PIXMA MG6450 Another computer is using the printer

[Yatesy1990]

Up to now we've printed ok but yesterday our Windows 8 laptops report that "Another computer is using the prnter". We have a Canon MG6450 printer; ona  wireless network. We have rebooted our laptops; the router; and switched off printer but to no avail. Any other suggestions ?

Another computer is using the printer.
The following status is the usage status of that computer.
---
Creating print data

A follow up query is why is there a need to register is the need to send email docs to [Email address removed in accordance with forum guidelines] to get printed ? It is both time consuming, over elaborate and completely unnecessary to use a "Print from E-mail" service and " to complete the printer owner registration".

[PrinterWoes]

Recently bought a Canon 7720 and we have this very problem. What a nightmare.

We have 2 PCs and the printer effectively gets stuck in this "Another computer is using the printer..creating print data" literally ALL the time. Yes you can temporarily resolve by deleting printers/rebooting/restarting printer/waving your hands but what kind of a solution is that? And it just comes back the next time you want to print something.

This is pretty pathetic Canon....and its truly making me consider ditching this piece of cr*p and go for an Espon or something.

Seeming as this problem as been around for literally years one can only conclude that either

a) Canon simply don't care one iota about their community

or

b) They are completely clueless about the resolution of the problem

Yours

Seriously Irritated

[Vin55]

I have a long history of struggling with printers. My second-to-best weapon is to restart the print spooler service (the best is to restart everything, including including the pc and the printer). I've just used it to solve the issue discussed here (I have a Canon Pixma MX535).

Here is how you do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjNpty4tbls

Note 1: it is easier to get into the services window by bringing up the task manager with ctrl+shift+esc, navigating to the services tab, then opening the target window by clicking the link in the bottom of task manager.

Note 2: if you are using Windows in your native language (other than English), you might look for the words corresponding to "printer" and "queue" if you don't know what "spooler" is.

[Joe3]

How do i get this cannon printer to work?

[BrightonBabe]

Hi 

I also have it on the IP7260 and in both offices where there is an M range printer in each. We have taken to not using wifi between this problem and a pretty flaky wifi anyway on the m range in the offices.

We now have this on the IP intermittently, fortunately I only print intermittently.

However, the decision has been made at the next replacement, we will not be replacing any printer with a Canon. We're not a big user, hardly going to hurt Canon, but its time to walk away and find another solution. 

I will see if there is an updated driver under Windows 10, but unless that fixes the problem, we'll just walk away.

[raffia]

Solved here !!!

I've been also impacted by the blocking error message with a MX535 multifunction: 

"Another computer is using the printer"

As there's no menu in this multifunction to reset the device, the simple solution that solved the issue for me was to:

• unplug the device from the electrical plug,
• wait a little bit and try to power it on so that it completly empties any remaining sleep power in it,
• then replug the device on the electrical plug
• Power it on

After it has restarted, the message "Another computer is using the printer" did not reappear .

BTW, some precisions with drivers stuff for these WSD printers:

• Printer supports 2 types of drivers: Legacy Windows driver type, and starting from Windows 8, WSD driver type.
• If you're using Win 8 or 10, and installed the Canon printer driver (called legacy-type here), then you end up with 2 printers installed on your computer:
  
  1. The Canon driver legacy-type
  2. A Canon WSD driver, automatically installed by Windows, when it detects that your printer is WSD compatible.
• You can use either one, but with a WSD compatible printer, it is not necessary anymore to install any driver !
  Simply power on the printer, then make it accessible to your computer either by:
  - Network cable (configure IP through printer keyboard panel)
  - Wifi (Choose SSID, ... with panel)
  - or USB cable
  As soon as printer gets detected by Windows, within a minute, Windows automatically fetches the correct driver from its driver store, and installs it, making the printer ready to go with NO manual driver installation!!
• That worked fine for me on 3 different Win 10 computers, and really a piece of cake to install such a WSD printer without manual driver installation anymore 

[Hairetikos]

MX922 having the same problem for months now.  Why doesn't Canon offer a solution?

We have eliminated all the WS duplicate printer devices from our computers.  Problem is highly inconsistent.  On some laptops, it will sometimes go right through.  Sometimes we need to turn off and restart printer.  Sometimes nothing works, but then we might find a printout a day or 2 later.

[Hairetikos]

Thanks raffia, for your advice on this issue.  However, your advice contradicts most of the previous messages which recommend eliminating the WS devices because they seem to get jammed up with print jobs that don't go through.  

[raffia]

Hairetikos, I've given some additional information here about WSD services, and how this technology can be used with WSD printers.

I've posted it as many people seem to ignore this feature, and I find it to be pretty useful to use as it greatly simplifies the installation of a new printer: no installation required.

Additionally, reading your previous post, I understand that the original issue in this post is not solved by attempts to hack the WSD driver in Windows, it seems to affect both WSD and "legacy to be installed" drivers, as the root cause is certainl a bug in the printer firmware, not fixed by Canon. Hopefully, we can be turnaround it by a simple manipulation on the printer.

[Gemini]

this totally worked.  Thank you!!! I had 3 different printers set up under my Canon Pixma pro 100. Not sure why but it had to be a canon default setting,  When I changed the default printer to the canon Pixma pro (without the WDS) it worked and I was able to print without the irritating message popping up that prevented me from printing.

Does anyone know what the WDS printer is for anyway?

[chrisfane]

God bless you for this!! I eventually managed to do this, but had problems because the print command kept defaulting to the WS machine (what the hell is this anyway?). Make sure the non-WS printer is set as the default.