ActiveXperts Knowledge Base Article 6980030
Q6980030 - My printer always shows 'Idle' (value: 3), even though it is online. What is the reason?
ActiveXperts uses WMI (part of the Windows OS) to monitor printers. WMI retrieves the printer information from the spoolsv.exe process. So whether the printer status information retrieved is reliable depends on the printer driver.
If the printer driver bypass the the spooler to get status or they do not report the status data exchange to the spooler process, the print provider will report whatever status the spooler contains. If the spooler reports Ready, it never gets data with a status change (default is ready) and the provider just exports this as Idle.
Contact Support
If you cannot find an answer to your question(s) in our Knowledge Base, or if you need additional information or assistance, please contact our Customer Support using the Contact Support form:
Contact Support »