Cannot install ANY printer after Win98 to WinXP upgrade.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

I cannot install any type of printer to a system I upgraded from Win98 to WinXP Pro (with SP1a applied). Any attempt to install a printer or printer driver displays the message "Printer driver was not installed. Operation could not be completed", this displayed at the "Completing the Add Printer Wizard". Even occurs trying to install a Generic / Text printer. Folder security doesn't apply as drive is FAT32. Spooler is active. Logged on as an Administrator. Tried logging on as Administrator as well. Tried all KB articles metioned in other threads. This one has got me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Lonnie J Thibodeaux
(e-mail address removed)
 
Was the printer left connected during the upgrade... a big no-no

Uninstall anything that has been left
http://www.coribright.com/Windows/Article One.htm

After the cleanup, reboot. Ensure you're logged on as an Administrator.

Download a new set of XP drivers for your particular make and model of
printer from the printer manufacturer's website.

Install the software and do NOT connect the printer to the PC until the
software tells you to do so.

Cari
www.coribright.com
 
In addition, I tried running "SFC /scannow", but this did not resolve anything.

Lonnie
(e-mail address removed)
 
Cari,

Thanks for your response. There are several issues though. The main printer I want to connect is a HP Laserjet 4200. The current drivers do not have a Setup pgm. They install thru the Add Printer Wizard. The other main point I wish to make is I can't even install a Generic / Text printer (provided by XP). And I've tried setting up other network printers, all resulting in the same message. I have cleared the spooler directory, and removed any registry keys that were described in KB articles (the first message I was getting was Spooler Subsystem App failure). After I cleaned up the system as described in KB 324757. I began getting the 'Printer driver could not be installed. Operation could not be completed' message at the end of the Add Printer Wizard. Under the server properties, there are no entries on the driver tab.

Thanks again
Lonnie J Thibodeaux
(e-mail address removed)
 
Interesting. Have you tried the other options laid out in Brian Boston's FAQ
? I quote here for your convenience:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
8) When I use the Add Printer Wizard to install a printer, regardless of
what printer I am trying to install, when I click "Finish" I get the error
"Operation could not be completed".

There seem to be cases where an internal cache file gets corrupted, possible
from an earlier power failure. Navigate to the %windir%\inf folder (it's a
hidden directory, so by default you won't see it in explorer, either turn on
"show hidden files" or use the command line) and delete ntprint.pnf,
printupg.pnf, infcache.1 and any oemXXXX.pnf (XXXX being a sequential
number). Delete only the .pnf, not the .inf - the .pnf is the cached version
of the .inf and will be regenerated if it doesn't exist.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bonus points if you move those files to a different folder one by one and
try again after each one, and if you then send me the file that was causing
the problem (take the online. off my return address), as I still haven't
laid hands on an actual corrupted file that would maybe let me determine how
it got into that state.
 
Back
Top