Windows update killed Brother printers
It looks like the recent Windows 10 update killed most of the consumer Brother printers. The update was released on June 9th, 2020 and you can see more information about this update here:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4560960/windows-10-update-kb4560960
Symptoms
Once the update is installed, the printer is not able to print anymore. If you take a look at the print spooler, you may notice that the document is placed in the queue, but it disappears after a while and there is no evidence of any communication between computer and printer.
Print spooler is working properly, you are able to print to PDF and various models of printers, but this update affects most of the consumer-level Brother printers.
Solution(s)
The first possible solution is to uninstall the update of KB4560960. If there are more than ten days after the update, you will not be able to do this. In such a case, restore Windows to the point of time before the update was installed, let it install the update again and uninstall it immediately.
UPDATE: It looks like there is a set of updates provided to fix this issue. They are not officially available in Windows Update yet, but you can download them and install manually:
For Windows 10 compilation 1909 and 1903: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4567512
For Windows 10 compilation 1809:
https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4567513
For Windows 10 compilation 1803:
https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4567514
How to check what Windows compilation are you using?
- Right-click the start menu and choose Run.
- In the Run window, type winver and press OK.
- The window that opens will display the Windows 10 build that is installed.