C7280 printer driver for Windows 7 RTM [ Edited ]

[agn727]

Here's what I did:

I used the Control Panel, selected View Devices and Printers, Add a Printer, and let it search for networked printers as my C7280 was already wirelessly connected to my router.

I was pleasently surprised that after I installed the driver, right clicked on the printer icon and selected Printing Preferences, the familiar HP Software applet appeared instead of some generic Microsoft one. However, at this point there was no option to select automatically printing on 2 sides, it didn't know about the photo tray, and the Fast Normal quality option isn't listed - just Automatic, Fast Draft, Normal and Best.

So, I closed that applet, right clicked on the printer icon again, selected Printer Properties this time and went to the Device Settings tab. There I enabled 2-sided printing and the photo tray. For the photo tray I told it to use the '4x6 boarderless with tab' profile because that's what my photo paper is. Hopefully I did that right. Even though I have 2000 sheets of that paper, I've only ever printed out 4 pictures(!).

Next I applied those changes, closed that window, and went back into the Printing Preferences again. I selected Fast Economy, enabled 2-sided printing and clicked Apply. Normally I'd choose Fast Normal, but I never found that option. I clicked on Print Preview in my browser, pressed Print, told it to do pages 1-2 and it worked: Automatic duplex printing direct from the Windows 7 installation built-in driver.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be anyway to add a network scanner like there is with printers. So, I pressed Set-up on the C7280 and told it to print out its Network Settings so that I could determine the printer's IP address. Mine was 192.168.2.3 but it probably changes everytime I reboot my router. Anyway, I typed 192.168.2.3 into my internet browser right where you'd normally type in www.google.com. That displays the HP Web Accessable Settings applet stored in the printer's firmware. For those that don't know, you can find all kinds of cool stuff in here including number of pages printed, ink levels & expiration dates, etc. I tried the Webscan feature. It's very basic, but I was able to put that page I printed on the scanning glass, click Preview, then Scan and allow a pop-up window where my picture showed-up. Actually, it took me a few minutes to figure out the scan showed up in a new browser tab. I was looking on the desktop, in My Pictures, etc. I right-clicked the picture in my browser and saved it to my desktop.

The info of the scanned picture (a print-out of this very page) is as follows: 1696 x 2200 x 24-bit, 200x200 DPI, 640KB. Normally I'd prefer a higher DPI, but that Webscan application didn't offer much control.

So, the benefits here are: I'm using an actual Windows 7 driver, I can print on both sides, I can scan from the glass, and I didn't have to do a kludgy install of a huge driver downloaded and made for a different OS version. The negatives: none for printing except for the missing Fast Normal option, but there's no scanning from the paper feeder, and the glass scanning appears to be limited to 200x200 DPI. Still, I have many computers here gathering dust. So, if I need to scan for a serious project, I'll just use an older version of Windows on another computer using the full install driver.

I'm sure using the Win 7 driver and scanning low-rez from the glass (and not at all from the feeder) isn't for everyone. But I don't print much, and I scan even less. I'm thinking this will hold me over until HP puts out their official Win 7 full driver package - hopefully very soon...

Message Edited by agn727 on 09-16-2009 10:30 PM

PS - I'd forgotten I could scan to a memory card directly from the C7280 itself. There are no advanced scanning options. But the default resolution was 300x300 DPI. I can live with that for the next month or so if need be,

Message Edited by agn727 on 09-17-2009 06:08 AM

[ejoubre]

Mr. DexterM,

I just upgraded to Windows 7 yesterday afternoon. Took a couple of hours to complete, but was a painless upgrade. The last thing I checked was whether the Photosmart C7280 printer worked. Sure enough....no problems. When my wife used the printer this morning it did not print anything. To make a long story short....I followed your instructions and I again have a printer that works, rather than another boat anchor. My sincere appreciation for your feed to help us HP users. The only thing I found different was when I right clicked the downloaded file to change the properties to Vista 32 bit.......my computer had 3 Vista options....a) Windows Vista, b) Windows Vista (Service Pack 1), and c) Windows Vista (Service Pack 2). I picked Windows Vista and it worked the first time. Thanks again!!  

[DexterM]

I'm glad to know it worked. Though you really didn't need to run the setup file in Compatibility mode.

Cheers anyway.

[DC7]

I just changed my OS from XP to Windows7. I downloaded C7280 driver for Win7 (PS_AIO_02_net_full_win_ww_13-_140  from HP site.

I cant printed douple sided automatically on my c7280.

Here is what I observe:

1. Double sided could only be printeded Manually (Printing Preferenece) 

2. Under Printer Properties, tab Device Setting, Installable option states that duplext unit for double sided printing not installed. Thru drop down manu, I changed it to Installed and then went back to printing preference to see if I can get an option for automatic double side printing. Only manual option available. 

How can I install the option for double side printing? Any suggestion.

Which c7280 driver for Win7 have you installed?

Note: Prior to changing my OS, I was able to print both sides automatically.

Thanks!