Slow printing is usually caused by high print quality settings, an overloaded spooler, outdated firmware, or a congested network. These fixes cover both local USB and wireless printers.
1. Lower the Print Quality for Drafts
The single biggest speed improvement: printing in Draft / Fast mode cuts print time by 50–70% for everyday documents.
Change Quality in the Driver
Open Print dialog → Printer Properties → Quality. Select Draft or Fast Normal. Use Best only for photos and final documents.
Print in Grayscale
For text-only documents, enable Grayscale / Black and White mode. Color processing adds significant render time.
2. Clear the Print Spooler
A backlog of queued jobs — including completed or stuck jobs — slows all subsequent prints.
net stop spooler DEL /Q /F /S "%systemroot%\System32\spool\PRINTERS\*.*" net start spooler
Run the above in Windows Terminal (Admin) to purge the queue.
3. Update Printer Firmware
Manufacturers regularly release firmware updates that fix processing bottlenecks and improve rendering speed.
- Open the printer’s web interface (enter its IP in a browser) or use the brand’s app (HP Smart, Canon PRINT, etc.).
- Go to Settings → Printer Maintenance → Firmware Update.
- Install any available update and restart the printer.
4. Optimize Network Performance
Use a Static IP / Ethernet
Move the printer to a wired Ethernet connection if possible. Wired connections have lower latency and no signal drops that delay job transmission.
Place Printer on 5GHz Wi-Fi
For newer printers that support 5GHz, use the 5GHz band for higher throughput — especially for large photo or PDF print jobs.
Disable Reverse DNS Lookups
In the printer’s web interface, disable Reverse DNS if available. This prevents the printer from waiting for DNS resolution before each job.
Some drivers render jobs on the PC (RAW/EMF) and some on the printer. For laser printers, PCL 6 is typically faster than PostScript for everyday documents.
Outdated Driver Slowing Things Down?
An old driver uses inefficient rendering. Printeroids Driver Updater installs the latest optimized version.