Are you unable to print through a shared printer when using Windows 11 or Windows 10? Are you unable to find the printer on the network? Then follow this easy guide to fix Printer sharing not working in Windows.
Printer Sharing not working in Windows 11/10
Cannot share a printer? Are you unable to access a shared printer? Follow these suggestions to fix the problem. Make sure to check the status after each suggeston.
- Run Printer Troubleshooter
- Temporarily Disable Firewall
- Reshare Printer or Add Printer again
- Uninstall Recent Update
You will need admin permission to execute these steps.
1] Run Printer Troubleshooter
If the printer is visible on your network, and the printing is not working, or when you try to access it, it throws an error, then the first step is to run the Printer troubleshooter.
- Open Windows Settings using Win + I
- Navigate to System > Troubleshoot > Oher Troubleshooter
- Locate the Printer troubleshooter and click on the Run button next to it
- In the Wizard, select the printer which is causing the problem, and click the Next button
- Follow the wizard and complete the process.
Check if you can reaccess the network printer.
Read: How to reset Printer to default factory settings.
2] Temporarily Disable Firewall
At times the Security software on your PC or the Windows Firewall could be blocking the shared printer.
Check InBound and Outbound Rules
- Open Windows Security
- Go to Firewall and network protection
- Click on the Advanced Settings link to open Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security.
- Click on Inbound Rules to view a list of inbound rules
- Locate rules related to File and Printer sharing
- Please enable it.
Check App Block
- Go to Firewall and network protection again
- Click on Allow an app through Firewall
- Click on the Change settings button on Allowed applications and enable the following
- Network Discovery
- Printer application
- Save the changes and check if the printer is available.
While you can disable the Firewall, we do not recommend you to do so. If you forget to enable it, then the results can be annoying.
3] Reshare Printer and Add Printer again
It would work out great to ask the person who shared the printer to do it again. It is possible because of some misconfiguration from the other end. The printer sharing is not working as expected.
If not, you can remove the printer (if visible) and add it again. When doing so, if the OS asks you to install the printer driver, then make sure to do that too.
Go to Windows Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers and scanners > Add device. If the printer is available, then it will find it automatically. If not, you can add the printer manually.
4] Uninstall Recent Update
If the problem occurred after installing a Windows update, you can confirm it by uninstalling it. Uninstalling an update is easy. Follow this method:
- Open Windows Settings
- Go to Update > Update history > Uninstall updates
- Sort the updates by installed date, and uninstall the recent feature update
- Restart the PC and check if the printer works.
I hope the post was easy, and you can access and share the printer on the network in Windows 11/10.
Other posts that will help you fix printer-related issues:
- Change Printer status from Offline to Online
- Default Printer keeps changing
- How to Repair Print Spooler
- Cancel a jammed or stuck Print Job queue.
Why is the shared printer not available anymore?
There can be multiple reasons. It could be the Windows firewall, printer removed from sharing, an update caused the network to fail, or the services fail to start. The good news is that this can be fixed using some basic troubleshooting.
Should I disable file and printer sharing?
Unless you are not going to access anything on the network, you should not disable file and printer sharing. Now that Windows packs in Near By sharing, it’s essential o keep the sharing feature on. It will ensure any shared folder or printer on the network is accessible.
How do I share a printer which doesn’t have Wifi or Ethernet port?
First, connect the printer to a PC that is available most of the time. Next, share the printer from your PC and make sure it is available on the network. Lastly, ask another PC to check if the printer is available on the network. Once they add the printer, they can print a document through it.
