Unlocking The Lexmark Printer Control Panel
Updated: Jun 13, 2019
If you’ve ever come across a printer with a control panel that is locked, you know how frustrating it can be. Pressing any button ends up with the same annoying result: the control panel displaying “Menus Disabled” (Figure 1). You’d like to fix it, but since none of the buttons work, what do you do?
The answer? Find the person who has the code to get in. Of course, that’s a good idea if the person is there to ask or the printer you are working on is an HP, in which case you simply perform a cold reset. But what if the printer is a Lexmark? Do you know how to unlock or lock the control panel on a Lexmark?
You may not, especially since the procedure is not listed in any Lexmark service manual. And though the procedure is listed in most user manuals, there are a few that it is not. Thankfully, the procedure to lock or unlock a Lexmark control panel is easy, and is listed below for several Lexmark models.
Unlocking the control panel on an Optra S
Hold the ‘Go’ and ‘Stop’ buttons while powering on the printer, which will lock or unlock the control panel.
Unlocking the control panel on an Optra T/Lexmark T, Optra W/Lexmark W,
Optra M, Optra C/Lexmark C
Hold either the ‘Go’ and ‘Stop’ buttons or the ‘Select’ and ‘Return’ buttons (this will vary by model) while powering on the printer.
Once the display reads “Performing Self Test,” release the buttons until “CONFIG MENU” is displayed. On some printers, “Engine warming” may appear after you release the buttons. If you see this message, wait a little longer before CONFIG MENU appears.
Using the arrow buttons, scroll until “Panel Menus” is displayed, then disable or enable (Figure 2). Next time you run into a Lexmark printer with this issue, use this simple procedure.
You’ll avoid an awful headache by solving a very annoying problem.
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