Windows Photo Viewer is generally our go-to application to view and print photos. Have you ever encountered a problem where Windows Photo Viewer has failed to print photos? I have seen many users complaining about Windows photo viewer not printing correctly, and in fact, I too faced this issue once.
If you are one of those people and want to find out the solution, I am here to help you fix it quickly. I am able to share the possible fixes because I have fixed it for myself, and have fixed it for my friends numerous times. So, based on my learning and experience, I am going to share with you the information regarding the issue, and how you can fix it.
Generally, system-related apps from windows work fine, but sometimes problems like these can be difficult to identify. Here I will help you to look through the problem, and understand it. I will also provide you with solutions regarding it.
Contents
- 1 Types of Problems You May Encounter While Printing
- 2 Why Are My Pictures Not Printing Correctly?
- 3 How to Fix “Windows Photo Viewer Not Printing Correctly”?
- 4 Still Having Issues? Here is Another Hack
- 5 How Do I Change the Print Settings in Windows Photo Viewer?
- 6 FAQs
- 7 Conclusion
Types of Problems You May Encounter While Printing
Windows Photo Viewer printing blank pages can be the first issue. However, the fix to it can be checking the latest updates of your Windows Photo Viewer software.
Have the updates been installed?
The other solution is to look for printer ink on your printer. Sometimes empty cartridges could also lead to printers discharging blank pages.
Some problems also include not printing the entire page. Leaving the entire midsection of a page blank. These problems do occur, but more than often the fixes are the same. Many problems can also occur because of hardware problems. To double check just use a different image app or photos app (another photo viewing app inbuilt into Windows) to check whether the printer can print the image or not.
Why Are My Pictures Not Printing Correctly?
There can be many reasons why your printer is not able to print the images/documents correctly. But most of the reasons indicate a situation where the updates might have not been properly installed. Let’s look through these pointers:
- Wait for a recent update or check if you have performed a recent update. Issues related to printing can occur if there is no proper installation of printer-related drivers or software updates.
- If you are trying to print from a zipped file. Make sure to use Winrar, extract your files and then print your images/documents. You can download Winrar.exe from here.
- You can always reinstall your printer utility application again after uninstalling the current printer’s system software.
How to Fix “Windows Photo Viewer Not Printing Correctly”?
Uninstall Recent Updates
Sometimes new updates may cause multiple issues as well. So, if you have updated your windows recently, and you are facing this issue, you may want to uninstall the recent updates, and check if this fixes the problem.
Here’s How you will do it:
- Open Windows Settings, you can access it by simply typing in Windows Settings in the search box, and then clicking on the icon that appears.
- From the list of options make sure to choose option, Update & Security
- Now select view update history
- Then choose any recent update related to your Printer drivers and click on uninstall.
- Once the uninstallation has been done, just restart your PC.
Extract the Folder Before Printing
When you are trying to print zipped files, printing won’t be done. Thus, always first you have to extract the zipped or compressed files, and then try printing. This will surely work then, You can use Winzip or Winrar for zipping files or extracting them.
Here are the steps:
- Rick click on the zipped folder.
- Then select the extract option.
- Then select a destination to save.
- Once your folder is saved, all you need to do is open the file again and try printing it.
Set a Default Printer
This issue might come if you haven’t set your printer as default printer. You can do it by following these steps:
- Press Windows Key + R simultaneously
- You will see the run window open at the bottom.
- Here, you type in Control and then press enter.
- You will see the Control Panel open. Here click on Hardware & Sound
- You need to click on Devices and Printers after that.
- Now you will see your printer logo. Right-click on it. And choose the set as a default printer option.
Running the Troubleshooter
Windows Troubleshooter has been one of the best solutions for many Windows-related issues. So, for this issue, you must try the troubleshooter as well. It is fairly easy to use and run.
- Go to the start icon and right-click near to windows logo.
- From the list of options choose Settings
- After that select updates and security
- When you scroll down you will see the troubleshoot option, click on it.
- Now find the ‘printer’ option. Make sure to click on it.
- As the option expands you will see Run Troubleshooter
- You need to click on that option and while the system searches for any particular problem, it will ask for fixes you need to click on the ‘fix’ option.
- Once the process is done, simply try printing again from Windows Photo Viewer.
Remove and Re-add Your Printer
Sometimes, you hear customer support asks you to turn off your wifi and then turn it on after a few seconds for fixing internet issues.. In a similar way, at times, removing, and re-adding your printer may solve numerous printer-related issues. So, why not, try this fix as well.
How to Remove Your Printer?
To remove your Printer the process is fairly easy. Follow these steps:
- Right-click on ‘Start’ and then select ‘Settings’ from the list of options
- In the Settings, window make sure to go to ‘devices’
- On the left side of the window, you will see an option, for Printers and Scanners
- While clicking it, all printers and scanners will appear that you have added earlier
- Select Remove device
- You need to click yes in this final step
Re-add Your Printer
To re-add your Printer follows these steps:
- Before proceeding make sure your printer is plugged in
- Right-click on ‘start’ and then choose ‘settings’
- Once the settings window opens, select ‘devices’
- Now click on Printers and Scanners
- You will see an option, Add printers or scanners
- Wait for some time until and unless your system discovers the printer, follow the on-screen instructions, and the printer will be added.
- Now open Windows Photo Viewer and check whether printing is happening or not.
Make Windows Photo Viewer Your Default Photo Viewing App
Sometimes, when Windows photo viewer is not printing your photo, then try making it the default photo app on your PC, and then try.
To make Windows Photo Viewer your default photo viewing follow these steps:
- Go to ‘Start’, right-click on it, and then select ‘Settings’
- Now navigate to ‘Apps’ and select it.
- Click on ‘Default Apps’
- From the list of apps, you need to select Windows Photo Viewer from the list. However, in my case, I use the FastStone Image viewing app but you will have Windows Photo Viewer there.
- Now try printing your file.
Run System File Checker
System File Checker (SFC) is a technical fix. You can run it to see if there are technical issues with the inbuilt software in windows.
Here are the steps that you need to perform to run SFC:
- Go to the Windows search bar, and type in CMD.
- Right-click on the CMD icon and select, run as an administrator
- Now as the cmd loads, once done, type in sfc /scannow
- Here the system file checker will analyze for any corruption in files and see to it if there has been some extreme damage to system files. It will try to restore it
Still Having Issues? Here is Another Hack
In case the problem persists and none of the internal settings provide a solution, you can use third-party software to fix the error. That may also try to help retrieve default settings and fix file corruption in a great manner. Software tools like Restoro may prove to be great tools for fixing such issues, especially for people who do not want to think a lot regarding this matter. The tool itself will do a lot of the work for you.
How Do I Change the Print Settings in Windows Photo Viewer?
Accessing Windows Photo Viewer printer settings might not be a quick fix. However, you can change and play around with settings to check if tweaking the settings lets you print files. Follow these steps:
- Right-click on your photo and select the option ‘Print’
- Here you will see a window that has printing, paper size, quality, and plain paper options
- The printing option helps you in choosing the right printer in case you have more than one printer, paper size is usually the A4, A2, and Letter papers that are used for print. Quality has three options to choose from. They are ‘draft‘ which uses customary ink, ‘normal’ uses a stronger shade of ink, and ‘best‘ which uses the best ink for printing.
- You can also select whether you want to print it in color or use grayscale in color management settings which can be accessed from ‘options’
- There are additional printer settings as well to explore.
- Try changing it and see if your file gets printed or not.
FAQs
How do I print a JPEG in Windows Photo Viewer?
JPEG can only be accessed through a photo viewing app. You can simply right-click on a photo and then select ‘print’. A window will open where you need to fill in the type of document, the quality you want, the size of the document/image, and also the printer you want to use in case you have added more than one printer to your PC. After making the choices you need to click on ‘Print’.
How do I print exactly what I see on my screen?
In case it’s an image, simply right-click and choose the ‘print’ option. In case it’s a webpage you can print through your web browser. In case it’s the content present on your PC screen, open your snipper tool and take a snip of the section you want to print. The file automatically gets saved as a PNG file. All you require now is to print the file.
How do I print a JPEG from an email?
In case the JPEG is attached, simply download it and print it through Windows Photo Viewer. In case you need to print out an entire mail, you will see a printer icon at the top of your mail window on Gmail. Click on it, you will have a snapshot of the entire mail in a different tab. Click on print, all your files will be printed.
Conclusion
There can be a host of issues in regards to the reasons that can cause an issue with the Windows Photo Viewer. All the major fixes have been covered in this guide. As far as my personal experience is concerned, I would recommend you try our all the fixes by yourself, and if nothing works, then go for any third-party tool to fix it. Third-party tools may not ask you to do much, they have automated checking and fixing solutions. You just have to install the software, run it, and that will do its job, and probabbly fix the issue.