Envy 4520 has lost the option to print in any thing other than black and white

[andyb8]

About 5 days ago my Envy 4520 lost the option to change printing options through the usual Printing Preferences Paper/QualityTab! Frustrating, as I have tried the usual uninstall/install etc. and no joy and no solution apparent here or elsewhere. Windows Troubleshooter and HP  Print and Scan Doctor both show no fault. I can get a colour test page directly from the printer, but only B&W from the computer. HP Smart, Word, Acrobat, photos etc all have lost the colour print/greyscale/B&W option. Help please!

[TEJ1602]

@andyb8, Welcome to HP Support Community!

Follow the steps below to resolve the issue-

Update the printer firmware

Download available firmware updates from the HP website

With the printer on and connected to the computer, go to HP Customer Support - Software and Driver Downloads, and then identify your printer. Look for and install any available firmware updates. For more information, go to Updating or Upgrading Printer Firmware.

I would suggest you try the Windows built-in drivers. Follow the steps below:

•    Go to Control Panel - Devices and Printers - Click on "Add printer" and follow the on-screen instructions.

•    When the page prompts for the drivers, select "Windows update". The driver list will be updated.

•    Click HP, Hewlett Packard, or Hewlett-Packard in the Manufacturer pane, and then click the name of your printer in the Printers pane.

Refer to this document HP Printers - Installing and Using the Windows Built-in Print Driver for help.

Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution. Click the “Kudos/Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

[andyb8]

I tried the usual uninstall/reinstall options. No joy, but I solved the problem by staggering through a rather complex, but thorough process.

Switch printer off.

Uninstall through Windows.

Check to make sure any instance to Envy was deleted from Apps and Features using Windows.

Restart computer.

Drill down using Win R then run with services.msc  and check spool and so on

Then run  printui.exe /s and c:/programdata making sure all references to HP printer was removed.

Finally, cleaned out the hard drive to get rid of possible code conflicts and so on I just used cleanmgr with the programmes basic recommendations

Then restarted computer.

Switch printer back on and finally use HP Smart to reinstall. I can now see colour option on the Printer Preferences/Paper Quality Tab, which was missing on all apps and programmes. Result!

Doing a bit of research it seems that there were codes conflicts or something like that. Maybe bits of junk left hanging around after the uninstall. I am sure a tech expert can figure it out better than my blundering!

Hope this helps. Andy

[TEJ1602]

@andyb8

That's great! Happy to hear that.

Let me know if you need any further assistance.