“Hold for Authentication” in the Mac print queue

Resume the job and sign in

Open the printer’s queue by clicking its icon in the Dock, or from System Settings > Printers & Scanners by selecting the printer and clicking Printer Queue. Click the resume button beside the held job (a small circular arrow on most versions). When asked, enter the user name and password for the computer or print server sharing the printer, and choose to remember them if you want them saved.

You should see: The job’s status changes to printing and it leaves the queue.

Use the right account details for a Windows PC

For a printer shared from Windows, use an account on that PC, not your Mac login. If the PC signs in with a Microsoft account, enter its full email address and password; a Windows Hello PIN won’t work. For a local account, enter the account name, and if that fails, try it with the PC name in front, such as OFFICE-PC\nina.

Delete the old saved password

If you’re never asked and the job holds again, the Mac is sending an old password automatically. Open Keychain Access (search for it with Spotlight), search for the sharing PC’s name or the printer’s name, select the matching entry and delete it. Print again and enter the current password when asked.

You should see: macOS asks for a user name and password instead of silently holding the job.

Set a user code if the printer needs one

Office printers set up with department codes, user IDs or secure release hold jobs that arrive without one. In the print dialog, open the printer’s own options (often a section about accounting, authentication or job handling) and enter the code your administrator gave you. These options may only appear with the manufacturer’s driver rather than AirPrint.

Connect to the printer directly instead

If the printer has its own network connection, remove the shared entry from Printers & Scanners, click Add Printer, Scanner, or Fax and add the printer itself, either from the default list with AirPrint or by its IP address. A home printer added this way normally needs no sign-in at all.

You should see: Jobs print without any authentication prompt.

Check the account on the sharing PC

On the Windows PC, confirm the account you’re using still exists, has a password set and isn’t locked out. By default Windows won’t accept network sign-ins from an account with a blank password, so a password-free account can’t be used to print from a Mac.