When working with a Canon printer on Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 you may get a message in the PC Settings saying that the printer is connected but “Attention is Required”.
When you go through the troubleshooter it will say that the printer cannot be plugged into a USB3.0 port even if it actually is plugged into a USB2.0.
What actually is going on is the Print Spooler service in services.msc needs to restart so the printer can communicate with the computer.
How to restart/reset Print Spooler service in services.msc:
- Make sure the latest drivers for the printer are installed and up to date.
For help with this, see “Updating Drivers for Hardware – Windows“. - Open up the Task Manager by right clicking the Windows icon or using “Ctrl+Alt+Del”.
- Click on the services tab, find the “Print Spooler” service.
- Right click and click “Stop”.
- Then right click once more and click “Start”
It may also be under Spooler SubSystem App. Expand the tree by selecting the arrow to the right of the service and Print Spooler will be under that.
When the service restarts the printer should become active and start working through the documents queue.
If it doesn’t print anything, clear the document queue for the printer and try reprinting.
If you continue to experience issues then reach out to the experts at HelpCloud.
