Printer Network Settings Page Won't Print – Fixed

1. Stuck Print Queue – The Real Culprit 90% of the Time

I had a client last month – a small accounting firm with a HP LaserJet 400. Their network settings page wouldn't print. The printer screen said 'ready', but nothing came out. Turns out, somewhere in the queue was a half-failed print job from the day before. That job was blocking everything, including the internal network config page.

Here's the fix: clear the print spooler on your computer. Don't just restart the printer – that doesn't always clear the queue on the computer side.

For Windows 10/11:

1. Open Services: press Win + R, type services.msc, hit Enter.
2. Find Print Spooler. Right-click it, choose Stop.
3. Open File Explorer, go to C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS.
4. Delete everything in that folder. Yes, everything. Don't worry, these are just stuck jobs.
5. Go back to Services, right-click Print Spooler, choose Start.

Now try printing that network settings page again. Sometimes you also need to power-cycle the printer – unplug it for 30 seconds, plug it back in. The print server on the printer itself might have a stuck job too.

Real story: this fix alone saved a dental office from calling their IT guy. They had been waiting two days for a tech visit. Took me two minutes over the phone.

2. Bad Network Cable or Loose Connection

You'd think a printer would just stop working if the cable is bad. But no. Sometimes the connection is just bad enough that the printer can't talk to the network to get its config page out. I've seen this with old Cat5 cables that someone stepped on. The printer shows 'connected' but the network page never comes out because the printer's internal network interface can't send the data back to you.

Check this first: unplug the Ethernet cable from the printer and plug it into a laptop. Can you get online? If not, that cable is dead. Replace it. If you're using Wi-Fi, check the signal strength on the printer's display – if it's one bar or less, the page might timeout before it prints.

Also, try a different port on your router or switch. I've seen ports that look fine but drop packets every few minutes. Swap to a known-good port. Then print the network page again.

3. Printer's Internal Memory Full or Corrupt

This is rarer, but it happens. Some printers store the network settings page in a buffer that shares memory with print jobs. If that buffer fills up with junk – like a PDF that crashed mid-print – the network page can't generate. This is more common on older Brother printers (like the HL-L2370DW) and some Canon models.

Fix: reset the printer's network settings back to factory defaults. On most printers, you do this through the menu:
Menu > Network > Restore Network Settings (or Factory Defaults). This wipes out the corrupted data. Then reconnect the printer to your Wi-Fi or Ethernet. After that, try printing the config page – it should come out clean.

If that doesn't work, try a full factory reset on the printer itself (not just network). On Brother printers, that's hold down the 'Cancel' and 'Go' buttons for 5 seconds while powering on. On HP printers, it's 'Support Tools' > 'Restore Defaults' in the menu. This clears everything, including any stuck internal jobs.

Tip: after a factory reset, the printer's IP address changes to DHCP. Check your router's DHCP lease list or use a printer discovery tool to find it again.

Quick-Reference Summary Table

Start with the stuck queue – it's the easiest and most common. If that doesn't work, check the cable. Only reset the printer as a last resort, because you'll have to reconfigure your Wi-Fi settings afterward.