HPQDDSVC won't start and thus I can't install my printer!

[antennor]

Dear Forum,

I have a HP m1522nf MFC connected to my windows 7 PC. There was an error with my scanner (I can't remember what) so I tried to reinstall the drivers. The problem I now have is the drivers won't install because the installation program says it needs "HP que device discovery service" (hpqddsvc) to be running and I can't get this service to run. When I go to task manager I can find hpqddsvc and it says that is has "stopped" but when I right click on it and select start I get a message saying "the service failed to respond in a timely manner". Hence I can't install the drivers.

Does anyone know how I can get the HPQDDSVC to start? Or any other ideas on installing the drivers?

Thanks

[AT-in-Ohio]

Fought with this same problem yesterday trying to re-install drivers for a LaserJet m2727nx all-in-one .  Could not find a solution posted so I will detail what I did to fix.  Hope this helps others who may encounter this issue. These steps require admin privs.

1) Run the printer installation program and select option to de-installed existing printer software and take the option to remove everything.  When complete reboot your computer.

2) After reboot, right-click on toolbar and start Task Manager.  Select the Processes tab and click Show Processes from all Users. Select the Services tab and locate 'hpqddsvc' and right-click and select Go to Process.  Should take you to a svchost process -- right click and select End Process Tree.  This will force shutdown of the hpqddsvc process.  Had to do this because start/stop would hang if I used the customary methods.

3) Run Regedit (click start and type Regedit in the search box)  Look for the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/services//hpqddsvc  and open the Parameters sub-key and jot down the file location for hpqddsvc.dll, then delete the hpqddsvc entry and Parameters sub-key.

4) Go to the file location for hpqddsvc.dll and delete this file (or move it to some other location, like your desktop)

5) You should now be able to install the printer software and have it run to completion. The install will replace the hpqddsvc.dll file with a new copy, create the registry entries, and restart the service. 

Notes:  Printer and scanner installed correctly, but my fax does not work.  Have not investigated that issue any further.  Also note that HP support was absolutely no help (to me) for this issue.  Evidently my printer is out of warranty and they do not support driver installation separate from the hardware warranty and I was not going to pay $40 to get a bunch of computer generated responses.  Way to go HP -- keep those existing marks (oops, I mean customers) happy so we buy HP in the future.  I spent way more time on this than it should have taken if HP really cared about customer support. 'Nuff said...