Colour/Duplexing stopped working in Windows 11

[CatDad30]

Duplexing and colour printing has suddenly stopped working from my Windows 11 PC, which is connected to my Envy 4527 via wireless.

I've not changed a thing manually. It was working fine until I went to print something yesterday. I've tried various things but the last operation I tried was this suggestion - https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printer-Ink-Cartridges-Print-Quality/HP-Envy-4527-stopped-printing-in-...

However, at step #4 near the bottom of the article, I see no Colour option anywhere and each time I try to print duplex, I get a dialog popping up called 'Print on both sides instructions' and I have to faff about feeding paper back into the tray to get print on both sides.

The only mention of colour/duplexing I can see is in the printer's properties but if it knows this, I don't understand why this problem appeared out of the blue - 

[ferRX]

Hi @CatDad30 

1. Please install the next driver for your printer:

>> https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/software13/printers/EN4520/EN4520_Basicx64_36.0.72.exe

2. Restart your computer.

3. Then try again to print your document in colour.

* Click YES   to say thank you, 

* Click Accepted as Solution when question is answered.

Best regards,

ferRX.

[CatDad30]

Thanks but it didn't fix either of the issues.

[ferRX]

Hi @CatDad30 

Ok, you may need to uninstall Envy printer and then Add again.

1. Go to Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall a program > Select your Envy printer and click on uninstall.

2. Once printer uninstalled, then go to Settings > Devices > Printers and scanners, and Add your printer.

* Click YES   to say thank you, 

* Click Accepted as Solution when question is answered.

Best regards,

ferRX.

[CatDad30]

I've seen a few other posts which advise being a bit more brutal and removing all traces of the printer and the rather useless HP Smart app,  before restarting and setting the printer up via a cabled connection rather than wireless. The suggestion is that the latter connection is flaky.

I'll try that later and if that doesn't work then I'll try your suggested driver again.

If it still fails then I'll treat myself to another make of printer. 

Thanks

[CatDad30 · Accepted solution]

I kind of fixed it by doing the following (copied in from a similar post) after I powered the printer down -

Uninstall the Drivers:

Please follow the steps provided to uninstall the printer software in the link: Uninstalling the Printer Software (Windows)

Also, please follow the steps provided below to completely remove the printer software from printer properties.

Steps to remove printer driver files from Print Server Properties:

1. Open the Print Server Properties dialog window by doing one of the following:
   • Click the Start menu and in the search field type 'printui /s /t2' (without the quotes), and then press Enter or click it in the search list.
   • Press WINDOWS-R on the keyboard to bring up the Run window, type in 'printui /s /t2' (without the quotes), and then press Enter or click OK.
   • From the Start menu or the Start screen:
   • Open Devices and Printers.
   • Select any printer and then click "Print server properties" at the top of the window.
   • Click on the Drivers tab.
2. Select the printer driver you wish to uninstall.
3. Click the Remove button.
4. Select "Remove driver and driver package" and click OK.

I didn't restart the PC as it wasn't convenient, so maybe I just got lucky here but I dusted off a 'proper' USB printer cable, connected it to the PC and powered the printer up again. I turned wireless off just for good measure. Nothing appeared to happen on the PC, no pop-ups, dialogs, nothing. However, the printer had in fact been added in the background and voila!! Colour settings now visible in Properties and duplexing working with no intervention from me at all. I've no idea if a wireless connection would now behave itself - as it's working OK I'm not going to try fixing it!

No need for web services, fancy apps, creating HP accounts et al - just an old-fashioned cable.

I guess not all progress is in a forwards direction.