Missing HP Drivers

[Peter Ellison]

Vista Home Premium
New computer, clean install by manufacturer.
Printer HP940c Ink Jet.

"HP" is not given in the list of available printers, even after checking
Windows Update.
The list presented in the "Add Printer" dialogue box, under the heading
Manufacturer, jumps From Gestetner to Imagistics.

Have contacted HP, who have given up on me.............. they suggest that
this is a problem with my install of Vista.

I also have a HP Laser Jet, have not begun to connect that yet, Not much
point if no HP printers listed.

Very frustrated
Peter

 

[Jane C]

Who did you buy this computer from? What manufacturer? There certainly are
quite a lot of HP printer drivers (including the 940c and Laser Jets)
included with retail Vista. Perhaps the OEM removed some?

 

[Jane C]

Another point: check the Add Printer list but don't hit the Windows Update
button. The inbuilt ones get 'overridden' if you hit that button.

 

[Peter Ellison]

Hi Jane.

The machine is from Shuttle, what they call an XPC
I can't imagine that they would build the machine and then make a limited
install, were only the HP drivers omitted.

BR
Peter.

 

[Peter Ellison]

Hi Jane.

That window is always empty, untill I have hit the Windows Update.

BR
Peter

 

[Karl H Geng]

I have the same problem - brand new HP 9260 with VISTA Ultimate preloaded -
NO HP PRINTER DRIVERS !!
Bummer ...

Karl

 

[Peter Ellison]

Been playing with this problem again this evening.
Have found that if I point the "Browse for driver on your computer" at the
root of C and then instruct it to check all sub folders, it will find
"C:\Windows\INF\prnhp001.inf"
Plus a lot of files "C:\users\all
users\microsoft\windows\wer\reportqueue\report....\prnhp001.inf I guess
Vista know what is going wrong if I don't.
Any way installing the prnhp01.inf it then tell me that "Windows
encountered a problem installing the driver softwear for your device" +
"Unable to find a core driver package that is required bt the printer driver
package"

Still not printing
Peter

 

[Pavel]

There is a solution that I found for a unsupported printers that work under
Windows XP but Vista refuses to install them. The only requirements is that
you have a networked Windows XP machine running with this printer installed,
Vista machine and copy of the drivers (inf,drv and all other necessary files
that come with a printer driver). A self contained installer will not do.

On the WindowsXP machine, set the printer share to ON. On the Vista machine,
open Network folder, found on start menu. Find the WindowsXP in this panel,
open it and find the shared printer here. Double click on it. Vista will
prompt you to install it (basically, it will copy all the drivers from the
host machine).

The last step is to make the drive available locally. Using Add Printer,
select Local printer with the desired port. Under the driver selection,
click on "HAVE DISK" then using the 'browse' point to the drivers you have
that worked on WindowsXP. Vista will then prompt you with "Which version of
the driver do you want to use?' Select the 'Use the driver that is currently
installed (recommended)

Don't forget to delete the networked version Icon from the Vista printer
menu. otherwise it will just try to use the printer connected to the
WindowsXP (no harm done if you do not delete it or do not use it, just
annoying).


That is all

 

[Karl H Geng]

Pavel,
I don't think this scheme works if the Vista machine is a 64 bit version
like mine
with Ultimate 64. At least here it didn't ..
Are you using 32 bit VISTA on yours?
Karl

 

[Bruno DUPUY]

I had the same problem with vista ultimate and a officejet 7410. "happy" to
see i'm not alone.
i had too a driver problem with my belkin usb hubs.

i put the vista dvd in my player, then make update (ultimate -> ultimate)
(be careful, i need to re register my copy) and then everything went fine,
printer detected on the first try with a wifi connection (same problem as
you before), belkin hubs detected too...

i think something goes wrong when installing.

 

[Pavel]

You are right, I do have the 32 bit version.

 

[Guest]

Had the same problem. Adding new printer showed not the default vista
printers only Windows Update button and Have disk button. But a lot of
searching (at least for me) through the vista files lead me to
C:\windows\inf\setupapi.app.log where I had these strange entries:

[Build Driver List - ROOT\*ISATAP\0000]
Section start 2007/02/23 08:03:37.108

cmd: C:\Windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
dvi: Searching for hardware ID(s):
dvi: *isatap
dvi: Enumerating INFs from path list 'C:\inf'
inf: The path C:\inf\*.* is missing!
inf: The path C:\SWSetup\WLanDrvInstall\Broadcom\*.* is missing!
inf: The path C:\SWSetup\WLanDrvInstall\Intel3954ABG\*.* is missing!
inf: The path C:\SWSetup\WLanDrvInstall\Intel2915ABG\*.* is missing!
<<< Section end 2007/02/23 08:03:37.123
<<< [Exit status: SUCCESS]

A search through the registry to this strange INF directories and I found
the right registry setting:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

There's a REG_Expand_SZ key called DevicePath with the strange inf
locations. I added C:\Windows\inf as a first entry followed by a semicolon
and now it works again

Anyone here who can tell me what are the default Vista values here ? I
somehow have the feeling that a HP vista driver for my notebook has done this.

Hope that helps