Print once a week automatically so ink wont dry?*

I know people who have inkjet printers that last for years with normal use, yet they don't last long at all in our household before the print quality goes bad. We've had at least 4 inkjet printers over the years and I doubt any of them broke due to normal wear and tear. The most likely difference is lack of use. If that is the case, maybe printing one test page per week will be enough to keep the color cartridges clean and the ink flowing. The command needed to print a test page from Windows 7 (and probably later versions of Windows as well) is

cscript prnqctl.vbs -e [-s ServerName] -p PrinterName [-u UserName -w Password]

In this case, you need to know how to schedule the test print via Task Scheduler. Here are the critical pieces of info.

Action: Start a program

Program/script: cscript

Add arguments: %WINDIR%\System32\Printing_Admin_Scripts\en-US\prnqctl.vbs -e -p "My Printer Name"

Set the task to run however often you'd like and under whatever condition you prefer. Those may vary based on whether your PC is set to sleep/hibernate and other factors.


If at first you don't succeed, fear not. Google is your friend. Now that you know "prnqctl.vbs" exists, the finish line is within sight.




*To those who have answered such queries with snarky comments about buying a laser printer, "go suck a lemon." - Barry Kripke from Big Bang Theory.