 Hello everybody! In today's video, I'm going to tell you what to do if a Windows 10 computer can't see a network printer, or a printer connected directly to this computer. In our channel and blog you will find solutions to any problem, from installing an operating system or configuring it to fixing possible bugs and errors or optimizing mobile gadgets. Our specialists will answer any questions you ask in your comments under the videos or articles. Quite often, after updating Windows 10, users face the problem of their computer being unable to recognize the printer. In most cases, the root of this problem is either a system failure or driver failure. In this video, we will try to analyze all possible causes of why a Windows 10 computer cannot detect its printer. So let's begin. There are many things that may cause this problem. Corrupt drivers or wrong drivers because their witness is different from that of the operating system or some network components which are disabled by default in Windows 10. For stompers, it makes sense to check if the USB cable and the port you are using are in good working condition. You might have pulled the cable accidentally, so now the cable is damaged or the connection with the USB port is poor. So make sure that one end of the cable is plugged tight into the printer and the other end into the USB port of your computer. Try plugging the cable into another USB port. The next step is to examine the printer. Is it powered on? Does it have enough ink? And so on. If anything like that did happen, fix it and check the cable connection again. If nothing changed, but the cable and the port are alright, well, you should look for issues in the operating system. The first thing to help you fix the problem is the system utility with the obvious name Troubleshoot. It will search automatically for any issues and try to fix them. To start it, go to Settings, Update and Security, Troubleshoot. Here click on the printer symbol and run the utility. Wait a bit until it completes the search and fixes the problems it can find. Meanwhile, you may have to specify the device which is not working properly or confirm that it is not listed at all. When the search is over, the utility will display a report and suggest how to fix your problem. In most cases, the built-in Troubleshooter can help you solve basic problems and even some of possible system failures. Alternatively, you can try and add the printer manually. Usually, the operating system downloads all components required for the work of certain devices from an official website. To add a printer, open Settings, Devices, Printers and Scanners. Here click Add a printer or scanner. Usually the operating system can detect a device automatically, but if it didn't happen, just click the printer that I want isn't listed. Now check the shared printer by name or any other variant you prefer. Add the device name and click Next. If you are using a network printer, then select either the TCP-IP option or the last option on the list. In case with the network printer, specify its IP address, that is, the IP address of the computer to which the printer is physically connected. If the printer still doesn't get detected after all these steps, try installing the drivers manually. Go to the official website of your printer's manufacturer and find available drivers for your device in the Support section. It's good if you can find drivers for Windows 10, but if there is no latest version, you can also try the drivers initially created for Windows 7 or 8. Download them to your computer. Before you start the installation, I recommend visiting the control panel, Devices and Printers, and check if your printer is displayed there. That is, the system can recognize it, but it doesn't work. Right-click on it and remove it from the system. Only after that, run the driver installer. Sometimes, a driver is available, but the operating system cannot install it automatically. If that's your case, this is what you should do. Check the device manager for any new USB devices that require drivers to be installed. You can usually spot them by the yellow exclamatory mark next to the device name. Right-click on the Start button and select Device Manager to see if there are any USB devices with such symbol. Extract the driver package to a convenient directory. Right-click on the USB device with the warning symbol and update the driver. Specify, browse my computer for driver software and give the path to the folder containing the expected drivers. Otherwise, you can try automatic search. Sometimes, users have difficulties even with finding a proper driver. So, to download the one you need, go to the website of your device manufacturer and check the corresponding page to find the driver for a specific printer model. Soon, you will see the search results and there are high chances you will find what you need. Download and install the driver. Another way to find the driver by device ID is very simple – to do it. Click on the printer in the device manager and select Properties. Then open Details tab and choose Hardware IDs. Search this information on the Internet. In case with the network printer, one of the not-so-obvious causes behind the problem could be the difference in driver witness. When a shared network printer is used with computers that run operating systems of different witness. For example, the main computer has Windows 10 64-bit, while the other Windows 10 32-bit or even Windows 7 32-bit. To solve this problem, install drivers for 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems to both computers. If you encounter network printer issues, enable detection for the shared printer. Most often, it happens because of the wrongly configured shared access settings. To fix it, open Settings, Devices, Printers and Scanners. Select the printer you want to share and click on Manage. Choose printer properties and switch to the tab Sharing. Check the box Share this printer. You can rename this shared printer if necessary, and the new name will be used for accessing the printer from another computer within the network. Let's say it's a client computer. Now add the printer on the client computer. A little earlier in this video, you would see how to do it. If the shared access settings are configured properly but you still experience network printer issues, there might be a problem with the firewall settings. The point is that this security component has been made more robust in Windows 10, so it both adds more safety and more issues. There is a special video tutorial about configuring or disabling the firewall in Windows 10, so you can watch it if you follow the link in the description. One more thing about Windows 10 version 1709. Because of a system error, computers having 4GB of system memory or less cannot detect network printers. The best solution would be updating your Windows to the latest version, but if it is impossible – for any reason – you can still fix the problem with the command prompt. Open the command prompt with administrator rights and type the following command. Restart the computer for the changes to take effect. This command lets the operating system detect the network printer properly and use it when necessary. Often, problems with detecting a shared network printer are accompanied with a warning that says the network path was not found. This is quite a complicated issue, and the solution is not a piece of cake. You need to configure SMB protocol settings, shared access and disable IP version 6. To configure SMB protocol, open the control panel, programs and features, turn Windows features on or off. In the window that opens, check the box next to SMB file sharing support. To enable shared access, open settings, network and internet, add a net, change advanced sharing options. Here, enable network discovery and file and printer sharing. To disable IP version 6, select change adapter options, right-click on the network, choose properties and uncheck the box next to internet protocol version 6. When a shared printer is not available, it is often accompanied with errors in the work of Active Directory, the system utility for shared access. In this case, the cause of the problem lies in Active Directory rather than in the printer itself, and Active Directory is the component to be fixed. Check if the print spooler service is enabled. Type services in the search field and stop the app. This service should be running to be able to work properly. After all, if all these methods fail to help you, there is the last resort. Set up the printer for your server or main computer again, and then configure access to the printer for all computers within your network. Summing up, a printer in Windows 10 can be unavailable for a number of reasons – those hardware and software related. However, most of them have their roots in the software components, and you don't have to be an expert user to get everything to work properly. And that is all for now. I hope you find this video useful. Hit the Like button and subscribe to our channel. Leave comments to ask questions and share your opinion. Thank you for watching. Good luck.