How To Fix “Printer Cannot Be Contacted Over The Network”

Users who have a printer set up as a network printer may see the error “Printer cannot be contacted over the network.” Their attempts to use it typically result in nothing being printed and the printer troubleshooter showing this message.

Method 1: Verify the Activation of Necessary Services

Several services are required for printer use to function correctly. It’s possible that the way these services begin running has changed as a result of a recent Windows Update or a modification to your computer’s configuration. Make sure they start up automatically and that should take care of the issue.

Printer Cannot Be Contacted Over The Network

Step 1: To launch the Run command prompt, hit the Windows key plus R on your keyboard simultaneously. Enter “services.msc” (without the quotes) into the opened box and hit OK to launch the Services management console.

Step 2: You can access the Control Panel in a different fashion by selecting it from the Start menu. The search bar in the Start menu is another option for finding it.

Step 3: Once the Control Panel has loaded, switch the “View by” setting in the top right corner to “Large Icons,” then look for the “Administrative Tools” section. Go to the bottom of the page and click the Services shortcut. You may also open it by clicking on it.

Step 4: In the list, right-click on the Remote Access Auto Connection Manager, Remote Access Connection Manager, Secure Sockets Tunneling Protocol Service, and Routing and Remote Access services, and then select Properties.

Step 5: If the service is already running, you may confirm this by looking for the Service status statement towards the top of the window, and then clicking the Stop button in the middle of the window. If it has been halted, please keep it that way until further notice.

Step 6: Before continuing, double-check that Automatic is selected in the Startup type menu of the service’s properties window. When switching the startup mode, confirm any prompts that arise. To begin, close the current window by clicking its central Start button. To sum up, just keep doing what you’re doing and use the same method for each of the services we specified.

When you try to launch a programme by selecting the Start button, you may see the following error message:

“Windows could not start the service on Local Computer. Error 1079: The account specified for this service differs from the account specified for other services running in the same process.”

In case of this happening, please proceed with the steps outlined below.

Step 1: To access the service’s settings, repeat steps 1-3 from the preceding section. Select the Browse button under the Log On menu.

Step 2: Fill in your account’s name where it says “Enter the object name to pick,” then hit “Check Names” and wait for the name to become accessible.

Step 3: When you are ready, click OK, and then enter the password in the Password box. Hopefully, you’ve fixed your printer’s problems.

Method 2: You Need To Uninstall The Printer And Reinstall It.

This is a really simple fix, but it has helped many people: uninstalling the printer and then reinstalling it via the Add a Printer procedure has fixed the issue for many people. If you want to give it a shot, try to replicate the steps below.

Step 1: Locate the Control Panel by typing “Control Panel” into the Start menu or by selecting the Search (Cortana) button in the left side of the taskbar (the bottom left of your screen).

Step 2: The Control Panel can also be accessed by pressing the Windows key plus R, whereupon the user should enter “control.exe” and then select the Run button.

Step 3: To get to this portion of Control Panel, open it, then switch to Category view and select View devices and printers from the Hardware and Sound submenu.

Step 4: To uninstall the problematic printer, go to the Printers folder, right-click the printer’s icon, and then choose Remove device. Verify the results of any pop-up dialogue boxes.

Step 5: The Add a printer button should now be selected at the top of the window. When you click the button, a new window will open and begin searching for a printer on your computer or network. Please click Next after selecting the option you just deleted.

Step 6: Please read and adhere to the on-screen prompts. After it’s finished, see if you can finally print successfully.