HP DeskJet 2720 Keeps Going Offline on Windows 11 After Sleep: Fix

Your HP DeskJet 2720 prints perfectly all evening. Then your Windows 11 PC goes to sleep, wakes up the next morning, and the printer shows as Offline — even though the printer itself is switched on with its Wi-Fi light glowing. Restarting the PC or the printer fixes it for a while, then it happens again. This is one of the most common DeskJet complaints, and it comes down to how Windows and the printer manage power and network addresses. The fixes below stop it happening for good.

Quick Answer

The DeskJet 2720 usually goes offline after the PC sleeps because Windows powers down the Wi-Fi adapter or USB port during sleep, or because the printer’s IP address changes and Windows keeps looking at the old one. Fix it by disabling power saving on the network adapter, turning off the printer’s own sleep/auto-off settings, and — most reliably — giving the printer a fixed IP address and reinstalling it using that address instead of the WSD port.

Why Sleep Breaks the Printer Connection

Three separate things can break while your PC sleeps:

• Windows powers down the network adapter to save energy, and on wake it reconnects slowly or differently, leaving the printer queue pointing at a dead session.
• The printer sleeps too — the DeskJet 2720 has its own energy-saving mode, and a deeply sleeping printer may not respond when Windows checks its status, so Windows marks it Offline.
• The IP address changes — your router may give the printer a different address after a restart or lease renewal. Windows, especially with a WSD port, often keeps trying the old address and reports the printer as missing.

You do not need to fix all three for every setup, but working through them in order gives a permanent result rather than a daily workaround.

Step 1: Stop Windows Powering Down the Network Adapter

1. Right-click the Start button and open Device Manager.
2. Expand Network adapters, right-click your Wi-Fi adapter, and choose Properties.
3. On the Power Management tab, untick “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power”.
4. If the printer is connected by USB, also expand Universal Serial Bus controllers, open each USB Root Hub’s properties, and untick the same option there.
5. Restart the PC and test by letting it sleep, then waking it and printing.

Step 2: Wake the Printer Up and Adjust Its Sleep Settings

Open the HP Smart app, select your printer, and go into its settings to check the energy options. Look for Sleep Mode and Auto-Off and set Sleep to the longest interval (or “Never” if offered) and Auto-Off to Never while the printer is plugged in. Also press a button on the printer before printing after long idle periods — a deeply sleeping DeskJet sometimes ignores the first job sent to it. HP’s own printer offline troubleshooting guide recommends the same energy-setting checks.

Step 3: Give the Printer a Fixed IP and Reinstall It

This is the fix that solves the problem permanently for most people:

1. Print a Network Configuration Page from the printer (hold the Information button) and note its current IP address.
2. In your router settings, reserve that address for the printer’s MAC address, so it never changes. Alternatively set a static IP in the printer’s embedded web page.
3. On the PC, remove the DeskJet 2720 from Settings, Bluetooth & devices, Printers & scanners.
4. Add it back manually: choose “Add manually”, then “Add a printer using an IP address”, and enter the fixed IP.
5. This creates a standard TCP/IP port instead of the flaky WSD port that causes most offline reports.

If several devices in your home suffer drop-offs after sleep, the issue may be wider than the printer — our guide to fixing a printer that keeps showing offline covers router settings that help everything on the network.

Step 4: Restart the Print Spooler Automatically

As a final belt-and-braces step, make sure the Print Spooler service is set to Automatic: open Services, find Print Spooler, set Startup type to Automatic, and on the Recovery tab set it to restart itself after a failure. A stalled spooler after sleep is a quiet cause of “offline” queues that no amount of printer restarting will cure.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Reinstalling the printer the same way — if you let Windows auto-detect it again, it recreates the WSD port and the problem returns.
• Only restarting things — restarts clear the symptom; the fixed IP and power settings remove the cause.
• Blaming the printer’s Wi-Fi signal — if it works perfectly until the PC sleeps, signal strength is not the issue.
• Disabling sleep on the PC entirely — unnecessary and wasteful; fix the adapter power setting instead.

A Note for Laptop Users Who Dock and Undock

If your Windows 11 machine is a laptop that moves between a desk dock and the sofa, the sleep problem has an extra twist. Each dock and undock changes the network hardware Windows sees — wired Ethernet at the desk, Wi-Fi away from it — and the printer queue can be left pointing through whichever adapter was active when the printer was added. When you undock and the laptop sleeps, the wake-up happens on a different network path and the printer looks offline again. The fixed-IP, standard TCP/IP port setup in Step 3 is even more valuable here, because it gives the queue one stable route that works on both connections. It also helps to add the printer once while on your home Wi-Fi rather than at the desk, so the default configuration is built around the connection the printer itself uses. If your employer manages the laptop, mention the adapter power-management setting to your IT team — it is a one-line change in their power policy that fixes this for every printer you use, not just the DeskJet.

If you share this printer with family members on other computers or phones, repeat the fixed-IP setup on each Windows PC in the house. One machine still using the old auto-discovered queue will keep reporting the printer as offline and convince everyone the problem is back, when in fact only that one PC’s configuration is stale. Consistency across devices is what turns this fix from a personal workaround into a permanent one.

Keep the printer’s own firmware in mind as well: HP has issued wireless and sleep-behaviour fixes for the DeskJet 2700 series, and a printer that still misbehaves after every setting in this guide is correct deserves a firmware check in HP Smart before you conclude anything is broken.

Conclusion

When a DeskJet 2720 goes offline every time the PC sleeps, the printer is rarely at fault. Stop Windows powering down the network adapter, relax the printer’s own sleep timers, and reinstall it on a fixed IP address with a standard TCP/IP port. After those changes, the printer survives sleep and wake cycles and simply prints when asked.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a WSD port and why is it a problem?

WSD (Web Services for Devices) is how Windows auto-discovers network printers. It is convenient but unreliable after sleep or IP changes, which is why a fixed TCP/IP port works better.

Does this happen with USB connections too?

Yes. Windows can suspend USB ports during sleep, and the queue fails to reconnect on wake. The USB Root Hub power setting in Step 1 addresses it.

My printer is fine but HP Smart says offline. Is that different?

HP Smart has its own status checks. If Windows prints but the app says offline, refresh the app, sign back into your HP account, and check the printer’s Wi-Fi connection.

Will a fixed IP slow my printer down?

No. It only means the address never changes, so every device always knows where to find the printer.

The problem started after a Windows update. Should I roll it back?

Updates sometimes reset power settings or reinstall the WSD printer. Re-check the power management tabs and port type first — that is faster and safer than rolling back.