Error printing

[leachy1]

We have an office jet printer at home with 2 laptops connected to it. Both laptops constantly come up with error when we try print. Then on my wife’s laptop it creates a (copy) printer and says the other one has documents waiting. The copy printer allows her to print but my laptop continues to say error. Driving us mad 

[Hawks_Eye]

Hi @leachy1 

Welcome to the HP Support Community! We're here to help you get back up and running.

Thank you for explaining the situation clearly. Based on what you’ve described, the issue seems to be related to duplicate printer instances and pending print jobs blocking the original queue. 

Let’s go step by step to get both laptops printing smoothly again:

Step 1: Clear Print Queue

1. On each laptop, open Control Panel > Devices and Printers.
2. Locate the printer that shows “documents waiting.”
3. Right‑click the printer and select See what’s printing.
4. Cancel all documents in the list.
5. Once cleared, try printing again.

Step 2: Remove Duplicate Printer

1. In Devices and Printers, check if there is a printer with “(Copy)” in its name.
2. Right‑click the duplicate printer and select Remove device.
3. Keep only one active printer entry.

Step 3: Re‑Add Printer

1. On the laptop that continues to show error, remove the printer completely.
2. Restart the laptop.
3. Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.
4. Select Add device and allow Windows to detect the printer again.
5. Add it back and set it as Default printer.

Step 4: Run Diagnose & Fix

1. Open the HP App on each laptop.
2. Select the printer.
3. Go to Printer Settings > Diagnose & Fix.
4. Allow the tool to automatically check and repair any issues.

Step 5: Verify Connection

• If the printer is connected via Wi‑Fi, ensure both laptops are on the same network.
• If using USB, disconnect and reconnect the cable, then re‑add the printer if needed.

Step 6: Test Printing

• Print a test page from each laptop after completing the above steps.
• Confirm that only one printer instance exists and jobs are processed without error.

This sequence should resolve the duplicate printer creation and error messages. Once both laptops are aligned with a single printer queue, printing should work consistently. 

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Take care, and have an amazing day!

Regards, 

Hawks_Eye