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- HP Community
- Printers
- Printer Setup, Software & Drivers
- Unable to Communicate with Printer, but still prints

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04-02-2019 10:29 AM
I am supporting a user in our company and she gets the "Unable to Communicate with Printer" error message everytime that she prints, but the print is still sent to the printer and comes out as expected. The user is getting the error message both on her laptop and inside of her VMWare VDI connected through her Horizon Client. This is a locally installed printer and not attached to a print server.
Any Help would be appreciated.
04-03-2019 11:43 AM
Welcome to HP Support Community,
Use HP Print and Scan Doctor
Download and run the HP Print and Scan Doctor to automatically diagnose and resolve printer hardware and connection issues.
If the issue persists, try to delete the job files and then restart
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Turn off the printer using the power button and then unplug the printer power cord from the power outlet.
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In Windows, search for and open Services.
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In the Services window, right-click Print Spooler, and then select Stop.
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After the service stops, close the Services window.
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In Windows, search for and open C:Windows\System32\Spool\PRINTERS.
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Delete all files in the PRINTERS folder.
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Shut down your computer.
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Connect the printer power cord to the power outlet, and then turn on the printer.
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Turn on the computer, and then try to print. If the issue persists, continue to the next step.
If the issue persists, let's uninstall the printer from the root level and then reinstall it by following the steps below:
- Press “Windows key” + “r” to get the “Run” window.
- Type "services.msc" to get Services – Go to “Print spooler” – Right-click and “Stop” the service.
- Now again open "Run" - Type “spool” and ok - Go to PRINTERS folder - delete everything in that folder.
- Go to services again - Start the print spooler.
- Now check for issue resolution.
- If the issue persists, also try clean installing the printer drivers. Here are the steps:
- First, unplug the USB cable from the printer if present.
- Go to Control panel – Programs and feature – Select all the HP OfficeJet printer entries and uninstall them.
- Now go to Control panel – Devices and printer – Select all the printer entries and remove the device.
- Press the "windows key" + "r" to get the "Run" window open - Type "printui.exe /s" (There is a space between .exe & /) and press enter.
- Under print server properties, go to drivers - remove any entry there as well.
- Again, go to the Run window, type – “c:/programdata” – Go to Hewlett Packard folder, remove any printer related folders & files.
- Restart your computer.
- Please click here to download and install the software.
- Connect the USB cable if prompted and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
Let me know how it goes!
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Jeet_Singh
I am an HP Employee