How to extract/ unzip exe files

[UncleScotty]

Thanks for sticking with me:

Yes, your File Explorer screenshot is exactly what I got after unzipping the .exe driver bundle.

It's been a while since I installed "an" HP Laser Jet print driver, so I'm not certain what I'm doing.

Here's what I DO know:

1. Yes, my Laser Jet 4000 tn is ancient (like me) it was a parting gift when I left my employer 20 years ago...BUT it works like a horse and probably has another 10 years left in it (not to jinx myself!)

2. I'm starting to recall now that driver files don't install like your garden variety app...where you click on the .exe and off you go. (Hence, I suppose, the fact that there IS no .exe file inside the zipped file that HP so lovingly/confusingly GIVES an "exe" moniker.  (Thanks, HP, I love you, too! And, based on the questions here, I'm not the only one confused by their "convention-fiddling"; others, it seems, are looking for an exe file to "click on".)

3. Again, YES, the printer is ancient, but I KNOW it works with Windows 10, because it's running like a charm...wirelessly, on my household network, with my OTHER laptop, a beat up old (6 or 7yo) Lenovo. Can't recall which driver I HAVE installed on it, but I DO remember having to reinstall SOMEthing following one of my Win10 upgrades 6-10 months ago.

4. If you can tell me where to look...I can dig out a dll filename or something that might give us a clue as to which one IS installed and humming along.

5. So, bottom line: I'm just trying to get my old beater HP printing from this new (to me) Ultrabook....and I'd also (once you show me what to do) impress my wife by installing said driver on her Asus notebook as well. 

P.S. Start buying shares in Georgia Pacific; once this (whatever it is) driver is installed (however that happens) we'll be printin' fools here!

Thanks again for your assistance!

M

[UncleScotty]

You can't NOT unzip it.....cause as soon as you click on it, an unzip utility window opens that basically says "YOU WILL UNZIP THIS FILE!!"

Not QUITE like that.....but it DEFINITELY wants unzipping. (If you click on one of these driver files and download it....or vice versa.....you'll see what I mean.)

I get the feeling though (and Huffer is hopefully gonna confirm for me) that once it's unzipped, I should be expecting to see an exe file. Not sure yet what I do with the 9 NON-exe files, but, as Donald likes to say, "We'll see what happens."

[UncleScotty]

 Huffer: P.S. I just visited my other laptop's System32/DriverStore/FileRepository......and found a folder called hp64win7.inf_amd64_e8cb0ff034f38575, containing two files named hpxxxxxxxx.inf and six more named rt64xxxxxxxxxx.dll

Is it possible THESE are what make my Laser Jet 4000 run? Or should I be looking elsewhere for clues?

[iomare]

Hi,

Sorry about the short reply yesterday evening, however, it was getting quite late here in Italy and out for night-diving was not really close to a computer. Since it seemed quite urgent, just wanted to let you know I was still around.

Now, my original reply was a reply to the question if it is possible to extract a downloaded .exe file.

Now, for the driver for the "old" printer. I wonder if the generic HP printer driver would work. Anyway, let us see if maybe Expert @Paul_Tikkanen who knows much more about drivers than I do, or maybe Expert @ShlomiL who knows all about printers can provide some "better" help than I can.

David

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi,, @UncleScotty 

Here's what I would try...

Download and save the PCL6 64 bit driver from the link below...second one on the list.

https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=Laserjet%204000

Unzip the cabinet file to its folder using 7-Zip.  Ignore any errors generated.

Manually add the printer, and when it asks for the driver, click on Have Disk, and browse to the unzipped cabinet driver folder>prnhp001 (setup information file), select the HP LaserJet 4000 Series PCL6 printer from the list, and the driver should install.

[Huffer]

The Laserjet 4000 series is perhaps one of the finest printers ever made. We ran several of them for many years in my law office, up until the early '00s and I know a lot of them are still in service. The NT 4 driver you ask about is 32 bit. We used that same driver for Windows 2000 I recall and perhaps even XP but will not work on 64 bit Windows of any kind. Windows 10 64 bit has a driver for Laserjet 4200 in its native database:

Laserjet driver built into Windows 10

You say the printer is on a network. You need to figure out the IP address of the printer, do a manual install of a new printer based on IP address and feed either this native Windows 10 driver for the 4200 series (which will work on anything in the 4000 series) or use one of the drivers linked by @Paul_Tikkanen  above. Do you know how the printer is connected to the network? Does it have a JetDirect card? There are HP utilities you can download which will detect JetDirect cards on your network and pretty much automatically configure any connected printer. 

Post back with any more questions and please accept as solution if this is the info you needed. 

[UncleScotty]

Thanks for participating, Paul.

AND as much as I hate to sound like a whiner or a newbie....the file you directe me to is a Win-rar file (cannot be unzipped by 7-zip) so I downloaded WinRar, unpacked the file and tried your suggestion.

But...

I'm not sure what you mean exactly by manually add the printer?

When I click on Add a Printer, it opens a "selection box" offering Brands and Models. Do I have to bother selecting HP, then click Windows update to get a list of HP printers, which by the way does not include the LaserJet 4000 series..Or do I just click on have disc in that window?

If the latter, when I click on have disc and browse to find the manufacturer's files, when I go to my unpacked RAR folder and select the prnh p001. INF file and click okay, I get an error message that says "The folder you specified doesn't contain a compatible software driver for your device if the folder contains a driver, make sure it is designed to work with Windows for x64 based systems".

Sorry to be a pain....

ReplyForward

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

That should be a 64 bit file so unfortunately, I don't know what the issue would be.

But it sounds to me you went through the steps correctly.

I would try Huffer's suggestion and add it as a 4200 through windows.

[ShlomiL]

Hi,

It seems as you follow the steps correctly, however, I believe below drivers should provide you better results:

http://download.windowsupdate.com/msdownload/update/driver/drvs/2009/07/4188_bacd1413e93b4a6362d9a2c...

Download and extract the driver above using Winrar, then follow the Add Printer wizard.

Click 'The printer that I want isn't listed' and then select the last option to manually add a printer.

Select the USB port and press Next.

Click Have Disk and browse to the extracted folder, then select the HP Laserjet 4000 Series PCL6 printer and complete the wizard.

Now try printing using the newly added print queue and check for any difference.

Cheers,

Shlomi

[UncleScotty]

Hello again, Huffer.

This "project" is certainly getting curiouser and curioser.

I went to my older Lenovo laptop (that prints just fine using my HP 4000) and tried figuring out how IT managed to do it.

While looking at various Properties of  the HP (by right clicking the HP's icon under the Printers listing on the Devices and Printers page of my Control Panel, (screenshot attached), I see the old familiar printer naming convention that, as I recall, I used several YEARS ago to share the HP (from my desktop computer in the basement, to my THEN new Lenovo.

That TOO was a nightmarish project, because it wasn't at all clear to this old Macintosh trooper (I'm a long-retired Mktg Mgr and Macs were de rigeur in my field, as you know) whether the Workgroup, then Homegroup........now NO GROUP.......was the critical "ingredient" and/or whether going the IP route or the Printer Name method was the way to Add Printer.

Regardless, hopefully the screenshot will suggest to you what guidance to give me.

You'll notice, by the way, that it's the PCL 5 driver that appears to be making things work....if that matters at this stage.

Any additional thoughts on this sunny Friday morning?

OH......and a couple of final thought from this end......"groups" aside, since Windows 10/MSFT has abolished the concept of "groups" for sharing devices...is it NOW the fact that my various devices are all on my household Wi-Fi network that allows them to detect each other? And is THAT the medium by which they FIND each other?

The reason I ask that is, the new HP laptop doesn't seem to be "finding" the HP 4000.

Does the laptop need an HP printer driver installed before it can even detect the presence of an HP printer on my network? (Seems unlikely......but, Microsoft HAS fooled me before.......MANY times! 🙂

Another reason I ask that question is, you had asked earlier on how my 4000 was "connected".

I THOUGHT it was by virtue of the ethernet cable running between my router and the printer.......BUT, I disconnected that cable this morning......and both my desktop AND my older laptop still printed just fine. So, clearly it's not "connected" by a hardwire. (So, I'm wondering if the old "group" technology that I used to share this printer originally still lingers in the background, or is the sharing taking place by virtue of Wi-Fi?) Hmmm.