Computer users contact us asking various types of questions. A reader recently asked us if it is possible to disable the sleep mode in the HP printer?
What is a sleep mode in printers?
Many of the HP printers come with a feature called sleep mode. As the name indicates, the sleep mode feature does nothing but puts your printer into a lower-power, energy-efficient state after a predefined idle time.
Most of the printers manufactured in the past few years have the sleep mode. For instance, my HP Laserjet Pro M126nw offers this feature. With default settings, the printer goes into sleep mode after 30 minutes of inactivity.
The feature helps you save some power. The feature is beneficial for users who never turn off the printer and rarely take prints.
Can we print when the printer is in sleep mode?
Yes, when you send a print or scan job to the printer, the printer returns to the normal mode to perform the print/scan job.
How to prevent HP printer from sleeping?
A quick internet search tells us that many users have been encountering issues with sleep mode. For some users, the printers do not come out of sleep mode when a print/scan job is sent.
If you are also looking to turn off or disable the sleep mode in your HP printer, you will be disappointed! Unfortunately, there is no way out there to disable the sleep mode in HP and most other printers.
That said, on some HP printers, you can increase the inactive time before the printer enters into sleep mode. Here is how.
Also read: How to prevent HP printer from turning off automatically.
Change HP printer sleep time in Windows & macOS
NOTE: These directions are valid for Windows 11/10 and macOS.
Step 1: Open the HP Smart app. If not installed, please install the same from the Store. It’s a free app from HP for its printers and is available on Windows 11/10 and Mac.
After installing the HP Smart app, ensure that your printer is turned on and connected to your computer.
Step 2: Click Printer Settings.
Step 3: On the left pane, click Advanced settings.
Step 4: Under the System tab (refer to the picture below), click EcoSMART Console.
Step 5: Now, on the right side, select the idle time after the printer goes into sleep mode by selecting a time from the drop-down menu next to the Sleep/Auto Off after option.
As you can see in the picture above, the printer is configured to automatically wake up upon pressing any key on it or when you send a USB or wireless job. You can configure when the printer should wake up here.
Step 6: Click on the Apply button to save the change.
Our 5 ways to clear print queue in Windows guide might also interest you.
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