No Color Ink? Print Black and White Anyway - Brother Printer 

6 years later and you are still helping people with this video! I appreciate you.

Awesome video. I'm mad that it's even required and that we can't just print b&w, but oh well.

Man, You are a frickin' genius. Thank you. You saved me a ton of time and hassle. There should be a law against these printer companies for crap like this - shutting down the complete use of your printer on purpose because one of the four ink cartridges is low. What a pile of horse sh*t. Thanks again.

It worked!! I just got a sharpie marker and coloured over a bit of clear sticky tape, then sealed it with some more tape - and totally fixed it. You sir are a gentleman and a scholar!

You saved me a ton of money in the long run because I never need to print in color. Thank you sir!

The only way I got my MFC-J475DW to accept the empty cartridge was by tilting the printer back before inserting the blacked out cartridge. It makes the little bit of ink left pour forward and I think that's why it only accepts it that way. Good luck. ***I'm posting this because Brother programs their printers to waste lots of ink cleaning and it costs us all way more money than it should!***

You're the man. I owe you a beer! I was about to go all office space on it out in my driveway

Wow, this actually worked! My printer is a slightly different model so the clear plastic bit was at the top rather than the back, but still managed to let me print. Thanks!

Thank you! Very helpful ! Every time I buy ink it’s used up in a few weeks from the “test” print that the printer automatically does all the time. Literally ALL the color ink is gone in weeks from this. Thanks !!

It worked! For reference I have a mfc-j8850w. There are directions on the brother site that indicate all it takes is pressing the 'x' button and going to gray scale, but it doesn't work. I used silver duct tape, which worked just fine. Thanks!

This is awesome. I even went further and just used a black whiteboard marker to colour the same part and I was able to print an important assignment for my daughter at 11:00 pm.

I just forked out on two single colour Brother ink cartridges on Amazon. Did an ink test twice, went to print a document and a message came up to say colour ink was low! WTF!!! Checked the ink levels and almost had a melt down. How could that be when they’re brand new? So got on to RU-vid and came across your video. Followed your instructions and IT WORKED not just in monochrome but in full colour too! Brilliant.... Thank you 🙏🏾

THANK YOU SO MUCH. i needed black and white for my school work but i didnt have yellow! i thought that i had to buy new ink ❤️❤️

6 years late but damn you saved me money.... I'v had this printer for many many years.. Thank you

OMG THANK YOU, YOU SAVED MY LIFE! I have an essay to give tomorrow morning at 8 am! Today I bought the black ink because there was no more left. I put it in the printer and the printer wrote "no magenta and cyan left". I was about to cry! Thank you for this video! You saved me!!! God bless you!! :D

I wish I'd found this video 2 years ago, when my printer came screeching to a halt because - gasp - the yellow cartridge was out. No B&W printing capabilities; I couldn't even scan! Just tried this today and VIOLA, everything's back! One minor note: when I put the cartridges in after taping them and then plugged the printer in, it said it couldn't detect them. I took them back out, popped them back in, and all's perfect. BTW I'm working with a Brother MFC-J485DW. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

Entertaining video (even if it's not meant to be), and GREAT advice. Needed to print something urgently and, with your help, was able to do exactly that! Love your laid-back approach too. Was stressed out of my head ... until I sat and watched your video. "Thanks a million"

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! It worked on my MFC J4420DW! A brand new cartridge of the yellow ran out in one day - which was maddening enough, cuz.... why???? - after printing a few hundred black and white copies, so this was a lifesaver! I didn't even unplug it first. It just thought I inserted a new cartridge. Yay! God bless you!

Yes, you made my day! Companies are walking roughshod over us, chalk one up for the little guy!

You’re a lifesaver Eric!! Especially for us overwhelmed parents who are suddenly running a homeschool while we shelter in place during C19, and can’t get our hands on a “non-essential” commodity like printer ink. Thanks!!

THIS IS LIFE CHANGING THANKYOU

Awesome video! How about going to the next level? Cartridge not detected. Suddenly! worked yesterday, now it doesn't. PLEASE HELP.

Perfect, thank you! Life changing! My Brother is a different model and worked as well. So happy!

Worked on my MFC-J985DW using black electrical tape on the yellow cartridge. Thank you! My printer is no longer held hostage by the Brother Ink Barons and my XL black ink cartridge is useful again!

Omg thank you so much!! this also works when it says that theres no more black ink. I tried it and it still comes out black text perfectly printed

AWESOME fix!!! thank you so much for posting this. i'm 65 and i can't believe your "fix" was so easy to follow and it worked!

I can't believe it worked! Thank you!

Amazing. Also works on the MFC-J825DW. I have had this printer for a decade and always frustrating that you have to replace cartridges when there is clearly lots of ink left. FWIW - even though you select to print in "Black and white only", it does use all colours to provide a richer black colour vs only using black ink (printers & older drivers call it "cmyk" black - the initials of all ink colours). Regardless.. over 5 years later and per the comments you are still making many people happy with this hack. Brilliant and thanks for sharing!! p.s Electrical tape works perfectly.

Thank you, This worked perfectly with blue electrical tape!!!

You get my stud award for the week for posting this, Eric! Worked like a charm and I got to "stick it to the man" (Brother) as well!

Thank you Eric!! I've been trying to figure this out for days, your awesome!! :)

absolute genius. just tried it on my brother lc201 and it worked perfectly. You saved me an emergency trip to the store while I wait for my ink to be delivered from amazon. thank you!

Great! Worked for me printer Brother MFC-6490CW, and I used Painters tape!:) Thanks!

Dude.............thanks so much. I'm a project manager on a large construction project and couldn't print any permits (so no work) because I was out of yellow ink. Way out in the sticks, no malls, no shops.................But the guys are out working after I watched this. Cheers man!!!!!!

This worked for my MFC-J460DW Printer. Just in time in the nick of time before my rental book was due. THANKS MANG

Helpful additions for the clumsy, like me: get vinyl gloves, tweezers, and put a paper towel on the table in case there is any leaked ink. Very thankful or these instrutions, Eric. This worked well on my Brother MFC-J435w

Great Video and Tutorial Thanks. This really, really worked for me. I'm glad I found your channel. Thanks a million times, it truly was a life saver and a Stressful Relief for me, trying to get these important documents I time for some very important people.

Thank you for the video tip - a real help as Staples was out of the color cartridges (naturally!). This works for Brother MFC-J775DW. Put tape over slot on cartridge(s) printer says is low on ink. Brown tape worked for me. This model has a narrower slot for the tape than the one shown on the video. Also machine asked me to go through a couple of steps to test the cartridge, which I did, and voila, it printed in black and white.

Brother printers... Should be "Oh Brother"

Worked like a charm on my MFC-J485DW, I used silver metallic tape and sploodged in the gaps with black magic marker. Reloaded the blacked out cartridges and plugged the printer back in, it asked me to do a few tasks and sent some data, then asked me if I had replaced the black, I lied and said yes, I had really only put the nearly full black cartridge back in. Also make sure you are set to grayscale before you do this. So happy I found this video. Subscribed.

It worked ! I have wasted so much money on color ink over the past 2 years when I only print black and white shipping labels!! Your video was conscise and to the point love it !

Omg I was going nuts trying to print something due tomorrow, with out the color ink. I have a newer model than yours but this worked!! Thank you for sharing this with us. Saved me over 200 dollars as I had to have something post marked by tomorrow and no way to print out the label for the return!

I appreciate this video, however it was unable to help me as my Brother printer is a MFC-J985DW. I guess it doesn't sense ink levels with a light level scanner but probably saved it onto the cartridge or something as it has a chip on the top of the ink cartridge that probably keeps track of the levels based on how i was saying the print quality was coming out when it tested print quality and thus doomed me to NEED to buy more cartridges the day before i need a confirmation email printed for a test im taking... sad but this is what i get for being a procrastinator lol. Wish me luck in being able to find the ink cartridges that work for it from my local office store before the test start time.

Works perfect!!! Thanks man. Instead of using tape, i coloured in the window with a black permanent marker and it worked. I've got brother MFC J432W Saved me going postal. Its printing in "empty" colour fine, finally a way to use all cartridges until they are REALLY empty :)

At first, I really thought this was an elaborate joke. Then I tried it on my MFC-J200 and it worked... thanks man! You're a life saver.

Dude you are the man, i wish more videos were like this one. Awesome job. Most videos, they spend up to two minutes talking about themselves. You were right to the point, and told us how to fix this problem. You are awesome Bro.

Genius! It worked like a charm! I ran out of the colour cartridges and just wanted to print black and white on the MFC-J4510DW, thank you!!

Worked like a charm. I dont know why Brother chose such an insane solution that I need all colors to print in black. I had many printers, never have I experienced such stupidity.

Thanks for reminding us of this hack. We've done it before but couldn't remember what we did. Now printing B&W only until our color cartridges are delivered. Happy holidays -- we appreciate your sharing.

I have tried this on my brother printer which is only 3 years old and it worked like a magic. Thank you 🙏

Thank you so much! This works on other Brother models, too. Sometime you need to push a piece back on the ink cartridge to reveal the "window", but the concept is the same. Dear Brother - I am never buying another Color ink cartridge from you ever again!

You are still helping in 2022. Appreciate your help. Cheers

I have a Brother MFC J-200 and your advice worked. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!! Saved me a ton of frustration now. Thankful for people like you!!!!

It worked!! Didn't have tape but used some folder labels I had. I was wondering if I had to go buy the other inks. You saved me $$.

Thanks! Works on my Brother MFC-J680DW. I used electrical tape since light can't go through (thats how i think it detects if there is ink) and it doesn't leave a sticky residue when I need to refill that specific colour! Thanks Again!

Omg my god THANK YOU!!!!!!!! I could literally cry right now. I’m snowed in with three very wild children who I promised a fun fishing word game but I was out of yellow. I’m only printing black and white but oooooofffff course it’s not working. Hours of cursing and crying, I gave up and just turned the tv back on. Hours later I decided to google, found this, and OMG it works!!!!!!!!! 😍😍😍😍😍 I have an mic-j870dw. Thank you times a million! Freaking genius! You have a fan for life.

Lifesaver 7 years later!!! Thank you so much

Jonah Hill! Thanks man for helping me fix my printer. Btw, War Dogs was one of your best perfomances yet! Keep up the great work!

You are wonderful! Direct and to the point and it works. I do like my printer but the ink biz is really frustrating. I don't print in color, so this is perfect. Much thanks.

Dude, THANK YOU. You saved my ass. Damn cartridges always run out at the most inopportune times...

It worked on my brother printer dcp-j1050dw the little window stays on top and I used black electrical tape to cover it and IT WORKS!!!! THANK YOU MILLION TIMES!!! 😊

Well done man! I didn't expect much when I gave it a shot but now I'm printing with black ink again. Thanks for the awesome hack.

You are the last dragon! Saved us big time. We're at work late trying to get something printed and didn't want to have to run to wally world.

Worked a treat on my Brother MFC-J4625DW. Was about to spend £45 on a new load of ink! Annoying as well as still quite a bit of ink in the cartridges! Will bleed them dry before I shell out for new ones! Top Tip, cheers mate!

Eric, Thank you, thank you, thank you, your careful directions WORKED great, I can now just print B&W , even if the colors are low. I feel like I finally got a heads up on the evil buy more ink scheme. Good Job.

Great video. I have a DCP-J7850W and the Cyan was low causing it to stop printing. Black tape didn't work. I used white masking tape and spilled some blue dye that was left in the cartridge on it to make it blue. Then I stuck it on. The printer asked if I put in a new Cyan and I said "YES" Hey presto - back to printing black and white! Yesss!

Thank you for this! used a post it note and it worked like a charm for Brother MFC-J485DW. Outrageous how they hobble their own products' functionality just to trick people into buying unnecessary colour ink. Power to the people!

That was brilliant! Had many black cartridges that I could not use. It worked so well...saving time, money and hassle

Brilliant! It didn't work with yellow, so I took a tube of my wife's yellow oil paint and covered one side of the window with that, and now it works. Only one side of the window needs to be taped. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!

Works 6 years later on my MFC-J880DW! Thanks man!

IT WORKED!!!! didn't have black tape but I had green tape and just used a black sharpie to shade it in. Thank you so much!!!!! couldv'e been saving money all these years if I knew lol

AWESOME MAN! For some stupid reason eventhough I had it set to print only black and white colors would eventually go out and prevent me from printing this was an amazing hack!

Thank you for sharing this. I have exact model. Full black but some of the colors were out and it refused to print. I just need to print out stuff for summer classes. This saved me

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I hate how "smart" my printer is, good to know I can outsmart it!

Another thanks for the video. Mad that it's required just to print in black - but thanks for making it easy!

Sir, you are a FRIGGIN genius!! It worked flawlessly 😂

Worked a treat. Your video(s) are exceptional; you get right to the point and you even have enough time to go through it twice. You also discuss limits of your advice (particular printer) and turn the device to the camera so that we can follow you and what you are doing with the printer.

YOU ARE A HERO! Thank you! MFC J44DW Printer for me and it STILL WORKED! I didnt have dark tape, so I colored a piece of masking tape with black sharpie and MAGIC!

Brilliant, for a 70 year old it saved me a lot of money in not having to buy colour cartridges, especially as I don't print in colour the cartridges just dried up

Thanks for video. Worked perfectly for me. My Brother printer had the triangle style window but the tape worked I need to learn to Google first before taking stuff apart save me a lot of aggravation. Thanks Again Pat

We used duct tape and a sharpie on Brother MFC-J6925DW for and empty cyan cartridge and it worked! Thanks so much!

Awesome hack! I have a Brother MFC-J6920DW printer and it worked! I had some urgent documents that needed printing so this helped me to get it printed in B&W. Thank you for the video!

Never thought of that. I'm gonna try it.....And it worked perfectly now I can use my printer again without having to buy color ink every time it over uses/uses up one color. Thank you for the help. Much obliged.

Fantastic thank you! Desperately needed a print out saw the no yellow ink and was ready to chuck the printer out the window! Tape trick worked 👍🏼

Worked like a charm, thank you. Two pointers with the scissors taper the end being fed through the eye and the reason you had difficulty reinserting the cartridges is because your tape strips were too long. Where the cartridge begins to taper outward, stop there.

Thank you ... I just need my printer for scanning for the moment... but that error wouldn't go away. You are my hero

This is awesome! Saved me having to drive across town to the only place that sells ink for my bloody printer.

Dear One Cheap Eric. I didn't have black electric tape so I tried using black marker to mimic what you did. Didn't work. Boo to me. But thanks for doing this video as all the peeps below are as fed up with this ink cartridge sham. I don't need or use color but held hostage. Other than that this very old brother MFC J825DW has been a gem for home use.

Brother dcp-j105 WORKS! Man I don't know how to say thank you.. thank you ? :-) For last month whenever I was turning on my PC I've got notification to cancel, like even 3x in one sitting that colours are out of ink... for the love of god... Why haven't I simply bought new ones ?.. oh that's complicated :-) Thank you once again.. seriously.. thanks. oh and that 500,000,000 likes ? Hahah You made my day :-D

It Worked on my MFC-J4710DW, WOOOOOOW, I have been so Mad that I had to buy all these color cartages so I can print in B & W . Such a Scam. Thanks Again man, You Saved me A lot of Money. I wish I knew this 6 years ago.

Worked for MFC-J480DW too. When I turned it back on it gave me the empty cartridge message, but I popped the 3 out and back in, and it showed full. Big hack right here.

Wow, actually insane that this works. Two thumbs way up to you, man

THANKYOU. This saved me like $80 by not having to run out and buy all the colours just to print my work in black. I’m so confused why the printer even uses up coloured ink when printing black stuff?? I’ve been slowly watching the coloured ink go down, and I never print in color. WTF. I have Brother J6510DW and this hack worked no problem🙌

This worked wonders!!! Been fighting my printer for so long with an old and new yellow it just wouldn't read it! A little tap and bam it's good as new.

Can verify this worked today on my MFC-J480DW. Brilliant!

THank you! This worked for me with a Brother mfc j6530dw, used red electrical tape and it was fine. Was going to colour it with black market if it didn't work.... so annoying how they try to make you buy all the cartridges even if you only want to print black and white. I wonder if taking the cartridges out and taping over or covering up the holes on the actual printer would also work? Anyway thanks again

OMG! Ran out of yellow ink while trying to print a shipping label. Was SO pissed! Jumped on Amazon and laid out $40 for a three pack of high yield color ink. Then on a whim, decided to check if there was some back door approach to printing without the color cartridges. Came across your video and immediately thought, "Yeah right! No way in hell that actually works." Saw one of the commenters used a black Sharpie so I tried that first. Fail. You KNOW I was thinking that it was all fake just to get followers, right? Then I tried black electrical tape and DAMN IF IT DIDN'T WORK! We're going to keep some color ink on hand, just in case Brother gets hip to this fix and changes something in a firmware update. Given your video is more than three years old though I think we just saved an ass ton of money. I have a MFC-J835DW by the way. Thanks for the video! No more having to waste color ink printing coupons from my phone. Those apps bypass all CUPS settings so there's no way to print in anything but color. But now there is! I'm so excited! Thanks again!

Oh wow this actually worked you bloody legend. Needed to print a birthday card and Cyan was out. Thank you sir!

Thanks for sharing! For some reason I had to pop the empty cartridges out and back in after turning the printer back on. Got a "couldn't detect cartridge error" and a sinking feeling for a moment, but that took care of it!

I like what you printed. So true. They will never get another penny from me.