Printer driver list empty

  • Thread starter Thread starter jsmall
  • Start date Start date
J

jsmall

Hi,

No, this is not a standard "there is no driver for my printer" issue.

We have a network printer. HP have no driver for it, stating that the
driver is built into Vista.

On three of our machines, we have installed this built in driver using
an IP port and it worked fine.

On one computer, when we get to the "add the printer driver" screen,
we don't see a list of manufacturers and printers.

We see one single driver, the HP Photosmart printer driver which was
installed earlier. We have the "Have disk" and "Windows Update"
options. Tried "Have Disk" and pointed at c:\windows\inf and still
only saw the same Photosmart driver.

Tried uninstalling the Photosmart driver, and then, we only see "no
drivers found" show up in this screen. I can't seem to make it point
in the direction of the built in Vista driver. Any assistance
appreciated.
 
:

On one computer, when we get to the "add the printer driver" screen,
we don't see a list of manufacturers and printers.

We see one single driver, the HP Photosmart printer driver which was
installed earlier. We have the "Have disk" and "Windows Update"
options. Tried "Have Disk" and pointed at c:\windows\inf and still
only saw the same Photosmart driver.

Tried uninstalling the Photosmart driver, and then, we only see "no
drivers found" show up in this screen. I can't seem to make it point
in the direction of the built in Vista driver. Any assistance
appreciated.
Click to expand...

Same here after trying to install a crappy HP driver (Universal Printer).
Any hints greatly appreciated.

Bye

Marc
 
I have some mail out to the developer on this?

in the mean time point to
\windows\system32\driverstore\filerepository\prn??????.inf

???? is a two letter description for the manufacture.



--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
 
Hi!

Alan Morris said:
I have some mail out to the developer on this?
Click to expand...

Ok, lets see what they say.
in the mean time point to
\windows\system32\driverstore\filerepository\prn??????.inf

???? is a two letter description for the manufacture.
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks, works. ;)

Bye

Marc
 
Hi.
in the mean time point to
\windows\system32\driverstore\filerepository\prn??????.inf

???? is a two letter description for the manufacture.
Click to expand...

Ok, correction: does NOT work. Vista says (I have to translate from
German):"Main driver packet not found"

Bye

Marc
 
Hi.

Alan Morris said:
development wondered if there are any prn* or ntprint* directories under the
\filerepository directory.
Click to expand...

There are many (not empty) ;)

42 "prnxxx"-directories and "ntprint.inf_a6d3ccdf".

Bye Marc
 
Hi.

Alan Morris said:
Please take a look at the %systemroot%\inf\setupapi.dev.log and
setupapi.app.log. Errors are marked with a "!!!".
Click to expand...

No, sorry, no suspicious entries.

Bye

Marc
 
I also have the same problem.

Right after I upgraded to Vista Business the add printers list was
populated with many manufacs and multiple printers for all. I install
two HP printers using the add printers wizard per instruction from the
HP web site. Both printers worked with the limited functionality that
HP described.

Now the add printers third add printer window "Install the Printer
Driver" states (unable to find any drivers for this device) and shows
the Windows Update and Have Disc buttons. The windows update button
does find a few manufacs and printers.

I first became aware of this after a failed attempt to install the
"Full Feature" driver for the HP all in one 4300 series that showed up
on the HP web site recently

I hope there is some way to fix this short of reinstalling vista.

Thanks
Bob
 
Bob, are you still having this problem? If so, could you see if devices are
showing up under other device classes? Try opening devmgmt.msc, going to
Action->Add Legacy Hardware (if this item doesn't show up at first, try
clicking on an item in the device tree). Then click Next, select "Install
the hardware that I manually select from a list," and select a device class
(such as Display Adapters). Do any devices show up?

Thanks,
Justin
 
Bob, are you still having this problem? If so, could you see if devices are
showing up under otherdeviceclasses? Try opening devmgmt.msc, going to
Action->Add Legacy Hardware (if this item doesn't show up at first, try
clicking on an item in thedevicetree). Then click Next, select "Install
the hardware that I manually select from a list," and select adeviceclass
(such as Display Adapters). Doanydevices show up?

Thanks,
Justin

--
Justin Weiss
Windows Printing Team

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.










- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

I am still having this issue.
I have tried as you suggested. It appears I can find drivers for
everything *but* any form of printer.

I have also noted that if I click "Windows Update", it populates the
window with a few drivers (assumedly those with Windows Updates
available) but none that appear compatible with this printer.
 
Hi Justin,
A few devices show under the Add Legacy Hardware. If I select "show
all devices" a few manufacturers show up. For most of the devices
listed are ones that are installed on this machine. Selecting other
categories of device including printers either show (unable to find
any drivers for this device) or a single of "Model". In each case
there is a "Have Disk" button and in the case of printers also
a"Windows Update" button.

Thank you for your response. I will monitor this news group
often,however if you need my true email address I will be glad to give
it to you.

Bob C
 
Alan,

I know you are trying to be helpful, but Re-installing Vista or going God
only knows how far back in time is just not the answer most of us want,
besides we all know that already.

I have always found it very difficult to accept the fact that if something
like a list of installed printers is not showing up that someone on M$ does
not have enough expertise to know the items in the registry that take care of
that sort of thing.

The shotgun approach is just so coarse and time consuming and please
remember that reverting back destroys anything that has been added in the
interim.

Alan Morris said:
If you can use system restore to revert the system back to a state before
the HP driver modified the system

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Hi Justin,
A few devices show under the Add Legacy Hardware. If I select "show
all devices" a few manufacturers show up. For most of the devices
listed are ones that are installed on this machine. Selecting other
categories of device including printers either show (unable to find
any drivers for this device) or a single of "Model". In each case
there is a "Have Disk" button and in the case of printers also
a"Windows Update" button.

Thank you for your response. I will monitor this news group
often,however if you need my true email address I will be glad to give
it to you.

Bob C
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Yup I know this but I can't suggest anything else at this point.

Holman, I assume you have the same issue. This is not a printer specific
issue by the way and it's not anything in the registry. I will add you to
the list of affected customer$.

Anyone else with this problem let me know so I can inform the responsible
team.

I'd also like the driver name that brought on the problem, currently it
appears it's just HP for the print driver list but since HP represents more
printers, there is no clear conclusion.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

HolmanGT said:
Alan,

I know you are trying to be helpful, but Re-installing Vista or going God
only knows how far back in time is just not the answer most of us want,
besides we all know that already.

I have always found it very difficult to accept the fact that if something
like a list of installed printers is not showing up that someone on M$
does
not have enough expertise to know the items in the registry that take care
of
that sort of thing.

The shotgun approach is just so coarse and time consuming and please
remember that reverting back destroys anything that has been added in the
interim.

Alan Morris said:
If you can use system restore to revert the system back to a state before
the HP driver modified the system

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

Hi Justin,
A few devices show under the Add Legacy Hardware. If I select "show
all devices" a few manufacturers show up. For most of the devices
listed are ones that are installed on this machine. Selecting other
categories of device including printers either show (unable to find
any drivers for this device) or a single of "Model". In each case
there is a "Have Disk" button and in the case of printers also
a"Windows Update" button.

Thank you for your response. I will monitor this news group
often,however if you need my true email address I will be glad to give
it to you.

Bob C

On Tue, 27 Mar 2007 17:03:31 -0700, "Justin Weiss [MSFT]"

Bob, are you still having this problem? If so, could you see if devices
are
showing up under other device classes? Try opening devmgmt.msc, going
to
Action->Add Legacy Hardware (if this item doesn't show up at first, try
clicking on an item in the device tree). Then click Next, select
"Install
the hardware that I manually select from a list," and select a device
class
(such as Display Adapters). Do any devices show up?

Thanks,
Justin
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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