Canon Printer Not Printing — Step-by-Step Fix
By Ryan Green · Updated July 2026 · Independent guide · PrinterCare USA LLC (not affiliated with any printer manufacturer)
This is one of the most frustrating Canon printer issues because you can see the job was sent—but nothing comes out. The printer appears online and responsive, yet pages never reach the paper tray. This usually means a communication breakdown between your computer and printer, a corrupted print job queued up, or outdated drivers rather than hardware failure.
The good news: you can almost always fix this yourself in under 15 minutes by working through the print queue and driver settings.
How to fix it — step by step
- Force clear the Windows print queue. Open Settings > Devices > Printers & Scanners, find your Canon printer, click it, then select 'Open queue.' Right-click any stuck job and hit 'Cancel.' If jobs won't delete, press Windows Key + R, type 'services.msc', find 'Print Spooler', right-click and restart it. Wait 30 seconds before trying again.
- Force clear the macOS print queue. Go to System Settings > Printers & Scanners, select your Canon printer, then click 'Open Print Queue.' Drag any stuck jobs to the trash. If that fails, open Terminal and paste: 'cancel -a'. This clears all queued jobs system-wide.
- Power cycle both devices completely. Turn off your Canon printer using the power button. Unplug it from the wall outlet and wait a full 60 seconds—this clears the printer's memory buffer. While waiting, restart your computer. Then plug the printer back in and turn it on. Wait for it to fully boot (all lights stable) before sending a test print.
- Check USB connection or reconnect network. If using USB: unplug the cable from both the printer and computer, wait 10 seconds, and reconnect firmly to different USB ports. If using WiFi: go to your printer's network settings menu (usually on the control panel), forget the WiFi network, then reconnect to your home network using the printer's setup wizard.
- Update or reinstall the Canon printer driver. On Windows, go to Settings > Devices > Printers & Scanners, right-click your Canon printer, select 'Remove device', then restart your computer. Visit Canon's support website (canon.com/support), enter your exact printer model, download the latest driver, and install it. On Mac, do the same via System Settings > Printers & Scanners, then download from Canon's site.
- Set your Canon as the default printer. On Windows: Settings > Devices > Printers & Scanners, click your Canon printer, then 'Set as default.' On Mac: System Settings > Printers & Scanners, select your Canon, click the gear icon, and choose 'Set default printer.' Many applications won't print to non-default printers.
- Test with a different application. Try printing from Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac) instead of your usual application—this tells you if the problem is printer-wide or software-specific. If Notepad prints but your normal app doesn't, the issue is with that application, not the printer.
- Check printer error codes and perform a factory reset. Look at your Canon's control panel display for any error codes (like 5100 or 5B00) and note them. If no error shows but nothing prints, access the printer's menu, navigate to 'Reset Settings' or 'Initialize All Settings', and confirm. This wipes temporary caches that sometimes block printing. Reinstall your driver afterward.
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Frequently asked questions
Why does my Canon printer show as online but won't print?
The printer is receiving your computer's 'ping' and responding, but something is broken in the actual data transfer—usually a stuck print job, outdated driver, or lost USB/network connection mid-session.
Should I uninstall my printer driver completely?
Yes, if you've already tried clearing the queue and power cycling. Go to Settings > Apps on Windows or Applications on Mac, find 'Canon' or your printer model name, uninstall completely, restart your computer, then download a fresh driver from Canon's website. This eliminates corrupted driver files.
My print queue is empty but still nothing prints—what's next?
This suggests a driver communication issue or a problem with how your application is sending data. Test printing from Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac). If that works, reinstall your driver. If even basic text won't print, try a USB connection instead of WiFi to rule out network problems.
How do I know if this is a hardware failure vs. software?
Hardware failure is rare with this symptom. If your printer shows no error codes, responds to commands (like waking from sleep), and the control panel works normally, it's almost certainly software or connection-related. Only after trying all driver and queue steps would I suspect hardware—and that usually shows error codes first.