A network printer installed on a Windows Vista,7 or 8 starts suddenly showing as Offline even when other machines on the network can access it fine.

Problem:

Windows Vista/7/8 automatically enables SNMP support for networked printers, and if it can’t get a response to a SNMP message then it assumes the printer is offline

SNMP -Simple Network Management Protocol (It is a protocol used to retrieving information from network devices,for the purposes of finding out if there are any problems with the devices.

Solution A: Simple way to fix this is just configuring Vista/7/8 not to try and communicate with the printer via SNMP:

Devices and Printers

Right-Click on the Printer (Offline Printer)

Go to Printer Properties

Select Port

Select Configure Port

Untick SNMP

Close Window

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Solution B:

You could need to be logged in as an administrator before you can change the SNMP status.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print and adding a new DWORD called SNMPLegacy with the value 1 and restarting solves it.

Thank You