There are a lot of really dumb error messages getting around these days, but the “Waiting for Printer Connection” pop-up in Photoshop has to be one of the dumbest that I have ever come across. Why? Because even if you have 0 intention of printing anything and just want to save or export a project, Photoshop has to keep tabs on your printer... And while they give you the option to cancel the check... Photoshop will crash in protest... Thankfully, there is a really easy fix that solves this problem entirely.
Takeaways:
- Learn how to fix Photoshop crashing after cancelling the “Waiting for Printer Connection” window.
- How do you stop the “Waiting for Printer Connection” pop-up in Photoshop?
Table of Contents
Why Photoshop Shows “Waiting for Printer Connection”
One of the dumbest errors in Adobe Photoshop is the message:
“Waiting for printer connection: Please wait for printer connection or cancel connection.”
This stupid message most commonly pops up when exporting projects like artboards, though it can happen for any files, and while it gives you the option to cancel, clicking cancel guarantees that Photoshop will crash a few seconds later...
The biggest issue with this error is that there is absolutely no logical reason Photoshop should need access to a printer just to save or export a file. Yet somehow, certain operations trigger a printer check in the background. It is honestly one of the dumbest behaviours built into Photoshop.
How to Fix the “Waiting for Printer Connection” in Photoshop
The quickest fix for this problem is to change your default printer to Microsoft Print to PDF. Once this virtual printer is set as the default, Photoshop will stop showing this dumb error. The steps are shown below.
- Press Windows Key + I
- Then go to Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.
- Before changing anything, disable this setting: Let Windows manage my default printer
- Turn it OFF
- Now go back and click Microsoft Print to PDF
- At the top, click the Set as default
- Close Photoshop completely and reopen it.
- Try saving or exporting the file again.
The process should complete without the dumb check happening. For whatever reason, Photoshop seems to perform a printer status check during certain save operations, especially in documents using artboards.
Even under any of the following scenarios... If your printer is:
- Offline
- On a disconnected network
- Sleeping
- Unavailable
- Using outdated drivers
Which means Photoshop almost always hangs while waiting for a response. So by switching the default printer to Microsoft Print to PDF, Photoshop communicates with a local virtual printer instead of a physical device. Since the virtual printer is always available, the save process completes normally.
Additional Things You Can Try
If this still doesn't work, you can try a few other things, though they shouldn't be required.
- Update Printer Drivers
- Remove Old Network Printers
- Save Locally First
Worst-case scenario, you might have to restart your computer after doing any of the steps in this guide. After a system restart, Photoshop should start working properly again.
