Illustrator 2025 printing blanks

[GRID_James]

I am having an issue with a new installation. I just started this job, got my computer (Dell Inspirion 2-1 laptop) set up with a new business account in Adobe, and got the software installed. I cannot print from Illustratior to the HP Laserjet Printer, pages come out blank.

I have tried mutiple files and color modes, nothing works.

Photoshop and PDFs print just fine.

I have tried to reset the preferences, and "Discard White Overprint" and nothing is working.

At this point your software is making me look bad to my new employer. Please help me figure out what is wrong with your software and how to fix it.

[Ton Frederiks]

Which version of Illustrator gives you problems, 29.1 or 29.2?

[GRID_James]

29.1

[Ton Frederiks]

Thanks for the info, I hope someone with Windows/printers experience can help you.

[Bobby Henderson]

If your computer is able to successfully print to the HP Laserjet from other applications (such as Photoshop or Adobe Acrobat) it at least must be connected properly. However, is the printer driver up to date? Is the printer a larger office model that prints across network connections? Drivers from some office network printers can be a little more complicated to install. That's certainly the case with the office color laser printer at my work place.

When printing from Illustrator are you using the standard Illustrator print dialog or a print dialog from the HP Laserjet driver? In either case does the print dialog box provide options for printing in Postscript or PCL? The options may be in a drop-down list showing a choice of printers where to output the job.

Technically artwork created in Illustrator is written in PDF; in the 1990's and earlier Illustrator artwork was based on Postscript. Printers and RIP applications will deliver the best results if they have Adobe certified PDF print engines. Printers that don't have such features have to emulate PDF. That can lead to odd results. Yucky Discolored Box Syndrome is one common issue. I haven't heard of a Laserjet printer simply discarding the entire print job and outputting blank pages before.

[GRID_James]

The only application that does this is Illustrator. I have been saving files as PDF to print them. It is one of the larger models on the office network. Do you have any suggestions on how to properly install the driver?

No options for postscript from what I can see.

[creative explorer]

@GRID_James when you got your new computer, did you re-install the HP Printer drivers to your new Dell machine? And if it's a wireless printer, is the Dell machine on the same network as the wireless printer too as well? 

I ask is I got a new printer, and I wasn't able to print directly from my computer the printer. And it finally worked when I realized that I was using the wrong network connections to the printer. It was eerily similar. We had the IT team to remove the 'dead' network connection on the computers. 

[Bobby Henderson]

Without knowing the specific printer model I wouldn't know where to begin on giving good installation advice. The drivers for networked office laser printers are generally more complicated to install. Some printers will require separate installs for PCL6 and Postscript.

[GRID_James]

Thanks for your time everyone. We just decided to get a macbook pro instead for my work (Thank goodness).

I have never had a good time with anything from Dell.

This problem will remain unsolved for eternity.

[jones__]

Which problem will remain unsolved?

[GRID_James]

New Dell Laptop with new Illustrator installation was printing blank pages, regardless of the content on the screen. The problem will remain unsolved as I just returned the computer and got a macbook instead.

[jones__]

Can you share the file you were trying to print? Will try it out on my printer with Illustrator.

[jones__]

?

[Anshul_Saini]

Hello @GRID_James,

I understand that you’re having difficulties printing from Illustrator. To investigate the issue further, could you please share the following details?

1. The version of Windows (e.g., Windows 11, version 22H2).

2. The file format you are trying to print (e.g., .PNG, .JPG, .AI, .PDF, etc.).

3. The HP LaserJet printer model (e.g., HP LaserJet Pro MFP M428fdw).

4. An MSInfo file capturing your system information. Here’s how to generate it:

• On Windows: Press Win + R, type msinfo32, and click OK. Then, go to File > Export and save the file.

Additionally, could you confirm whether the printer is connected locally, via a network, or Wi-Fi, and if the issue occurs with all files or specific ones?

These details will help the product team resolve the issue more efficiently.

Looking forward to your response!

Best regards,
Anshul Saini

[GRID_James]

Thanks for your time, but I don't have this computer anymore. We returned it and got a macbook pro instead.

[Anubhav M]

Hello everyone,

Our product team has rolled out a backend fix for this problem. Would you mind re-installing Illustrator 29.2.1 and confirming if it helps resolve the problem?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

[GRID_James]

I did reinstall Illustrator on my new MacBook. Currently running version 29.2.1.

I opened the same document that was giving me trouble before, and it did print.

However, now there is a new issue. the fine details of a QR code (from an SVG file) were not printed correctly. When sent to the printer, it added an outline to the small circles in the QR code, rendering it unreadable by phones.

[jones__]

did you print it from Mac? or Win?

[Bobby Henderson]

I would look at the QR code artwork in the Apperance panel to see if one or more line strokes are applied to the dots. The data spots need flat fills, no outline effects, strokes, etc. What kind of app was used to create the code? Some code generators create better artwork than others.