Guide

How to check your Epson waste ink counter for free

Updated 2026-09-26·4 min read
Short answer

Download VNIT Reset Tool, connect the printer with a USB cable and press Check. The tool shows each waste ink counter as a percentage. Reading it is free. Under 80% is fine, 80 to 99% is nearly full, and at 100% the printer stops.

Read it in four steps

  1. Download VNIT Reset Tool and unzip it. Run VNIT_Reset.exe. No installer.
  2. Connect the printer with a USB cable. Switch it on and wait until it is quiet.
  3. Make sure the computer is online. The tool downloads the settings for your exact model from our server.
  4. Press Check. The model, serial number and each counter appear.

Reading the counter never uses a key and never costs anything.

What the numbers mean

Counter Status What it means
Under 80% Good Normal. No reset needed.
80 to 99% Nearly full Plan ahead: have pads or a reset ready.
100% Full The printer has stopped. It needs a reset.

Some models have not been calibrated as a percentage yet. For those, the tool shows the raw count and the limit instead. They reset the same way.

Why there is more than one counter

Many Epson printers keep separate counters for different pads, for example:

  • the main pad, inside the body of the printer, and
  • the platen pad, near the paper path, which catches ink from borderless printing.

The tool reads all of them. A reset key resets them together.

At 90% or more?

You can run the free trial once on this printer. It lowers the counter to 85%, which clears the error so you can print.

Sources

  1. VNIT Reset Tool user guide, section 6 (reading the counter)