Inkjet printers dry out easily, leave them a month unused and you might need an expensive (and not always successful) nozzle cleaning procedure.
Lasers don’t have this issue, but nowadays, with “tank” inkjet printers, lasers are not the cheapest choice anymore: tank inkjets can print 6000 pages with 50 Euro of ink, while the same would cost 300 Euro or more of laser toner (unless manual powder refilling is performed, which is a very involved and potentially risky task).
How to ensure inkjets don’t dry out? print a single page a week, automatically, with a scheduled task that:
- Runs once a week
- Runs whether a user is logged in or not
- Prints a specific PDF automatically
- Runs immediately at startup if the PC was off at the scheduled time
It needs a silent PDF viewer (Windows’ built-in readers won’t work unattended). It also needs the computer to be connected to the same network as the printer, and the printer to be left always on to accept jobs.
A suitable print page can be found here.
On Windows, use SumatraPDF. In fact, my standard PDF viewer on Windows. Install it in its default location, which we will assume to be C:\Program Files\SumatraPDF\SumatraPDF.exe.
Verify the printer works without a user logged in by opening the “Command Prompt” executing
"C:\Program Files\SumatraPDF\SumatraPDF.exe" -print-to "Your Printer Name" "C:\Path\To\File.pdf"
The string “Your Printer Name” should be exactly as shown in “Windows Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Printers & scanners“.
The string “C:\Path\To\File.pdf” must correspond to the location of the PDF test page.
The procedure should print without any popup.
To ensure unsupervised printing, perform the following steps:
- Open Printers & scanners
- Select the printer → Printer properties
- Go to Security
- Ensure SYSTEM has:
- ✔ Manage documents
If SYSTEM is missing → add it.
Now open the Task scheduler by pressing Windows key + R and then by typing taskschd.msc and confirming with Return key.
Select menu Action → Create Task (not “Create Basic Task”).
Set the following settings.
General tab
- Name:
Weekly PDF Auto Print - Description:
Prints PDF weekly even if PC was off - ✔ Run whether user is logged on or not
- ✔ Run with highest privileges
- Configure for: Windows 10 (or 11)
Triggers tab
- Begin the task: On a schedule
- Weekly → choose day & time
- ✔ Enabled
Actions tab
New → Start a program
- Program/script:
"C:\Program Files\SumatraPDF\SumatraPDF.exe" - Add arguments:
-print-to "Your Printer Name" "C:\Path\To\File.pdf" - Start in:
C:\Program Files\SumatraPDF
Conditions tab
- ❌ Uncheck “Start the task only if the computer is on AC power” (unless needed)
- ❌ Uncheck idle requirements
Settings tab
✔ Allow task to be run on demand
✔ Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed
✔ If the task fails, restart every: 5 minutes (optional)
✔ Stop the task if it runs longer than: 5 minutes
When you click OK, Windows will ask for credentials. Use an administrator account for this purpose.
Once saved, right-click → Run to test it.
To test the printing without login:
- Shut down the PC
- Turn it on
- Do NOT log in
- Wait 1–2 minutes
The PDF should print automatically.