HP Color LaserJet CP4525 not working with Windows 10

[GeminiJ13]

I need someone with real knowledge in the community to work with me on a fix for my particular problem.  I am willing to do whatever it takes to get this problem solved.  I will provide great communications with you involving this forum or other sources of communication.  I will provide photos, videos, or whatever you want short of remoting in to my PC.

A brief synopsis of my problem:  I have bought a new MSI GE73 Laptop that runs Windows 10 Home; version 10.0.17763-Build 17763.  The printer that I have is an HP Color LaserJet CP 4525 that is possibly a DN (I don't really know how to identify that).  I have downloaded various drivers for this particular printer via the product page that HP has.  Many, many drivers.  I've installed or tried to install all of them to get some communication between my laptop and printer to no avail.  I've downloaded and used HP Print and Scan Doctor and HP Support Assistant.  Both programs have failed to solve my issue.  I have used both programs to the best of my ability and technical know how.  Included with this post I will include some screenshots of what you'd be helping me with to give you a heads-up and or a head start.  Thank you for working with me to solve this.  

[Valsimot]

Did the printer work on your old computer, was it connected by USB cable or by network cable?

Do you have an active network on your printer, is IP address assigned to your printer in the same range as an IP address of your new computer?

I would suggest you uninstall all you have installed regarding drivers, doctors and other totally unneeded software regarding the printer.

You need to choose would you like to connect your printer via USB or network connection, then we can help you with the next steps.

[Valsimot]

That's not HP Support phone number, don't call that number unless you want to get scammed. 

[GeminiJ13]

My old [computer] was a Dell XPS laptop from 2012 running Windows 7 Home Pro.  It worked perfectly with the printer in question.  As you might imagine, it died and I had to replace it with this new one as described.  The old laptop was always used with the USB cable.  Never had an issue with it.  I do not have an active network that my printer can connect to.  I only have a 3-foot ethernet cable that I plugged into my laptop and see if that would work.  No dice on that.

I'm in agreement with your asking me to remove all software associated with this printer and start from scratch.  Although, how deep do you want me to go?  For instance, I can certainly go into Programs and Apps and delete all of the programs related to that there.  But, how do I uninstall the drivers?  Where do they live on my computer?  How do I safely remove them?  How deep should I go?  Should the registry be edited to remove all traces and the like?

I want to continue to use just the USB cable.

Thank you.

[Valsimot]

During the previous installation on your new computer did at any time your computer recognised printer as a new device HP printer?

Installing so many different drivers for the same device isn't a good idea, also it's quite important to follow installation steps and not connecting the USB cable to device earlier that an installation process asks to connect the device.

[GeminiJ13]

Valsimot,

If we are going to start from scratch, would answering your question: "During the previous installation on your new computer did at any time your computer recognised (sic) printer as a new device HP printer?", be of a moot point?  Since we both agree that I should just try and start from scratch as previously mentioned?  I can answer that question when I start over when it comes up, no?  But to answer your question anyway, I would have to say, yes.  But not the exact printer that I have.  Please refer to the photos that I included with the first post.  As you can see under the product I named my printer as an HP Color LaserJet CP 4525 (that is possibly DN) while the photo shows that my computer recognizes or shows as an HP Color LaserJet CP 4520.

I can't disagree with you on the installation of too many drivers and them potentially causing problems.  So, let us start over and follow (to the letter) any and all instructions from you on the reinstallation of whatever I need to get this working.  I'm still waiting for your response to my question in the previous reply on how to find and eradicate all the drivers and where they are located.  I am trying my best to keep a semblance of a workflow going so that there are no hitches in doing this.  If what I say is somehow irrelevant, then tell me that so I can move past it as a question that doesn't bear the need to be worked on.  I am very detail oriented and if you skip over a question that I have and don't answer it, I will have to waste your time by having to revisit it to clarify.  The fastest way for you and I to get this working without retracing our steps is to be as detailed as possible.  Which mean (no offense) paying close attention to what we write to one another and following up.  Thank you.

[Valsimot]

I was trying to figure out are you having a printer, computer, OS or connection problem, simple YES or No to my questions would be just fine.

To uninstall drivers from your computer you can start from control panel and there you will have add or remove programs.

You instal drivers for CP4520 series that is fine because series will cover more than one model including your CP4525DN or CP4525N or CP4525XH it doesn't matter because they are all from the same series.

Under control panel, you can see that CP4525 is greyed out and its status is offline that's not good if it is powered ON and USB connected. I would recommend you to right click on the printer and set it to be online, but you have installed 5 different devices, so I can't tell which one is currently ( if any) connected.

You are having some WIN 10 issues, your printer and USB connection is just fine.

[Repairatrooper]

I have not read everything else typed here, I simply do not have time. If you want to reliably connect your HP printer to your windows 10 follow these steps.

1. Get rid of the USB cable connect the printer to your router via a wired ethernet connection. Ensure that the printer and computer can see each other by typing the IP address of the printer into the address bar of your browser which should open teh embedded webserver of the printer. Once you can do this proceed to step 2, if you cannot do this then troubleshoot your network connection until you can.

2. go to support.hp.com and download the  Universal Print Driver PCL6 version 6.7 (the current version). Run the downloaded file to unpack but when the program wants to start the install click cancel. Program will error out and close. This step will copy all the drivers to a folder in the root directory called HP Universal Print Drivers.

3. On your PC go to Control Panel>devices and printers and click add a new printer.

4. When the computer starts searching for the printer, click on the "my printer not found" button immediately.

5. Click on manually install my printer, last option on this screen. 

6. Click add local printer

7. Click create new port, port type TCP/IP

8. Enter the IP address of the printer, uncheck the option to automatically detect device

9. When driver prompt opens, click have disk, browse to the folder crreated in step 2

10. You will see two options, they are the same driver, select either.

11. Driver will  install, print a test page.

12. Once finished, right click the printer icon, select "use as default" You will receive a warning that Windows will stop automatically managing your printer. Click OK.

[GeminiJ13]

Valsimot,

You asked me to "To uninstall drivers from your computer you can start from control panel and there you will have add or remove programs."

I have gone to the Windows Setting and clicked on Apps (1) which brings me to Apps and Features (2).  I scrolled down the entire list of installed programs on my machine, finding all the ones that are of HP origin and deleted them.  Unfortunately, HP Print and Scan Doctor were not removed from my computer for some reason.  I went in and manually deleted that program myself.

It should be noted that deleting all of the installed programs on my machine did not have ANY effect on removing ANY of the drivers for HP printers and or devices.  They are all still on my machine (3).  Maybe you were confused that deleting of programs also deleted the associated drivers?  That doesn't appear to be the case here.  If this is the case that all associated drivers are still on my machine then I'm not really doing a "clean install", and or a "first-time" set-up when I go to reconnect my printer to this laptop.

As you can see from (4), removing the printer from my computer has also removed it from under Devices and Printers.  So, there is no longer the ability to set the printer to an online status if it is no longer there.  So, now that I have removed as much as I can (except for the drivers which are still installed on my system) how do we proceed from here?1234

[GeminiJ13]

Repairatrooper,

Thank you for rejoining the conversation to help me.  I see that your #1 piece of advice is that I connect my printer to my in-home network via ethernet cable to the router.  This step is impossible for me to accomplish because of the physical limitations of the house.  I would love to follow your advice on that, but it is just not possible.

Question:  Why is the use of the proprietary USB cable that came with the printer, not a functional solution?  My Dell laptop running Win. 7 used this perfectly for years on end.  Why would this not work using this laptop (a brand new 2019 MSI GE73) on an even more modern OS such as Win. 10?