Member Avatar for computerbear

My apologies if I missed something like this already. I cannot find anything quite fitting. And this work computer keeps closing this page on me.

At home, I have 2 laptops both running Windows 7, a Lexmark wireless printer that worked fine last week. Now it won't print, but it is online. When I checked my control panel on 2 of my laptops, my device list shows 0 devices. My first thought was that I was hacked. I run Avast on both computers. I unplugged my internet and ran a deep scan on both computers while I am at currently at work. I am hoping (thinking) this is not the problem. I have not been home to check yet. I wanted to throw this on here hoping for some ideas to work with when I get home.

I have Googled and found issues with printers being 'offline', but not completely off the device list. The only thing I can think of is I did adjust some firewall settings to be more secure, but these devices are all on the inside. I will adjust these settings back when I have time to play with them. I am grateful for any help.

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Short answer: when Devices and Printers shows “0 devices” but the Lexmark reports as online, the problem is much more often Windows discovery/services or router isolation than a virus. ’s note about changing firewall rules is important — that can stop discovery — and and were right to check security, but formatting the PC should be a last resort.

Basic checklist to follow when back at the house:

  1. Confirm the printer is on the same Wi‑Fi network as the laptops. Get the printer’s IP from its panel or the router DHCP client list and from a laptop run ping <printer-ip>.
  2. If ping fails, look for “Guest” networks or “AP/client isolation” in the router; those prevent devices from talking to each other even if the internet works.
  3. On the laptop open Network and Sharing Center -> Advanced sharing settings and turn on Network Discovery and File and Printer Sharing for the active profile. In Windows Firewall allow those features for the Home/Work profile.
  4. Open Services (start -> type services.msc) and ensure these services are running: Function Discovery Provider Host (fdPHost), Function Discovery Resource Publication (FDResPub), SSDP Discovery, UPnP Device Host and Print Spooler. If any are stopped, start them and set them to start automatically if desired.
  5. If the printer still doesn’t appear, add it by IP: Control Panel -> Devices and Printers -> Add a printer -> “The printer I want isn’t listed” -> Add a printer using a TCP/IP address or hostname and install the Lexmark driver.

If those steps don’t help, run the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter and check Event Viewer for service or driver errors. Don’t reinstall the OS unless you confirm drivers/services and the network have been ruled out — most problems like this are resolved by fixing discovery or a router setting rather than a full format.

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Member Avatar for BigPaw

Did you solve this?

You may want to run Malwarebytes and Superantispyware if you're concerned about being infected. Avast is my favorite AV too. :)

Member Avatar for manojrea

Which antivirus you are using? try to desable and after install again you can enable your AV. If not success, formart your system.

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