Top Solutions for HP Printer Not Printing Color on Windows 10
HP is a famous printer brand that produces high-quality printing and scanning devices. However, sometimes users find their HP printer not printing color.
This issue majorly occurs because of a color ink shortage, printhead not working properly, and disabled color printing. So, fixing these issues will make your printer print color outputs.
Keep reading to learn about the best solutions for this HP printer problem.
8 Troubleshooting Steps to Fix HP Printer Not Printing Color Issue
Use these easy resolutions and start getting quality printouts from your HP machine.
1. Examine the ink levels
This is the first step of troubleshooting. Ensure that your printer has sufficient ink or toner.
- HP Color Laser printers with touchscreen control panels
- Tap the ‘Reports’ button on your printer.
- Select ‘Supplies Status.’
- HP Color Laser printers with LCD control panels
- Tap the ‘Setup’ button on the printer.
- Head to ‘Reports’ followed by ‘Supplies Status.’
- Select the ‘Print Supply Status’ page.
- Finally, tap ‘OK.’
If the printer cartridge levels are full, but you still can’t print, see the cartridge’s expiry date. If they are expired, the ink will dry up, causing the HP Printer not Printing color correctly.
2. Change the toner cartridge
The natural next step after finding low ink is replacing the toner cartridge. Here are the pointers you can adhere to.
- Lift the scanner assembly.
- After that, open the printer’s top cover.
- Take away the cartridge and unpack the new cartridge.
- Find an orange clip on the new ink cartridge.
- Remove it by pulling upward.
- Grab the sides of the toner cartridge.
- Place the toner by slowly rocking the cartridge.
- Bend the tab on the left part of the cartridge till it breaks loose.
- Pull it till the ceiling tape is eliminated.
- Align the new cartridge with the tracks within the HP printer.
- Push the toner till it’s seated properly.
- Close the top cover and bring down the scanner assembly.
- Take a test print and see if the HP printer prints color.
3. Turn on the printer color command
You might wonder why is my HP printer not printing color if the color command is off.
- Enable the printer color command by going to ‘Settings.’
- Tap ‘Printers.’
- Tap on your HP printer’s icon and choose ‘Properties.’
- Here, click ‘Printing Preferences.’
- Hit the ‘Paper/Quality’ tab.
- Choose ‘Color.’
- Click ‘OK’ and close the page.
- Give a test print command.
- The output will have color.
4. Check for damage in the printer’s toner cartridge
This is for those complaining about HP Printer not printing color correctly on laser printers.
Any damage in the printer’s toner cartridge causes it to malfunction.
- Take away the toner cartridges.
- Remove their sealing tape properly.
- Rock the ink cartridges, so the powder toner evenly distributes.
- Now inspect for damage in the memory chips of the toner.
- Without touching the roller, check the cartridge’s roller surfaces.
- You will need to replace the cartridge if there’s any damage here.
- But if there’s no damage, rock the ink cartridges gently.
- Reinstall them.
- Take a test print.
5. Replace or reinstall the printhead
HP printer printheads apply ink to the paper and produce legible text. Any problem with the printhead will make you notice the HP printer not printing color.
- Head to Windows ‘Start’ and search for Control Panel.
- Once there, tap ‘Devices and printers.’
- On the subsequent page, find the icon of your HP printer and right-tap it.
- Thereafter, choose ‘Properties.’
- In the new window, tap ‘Hardware’ followed by ‘Clean ink.’
- Adhere to the instructions on your screen to clean the printhead.
6. Re-add your printer using the TCP address
Are you still wondering why is my HP printer not printing in color? If you use Windows 10, follow this troubleshooting.
- Remove your printer model from ‘Devices and Printers.’
- Next, launch the Run dialog box.
- Type ‘printui.exe /s’ in the box.
- Tap ‘OK.’
- Choose the ‘Drivers’ tab in the window that appears.
- Delete the printer drivers in the window and hit ‘OK.’
- Navigate to ‘Control Panel.’
- Go to ‘Devices and Printers.’
- Choose ‘Add a Printer.’
- Click ‘The printer I want isn’t listed’ in the new window.
- Select ‘Add a printer using a TCP/IP address.’
- Enter the IP address of your printer.
- Tap ‘Next.’
- The printer with drivers will get installed.
- Try printing a document.
- You will not complain about HP printer not printing color Windows 10.
7. Use the Print and Scan Doctor from HP
The HP Print and Scan Doctor is a great troubleshooting utility to use when you find the HP printer not printing color.
- Download the tool from the official HP website.
- The file will download as HPPSdr.exe.
- Run this file to install the utility.
- After that, click ‘Start’ followed by ‘Next.’
- Go by the on-screen instructions to resolve the problem.
8. Align the printhead
Many HP printer models have a printhead alignment option. Use it to align the printhead and fix the HP printer not printing black color issue.
- Load the input tray with plain paper.
- Keep adjusting the paper width guide till it touches the paper’s edges.
- Move to the ‘Printers’ option via the control panel.
- Launch ‘Tools’ and tap the ‘Maintenance’ menu.
- From here, choose the ‘Align the printheads’ option.
- After the process completes, restart the printer.
Final Words
Now you know the most effective troubleshooting for the HP printer not printing color problem. Use these measures in a sequence to uncover the cause. If you still don’t find any improvement in the output, contact HP Printer Support experts.
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