
2. Once you reach that folder, select all of its contents and press the Shift key + Delete key together. This will remove all the files present in that folder.
3. After that, enter this file path ‘C:\windows\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86‘ all erase all the content, including subfolders of it.

Once you have done that, try to check if the issue is fixed.

Update the Printer Drivers

Almost every hardware error is connected with the driver and related issues. Even though the Windows Update tool automatically updates the printer drivers, it could still be worthwhile looking for printer driver updates. Now to apply this solution on your system, follow the instructions provided below.

1. Click on the Start icon and type ‘Device Manager” in the search option. Then click on the first shortcut option which comes in the result section. This will open the Device Manager window on the screen.
2. Now, in that window, locate the Printers option and then click on it. An expanded section will appear under that option.
3. In that expanded section, you will find your printer driver. Right-click on it and click on the Update Driver Software option.
4. Now, a new window will appear on the screen. In that window, click on the Search automatically for updated driver software option.

Once you do that, the Update tool will try to locate all those driver files which are available for your system. If it is able to find those update files, then it will automatically download and install them on your system. After the installation process is over, reboot your system and check if the issue is fixed or not.

To Conclude

Now, if after applying all the above solutions, you are still unable to solve this issue when your printer says it’s out of paper when it’s not, then there is a high chance that your printer is suffering from some hardware issue. And to resolve those hardware problems in the most efficient way, you need to consult with a printer technical expert.