Windows 10 issue
Discussion
Hi, I am looking for some PH brainpower.
I have a 2017 HP laptop which has run Win 10 perfectly since purchase. Perhaps in June / July MS tried to update it to Win 11 and decided that the CPU was incapable of supporting it.
At the beginning of July, my HP 3600 printer suddenly stopped printing. Not a problem as I had a new spare for such an occasion. That would not work either and so I bought a HP 3700 series as I urgently needed to print documents. It installed easily enough and printed the test pages. The following morning when I came to do the urgent printing, it would not work.
I was away for a month and so last Friday, I started to investigate. From the Control Panel it simply said no driver was available. I tried to find a driver, without success.
Before Win 10, i would go back to a restore point before the problems started, seemingly unable to do this I deleted the Windows updates after 4 July when the problem first started. I uninstalled the printer and then reinstalled it and everything suddenly works perfectly.
Yesterday morning, Windows does an update and the printer no longer works - No driver available.
So I tried to report the problem to Microsoft support as a Windows fault. 3-hours later, their guy in the Philippines has uninstalled and reinstalled the printer many times and achieved nothing. Not once did he look at Windows problems. I suspect he is a 1-week course more knowledgable than me.
Does anyone know if it is possible to permanently go back to when it last worked properly and ensure that future updates do not interfere with its proper working? Stopping updates for a week is not a satisfactory solution. Is it possible that part of my Windows now thinks its Win11 and deletes what it thinks is the wrong driver?
In England, I would take it to a PC guy and expect him to fix it permanently. Unfortunately, I am in France and do not speak French sufficiently well to explain this technical problem.
I also tried the online Windows support Hub, but that was useless. The HP helpdesk wont even recognise the serial number of the new printer. But I can AirPrint documents via my Android phone and iPad.
Any advice would be gratefully received.
Thanks
I have a 2017 HP laptop which has run Win 10 perfectly since purchase. Perhaps in June / July MS tried to update it to Win 11 and decided that the CPU was incapable of supporting it.
At the beginning of July, my HP 3600 printer suddenly stopped printing. Not a problem as I had a new spare for such an occasion. That would not work either and so I bought a HP 3700 series as I urgently needed to print documents. It installed easily enough and printed the test pages. The following morning when I came to do the urgent printing, it would not work.
I was away for a month and so last Friday, I started to investigate. From the Control Panel it simply said no driver was available. I tried to find a driver, without success.
Before Win 10, i would go back to a restore point before the problems started, seemingly unable to do this I deleted the Windows updates after 4 July when the problem first started. I uninstalled the printer and then reinstalled it and everything suddenly works perfectly.
Yesterday morning, Windows does an update and the printer no longer works - No driver available.
So I tried to report the problem to Microsoft support as a Windows fault. 3-hours later, their guy in the Philippines has uninstalled and reinstalled the printer many times and achieved nothing. Not once did he look at Windows problems. I suspect he is a 1-week course more knowledgable than me.
Does anyone know if it is possible to permanently go back to when it last worked properly and ensure that future updates do not interfere with its proper working? Stopping updates for a week is not a satisfactory solution. Is it possible that part of my Windows now thinks its Win11 and deletes what it thinks is the wrong driver?
In England, I would take it to a PC guy and expect him to fix it permanently. Unfortunately, I am in France and do not speak French sufficiently well to explain this technical problem.
I also tried the online Windows support Hub, but that was useless. The HP helpdesk wont even recognise the serial number of the new printer. But I can AirPrint documents via my Android phone and iPad.
Any advice would be gratefully received.
Thanks
Download the proper drivers from the HP site: https://support.hp.com/gb-en/drivers/selfservice/h...
Sounds like it's trying to use generic Microsoft drivers which aren't working properly - not the first time I've seen that happen. Once the official HP drivers are install, Windows shouldn't try to update/overwrite them itself.
Sounds like it's trying to use generic Microsoft drivers which aren't working properly - not the first time I've seen that happen. Once the official HP drivers are install, Windows shouldn't try to update/overwrite them itself.
Have you tried the diagnostic tool on the same page?
Another option is to check where the HP software extracts everything to, then manually point the printer to the driver file in Device Manager.
Given the same story on two different printers working then not working it definitely points to Windows dicking about with drivers.
Another option is to check where the HP software extracts everything to, then manually point the printer to the driver file in Device Manager.
Given the same story on two different printers working then not working it definitely points to Windows dicking about with drivers.
Edited by Funk on Tuesday 6th September 15:11
Funk said:
Have you tried the diagnostic tool on the same page?
Another option is to check where the HP software extracts evertying to, then manually point the printer to the driver file in Device Manager.
Given the same story on two different printers working then not working it definitely points to Windows dicking about with drivers.
Yes, it searches on the laptop and finds nothing. Then search everywhere any it cannot find one.Another option is to check where the HP software extracts evertying to, then manually point the printer to the driver file in Device Manager.
Given the same story on two different printers working then not working it definitely points to Windows dicking about with drivers.
I can get the printer working by deleting updates and reinstalling the printer.
The problem is keeping it running after a windows update. My question therefore is how do I prevent Windows messing things up
I am certain that the cause is Windows, the effect is that the printer will not work. Fixing the printer is unlikely to be the solution.
It's been a while since I junked Windows, but from memory.
Open control panel, hardware and sound,device manager.
If there are no printers shown go to the view and check show hidden devices.
This should show your HP printer is connected.
Right click and update driver software.
Go to the browse my computer for driver software.
Put in the location on your drive for the HP drivers and it should load them.
I say should, but this is Windows.
Open control panel, hardware and sound,device manager.
If there are no printers shown go to the view and check show hidden devices.
This should show your HP printer is connected.
Right click and update driver software.
Go to the browse my computer for driver software.
Put in the location on your drive for the HP drivers and it should load them.
I say should, but this is Windows.
I'm 99.9% certain it's driver-related with Windows trying to use its own driver.
On this page: https://support.hp.com/gb-en/drivers/selfservice/h...
Click > the + for Installation Software and Full/Basic Driver-Supports print and scan functionality only (4)
This enables an option for "Basic Drivers (1)" which isn't previously visible. Click on the + then 'Download' on the right-hand side.
This should run an installer for just the driver (none of the HP Smart crap). Let it do that, see whether it fixes it.
It's a shame they don't just let you have the driver file, it's wrapped in a .exe installer and without being able to extract it my end, I can't tell you where it dumps the driver files for sure but it's usually somewhere in the "Program Files (x86) > HP" or buried in an Users > [username] > Appdata folder somewhere. However, that's a bit moot at this stage.
Try the basic driver install above and let me know how it goes.
On this page: https://support.hp.com/gb-en/drivers/selfservice/h...
Click > the + for Installation Software and Full/Basic Driver-Supports print and scan functionality only (4)
This enables an option for "Basic Drivers (1)" which isn't previously visible. Click on the + then 'Download' on the right-hand side.
This should run an installer for just the driver (none of the HP Smart crap). Let it do that, see whether it fixes it.
It's a shame they don't just let you have the driver file, it's wrapped in a .exe installer and without being able to extract it my end, I can't tell you where it dumps the driver files for sure but it's usually somewhere in the "Program Files (x86) > HP" or buried in an Users > [username] > Appdata folder somewhere. However, that's a bit moot at this stage.
Try the basic driver install above and let me know how it goes.
NMNeil said:
It's been a while since I junked Windows, but from memory.
Open control panel, hardware and sound,device manager.
If there are no printers shown go to the view and check show hidden devices.
This should show your HP printer is connected.
Right click and update driver software.
Go to the browse my computer for driver software.
Put in the location on your drive for the HP drivers and it should load them.
I say should, but this is Windows.
This was where I was heading but we don't know where the HP installer .exe extracts the driver files to in order to manually install.Open control panel, hardware and sound,device manager.
If there are no printers shown go to the view and check show hidden devices.
This should show your HP printer is connected.
Right click and update driver software.
Go to the browse my computer for driver software.
Put in the location on your drive for the HP drivers and it should load them.
I say should, but this is Windows.
Edited by Funk on Tuesday 6th September 15:27
NMNeil said:
It's been a while since I junked Windows, but from memory.
Open control panel, hardware and sound,device manager.
If there are no printers shown go to the view and check show hidden devices.
This should show your HP printer is connected.
Right click and update driver software.
Go to the browse my computer for driver software.
Put in the location on your drive for the HP drivers and it should load them.
I say should, but this is Windows.
Thanks, but again, this is what the MS guy was doing repeatedly during his 3-hour intervention last night. The problem is Windows deleting and not recognising the replacement driver and not the printer driver per se.Open control panel, hardware and sound,device manager.
If there are no printers shown go to the view and check show hidden devices.
This should show your HP printer is connected.
Right click and update driver software.
Go to the browse my computer for driver software.
Put in the location on your drive for the HP drivers and it should load them.
I say should, but this is Windows.
I can get the printer to work by deleting updates. I cannot prevent Windows from messing things up
When an OEM driver is installed, it *should* in theory tell Windows not to overwrite it (ie. the OEM driver takes precedence over a generic Windows driver). I'm wondering whether the driver that's installed when you uninstall updates is an earlier version of the generic Windows one - which works, but then gets updated to a later Windows generic one that doesn't work - hence starting with trying to install the most basic HP OEM driver possible from the HP site.
Funk said:
This was where I was heading but we don't know where the HP installer .exe extracts the driver files to in order to manually install.
They probably extract to some temp folder below appdata so Explorer wont see them. Instead try extracting the exe with 7Zip so you can choose the destination (I think it handles self-extracting exe files).So my theory in my OP was that parts of Win11 have been installed and perhaps that deletes the Win 10 driver. Then the real Win10 has nothing to play with.
So again, if I could get back to where it was in time before the failed install attempt, then things might actually work.
If I delete the updates then the problem goes away. Windows reinstalls them and I have a problem.
So again, if I could get back to where it was in time before the failed install attempt, then things might actually work.
If I delete the updates then the problem goes away. Windows reinstalls them and I have a problem.
rdjohn said:
Thanks, but again, this is what the MS guy was doing repeatedly during his 3-hour intervention last night. The problem is Windows deleting and not recognising the replacement driver and not the printer driver per se.
I can get the printer to work by deleting updates. I cannot prevent Windows from messing things up
Of course you can. Delete Windows and install Linux. I can get the printer to work by deleting updates. I cannot prevent Windows from messing things up
But Microsoft has a fix.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/...
I am more inclined to dump Microsoft, I think it has outlived its usefulness to home working in a world where iOS and Android seem to work seamlessly. Today my only solution is to mail a doc to myself and then AirPrint it from my iPad.
That solution looks interesting, but is dated 2019 and my problems only started in July after the failed Win11 update.
That solution looks interesting, but is dated 2019 and my problems only started in July after the failed Win11 update.
rdjohn said:
I am more inclined to dump Microsoft, I think it has outlived its usefulness to home working in a world where iOS and Android seem to work seamlessly. Today my only solution is to mail a doc to myself and then AirPrint it from my iPad.
That solution looks interesting, but is dated 2019 and my problems only started in July after the failed Win11 update.
Have you tried what I suggested a few posts above?That solution looks interesting, but is dated 2019 and my problems only started in July after the failed Win11 update.
Funk said:
When an OEM driver is installed, it *should* in theory tell Windows not to overwrite it (ie. the OEM driver takes precedence over a generic Windows driver). I'm wondering whether the driver that's installed when you uninstall updates is an earlier version of the generic Windows one - which works, but then gets updated to a later Windows generic one that doesn't work - hence starting with trying to install the most basic HP OEM driver possible from the HP site.
Just reading again, I am not certain that will work.HP Smart is where the driver originates and it work fine until it is overwritten. The bit about telling Windows not to overwrite seems to be the bit that is lacking.
rdjohn said:
Funk said:
When an OEM driver is installed, it *should* in theory tell Windows not to overwrite it (ie. the OEM driver takes precedence over a generic Windows driver). I'm wondering whether the driver that's installed when you uninstall updates is an earlier version of the generic Windows one - which works, but then gets updated to a later Windows generic one that doesn't work - hence starting with trying to install the most basic HP OEM driver possible from the HP site.
Just reading again, I am not certain that will work.HP Smart is where the driver originates and it work fine until it is overwritten. The bit about telling Windows not to overwrite seems to be the bit that is lacking.
I would be happy to remote in and help you but paradoxically that would go against every piece advice I've ever given about never ever allowing complete strangers remote access to your computer.
2fast748 said:
Is it connected via USB or WiFi? Maybe try it in a different USB port, USB 3.0 ports (blue tongue inside) can be a bit fickle.
When I delete updates, it works happily on both. As soon as Windows installs updates then neither work - No driver available.The MS guy yesterday left me with Amiuni Document Converter 500 as his parting shot. It does not run - Error.
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