HP printers

[Fred Claus]

is anyone having issues with HP printers lately? I have one in my office and it says "Driver Not Available". I've tried all the recommended fixes and even contacted HP. My system is Windows 11 22H2, but HP says I have Windows 10.

On top of that, I got phone calls from 5 people who are not managed customers with the same issue.

 

[HCHTech]

What model? Is it new, or was it working and then quit after an update? Does the HP universal print driver work? More data man, more data.

 

[Porthos]

Might want to uninstall the last Microsoft CU as a test. I have seen reports with Win 10 users that NOV 8 update botched printing.

 

[fincoder]

is anyone having issues with HP printers lately? I have one in my office and it says "Driver Not Available".

Yes I've seen this. Fixed it for a customer last week by reinstalling the printer (older HP OfficeJet).

 

[britechguy]

but HP says I have Windows 10.

Remember that Windows 11 identifies itself as Windows 10 when a "low level" inquiry is made. I'm not on Windows 11 right now to extract this.

HP is probably interrogating Windows via a system call and getting the Windows 10 version returned.

 

[Fred Claus]

Thanks for the advice. I've run the reinstall of the printer on a few test computers with no luck. I've removed it from device manager and still no luck. I've even turned off Bitdefender to see if that was the issue. No luck. Figured it wasn't bit defender, I have been getting calls from people who don't use my service, nor have Bitdefender and they have the same issue.

The operating systems are Windows 10 and 11, and various models of HP printers.

When you say the CU update I'm assuming you are talking about Windows 11 22H2? That's the only CU update I have on my machine since late October.

 

[phaZed]

It's HP's garbage "Smart" program.

1. Remove the printer as much as you can via the Win Settings "Printers", remove from Smart (Usually fails to remove)
2. Remove the Printer software
3. services.msc and stop Printer Spooler service.
4. Go to C:\Windows\System32\spool\Printers and Delete any entries of HP printers you find (everything if you're unsure)
5. regedit HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControl\SetControl\Print\Printers
6. Expand the Printers Key and delete the HP from there.
7. Find (if exists) HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Drivers\Version-4
8. Delete HP from there.

9. This is what usually does it, for me:
Look for:
C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\w32x863
C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\w32x861
C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\w32x862

-Delete any files in those folders that exist

Start the print spooler service, reinstall/HP Smart and all should be well.

 

[Porthos]

When you say the CU update

Nov 8 Patch Tuesday update. Win 10 and 11.

 

[Fred Claus]

yep, it seems that if I roll back the computer to the restore point from November 8th it fixes the problem. Only time I had an issue was when the client didn't have the restore points turned on.