As Windows 11 continues its successful journey, several users point out some issues with the new Operating System. One prominent issue frequently reporting on several social platforms was that users couldn’t connect their printer after the KB 5006746 update on Windows 11. According to troubled users, an error prompt appeared on the screen stating that ‘Windows couldn’t connect to the printer’ while trying to print a document.
The main culprit for this error is the recently released KB5006746 update for Windows 11. This recent update was released to address a number of issues, including network printer connectivity issues. But the update has adversely affected some users; as a result, they are unable to connect to their network printer.
Anyway, in this article, we have deployed several solutions to quickly fix the Windows 11 problem of not being able to connect to a Windows printer. Let’s have a look.
Fix 1: Update Windows:
As we discussed earlier, the KB5006746 update is main reason why you are encountering the ‘Windows couldn’t connect to the printer’ error on Windows 11. Here Microsoft has released the hotfix for the KB5006746 update, and you need to install it on your system to resolve the same issue. To do so,
- Firstly, open the Start menu and select the Settings app.
- Then click on the Windows Update option from the left pane menu.
- Now click on Check for updates button and check the hotfix update is pending to install.
- If yes, click on Install now button and let it to complete the installation process.
- Once done, restart the system and check now you can connect the printer or not.
Fix 2: Run the Printer Troubleshooter:
If the issue is not related to the KB5006746 update, then you need to run the Printer Troubleshooter to get rid of the said issue within no time. The troubleshooter will scan for any issue with the printer components, and if there finds any inconsistency, the troubleshooter tool will repair them automatically. To do so,
- Firstly, open the Start menu and click on the Settings.
- Inside the Settings, click on Troubleshoot option from the left pane menu.
- Then click on Other troubleshooters and click on the Run button beside the Printer option.
- Once done, restart the system and check for improvement.
Fix 3: Re-enable the Print to PDF Feature:
As per some suffered users, re-enabling the Print to PDF feature helped them to resolve the Windows Couldn’t Connect to the Printer on Windows 11 issue. Accidently this feature might be disabled by the latest Windows update (KB5006746), so you are not able to connect with the network printer. To enable the Print to PDF option, you can follow these steps,
- Firstly, press Windows + R simultaneously to launch the Run dialog box, then type appwiz.cpl and press OK.
- Therefrom the result, select the Programs and Features option.
- Inside the newly opened menu, select Turn Windows features on or off from the left pane menu.
- If a User Account Control (UAC) prompt appears on the screen, click on Yes.
- Now inside the Windows Features screen, tick the checkbox beside the option Microsoft Print to PDF option and click on the OK button.
- Once done, restart the system and check for improvement.
Fix 4: Edit Registry Editor:
If you make few changes in the Registry Editor, the Windows Couldn’t Connect to the Printer on Windows 11 issue gets resolved for you. To do so, follow these steps,
Note: Editing Registry Editor is a risky task, so do it at your own risk.
- Firstly, press Windows + R simultaneously to launch the Run dialog box, then type Regedit and press OK.
- Then from the results launch Registry Editor window with administrative access
- Inside the Registry Editor, go to the following path from the left pane menu,
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print
- Or, you can paste the above location address in the address bar.
- Then right-click on any empty space and select the New > Dword (32-bit) Value option.
- Now rename the newly created to Dword to RpcAuthnLevelPrivacyEnabled and double click on it.
- In the newly appeared prompt, select Hexadecimal under the Base section and set the Value date to 0.
- Once done, click on the OK button, and you need to restart the system.
- Now the issue will get resolved for you, and you can resume printing.
Fix 5: Uninstall KB5006746 Update and Hide Updates:
If any of the above solutions are not apt in your case, then you can uninstall the latest KB5006746 update and check for improvement. To do so,
Note: If you installed the KB5006746 update a week ago, then you can’t uninstall it at this point.
- Firstly, press Windows + R altogether to launch the Run dialog box, then type appwiz.cpl and press OK.
- Therefrom the result, select the Programs and Features option.
- Now from the left pane menu, click on the View installed updates option.
- Inside the Installed update window right- click on KB5006746 update and select Uninstall tab.
- Once the KB5006746 update is uninstalled, instead of restarting the system, move to the Official page of the Microsoft Show or Hide troubleshooter.
- Then download it; once downloaded, launch the .diagcab file and click on the Advanced option.
- In the newly opened window, tick the checkbox beside the Apply Repairs Automatically and click on the Next button.
- Let wait to complete the scanning process.
- On the next screen, select the Hide updates option.
- In the newly opened screen, tick the checkbox beside the KB5006746 update to hide it and click on Next to continue.
- Once done, restart the system and check for improvement.
Now we hope the Windows Couldn’t Connect to the Printer on Windows 11 issue resolved for you. If you have any queries or feedback after reading this article, please leave a comment in the below comment box.