Waiting for printer connection

Question

“Waiting for printer connection” pop up started coming up a couple of weeks ago and has been causing multiple issues.

Excel and Word randomly do not open, and then when I open the program again it tells me the file is already in use yet nothing is open. Task manager shows nothing open or running. I have to restart my computer each time to use the document or workbook and I sometimes I need to do this more than once before it will decide to randomly work.

I cannot print new documents or workbooks, it becomes unresponsive and then the program has to close. I can only print from saved documents, which o can’t always open!

MYOB cannot print now, I have to save as a pdf and then print. I know MYOB isn’t “Microsoft” but this only started when this pop up started. I have never experienced this issue before.

This is happening on all four computers and started at the exact same time.

I have tried turning off all network sharing connections and still no change.

This is really impacting my day to day operations ans these programs are all I use. It causing a significant loss of time.

Can someone please help?

Answer 1

Hi Kel,

I'm Sumit, here to answer your query at the Microsoft Community.

I see some reports on Reddit related to the same issue. I wonder if it is due to updates.

Does the issue persist in a clean boot state?

Type “msconfig” (without quotes) and press Enter.

In the System Configuration window, select the Services tab.

Check the box next to “Hide all Microsoft services”. Ensure you do it carefully, and not disable all Microsoft services.

Click on “Disable all”.

Select the Startup tab and click on “Open Task Manager”.

In the Task Manager window, select each startup item and click on “Disable”.

Close Task Manager and click on OK in the System Configuration window.

Restart your computer.

More details: https://aka.ms/wincleanboot

Answer 2

I had the same problem.
Popup box saying "Please wait for printer connection or cancel connection" would randomly appear in Word, Visio etc and I couldn't continue to work.
Only option on popup was cancel _ but hitting cancel I would get "This actions cannot be completed because the other program is busy. Choose 'Switch to' to activate the busy program and correct the problem" Buttons Switch to or Retry.

This problem came after adding a new HP printer a few days ago (driver came from MS) and an update. So could be either one of those two events in my case.

For me I removed all printers and so far so good. Will try adding a printer back in again when I need it.
I am suspicious of the windows update as I hear there have been other printer issues.

Answer 3

It seems to be due to some dodgey Windows update. A search of internet shows lots of people are getting this issue on different applications. I get it on my company's in house product, some people get it on wordpad, some people get it on libre office. It might be a variation on the bug in the windows updates that was renaming everyone's printers to an HP printer. https://www.xda-developers.com/windows-update-bug-renaming-printers-m101-m106/#:~:text=Key%20Takeaways,printer%20despite%20the%20incorrect%20name.

Possibly any app where you've used a printer previously?

I haven't got a work around for it checking printer connections on each start up unfortunately. I think we have to wait for MS to fix their bad update.

Answer 4

I got the message in Access a few minutes ago (for the first time), but it actually cleared after 20-30 seconds and the report printed. What I find interesting is that I brought up a new computer earlier this month. I was able to manually duplex on my HP M127fw as is normal. Suddenly, however, I am no longer able to duplex. That popped up right about the same time as this issue. May have to try uninstalling and reinstalling the printer.

Answer 5

Yes it still happens after running your test?