Printer in "pending" mode only, not printing

Solution 1:

I found the problem. Under Settings>Printers>Policies "Enabled" was not selected. Why is this even an option?? Of all the features that used to make Ubuntu a good operating system have been stripped away, this one remains?? Unreal.

Solution 2:

• sudo system-config-printer

• right click printer icon in Printers - localhost

  /properties
  /settings
  /policies

• check "enabled"

• close the system-config-printer tool

done.

Solution 3:

Under Ubuntu 16.04 the same problem occurred, on my networked (wireless) HP 4635, in the same way: suddenly, without the user doing anything, and for no obvious reason. It was resolved in about the same way: click the Settings icon (gear), click System Settings, open Printers, right-click the printer, click "Enabled" in the printer's context menu to check-mark "Enabled". (If "Enabled" was already check-marked, this isn't your solution.)

Solution 4:

Update to Donnie's answer:

For non-GUI CUPS user, you can adjust this setting in your CUPS web interface.

Administration => Manage Printers => Select your printer => Maintaince => Resume Printer.

It's really strange that, a single printing failure causes CUPS to prevent any further printing job. Bad design .