Driver unavailable for OfficeJet Pro 7740 Wide

[KeesK11]

Last week my installed printer is not working suddenly for 2 Windows10 devices. I get "Driver is unavailable"

I deinstalled the programs, HP smart app, used printui.exe /s to remove the driver and rebooted.

With Version 40.12.1161 of the driver, at least it found the printer in the network and finished the installation. After installation only the scanner drivers where available, but printer still had "Driver is unavailable"

Today I tried installing the new driver version 40.15.1230 (released November 23th 2021). At startup I get the option to select the network printer at the correct TCP/IP address, but after a few minutes te installation fails because the printer is not found.

HP printer doctor is not solving the problem also.

Note: printing from a Macbook, Windows11, hpeprint or mobile works fine

[KeesK11]

Install the basic printer driver and set it up manually, so you can at least get the drivers installed. At this time no printer is installed although it is found. Do not select the found printer, the driver will be unavailable after install.

Go to Printers & scanners

When adding printer, select "The printer that I want isn't listed" (ignoring the found printer)

Press "Select a shared printer by name" and type "http://<ipadresofprinter>" and click next

Now select Manufacturer "HP" and from printers "HP OfficeJet Pro 7740 series PCL-3" and press "OK"

Now the printer is installed and available as "HPxyxyxy on http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx"

with "App available for this device" instead of "Driver is unavailable". But printing does not work 😞

Anyone any thoughts?

Anybody any tips?

[Repairatrooper]

The driver you are installing is likely a Microsoft driver not the HP driver. I see that even the basic driver download is an .exe. Try extracting all the files from the .exe by opening the file with 7 zip and then extracting everything to a folder and when you install manually, when prompted for driver, select have disk and browse to the folder you extracted the file to.

[KeesK11]

Hello Repairatrooper, thanks for your suggestions. The driver I install is from the HP site from the downloads for my printer. I thought this would be the HP driver, not the Windows driver.

I unpacked the exe using 7-zip as you suggested.

I add the printer manually by selecting the TCP/IP address. 

I now get a device with a "driver is unavailable". If I Manage the device, I get that it is only a scanner.

I update the driver and navigate to the unpacked folder. I can choose the following .inf files:

autorun.inf

HPRestStub.inf

HPWia_OJ7740.inf

HPWinUSBStub.inf

hpygid20.inf

hpygid20_v4.inf

I tried them all, but all result in "driver unavailable" and only the scanner seems to be available.

[KeesK11]

Anyone any other suggestions? 

Is this a problem with a Windows 10 update?

[KeesK11]

On December 1st HP came with an updated version of the HP Easy Start 13.5.8

Removed HP Smart

Removed the driver software

Removed the drivers using Win-R "printerui.exe /s" and from the drivers tab removed the drivers and packages

Tried installing everything using the new hpeasystart_13_5_8.exe

But it failed again. When choosing HP SMart (recommened) it finds the printer in the network and it looks good. But when I want to print a document HP smart wants to install the printer which ends up with the same issue "driver is unavailable"

When I try to install the full driver, the printer is not found in the network. When I enter the ip-address manually the installation looks fine. The printer is installed with the correct name, but only the scanner functionallity seems to be available and again saying "driver is unavailable".

Support on HP products is very very very poor 😞

[KeesK11]

When I install, the installer sees my printer:

I select it and click next. After 3-5 minutes of the following screen it fails. It can't find my printer:

It opens Iexplorer which isn't used anywhere anymore 😄

I type my model and click next

I get the popup:

Click allow and you end up with this:

When I go to the store, I can install the HP smart app.

There I add the prnter and finds it:

Some clicks on continues

Select Auto Update and click Apply

Then I get:

Then I need to Install the driver by pressing Printers & scanners:

I keep ending up with this:

When I click Manage only the scanner:

When I click "Continue" in the HP smart app i get:

and the printer is Ready:

When I press the blue button "Print documents", I get:

I press Install printer:

It keeps spinning for 3-5 minutes and then ends up with:

I press Printers & Scanners and I am in the endless loop:

When I remove this priner and add a device I get:

I select it and "add device":

And again:

Any thoughts? ( except from renaming "HP smart" or renaming "HP easy start" to reflect the actual functioning of the apps 😉 )

[KeesK11]

I am running Windows 10 Pro 21H2 (OS build 19044.1348)

The scanner works fine using HP smart, so I need to fix printing.

When I start HP Print and Scan doctor 5.6.2, I see 2 printers in the network (the are the same printer):

When I select one and press next:

I click fix printing, I get:

When I select Install software, I get:

When I type in 7740 I get:

When I look at installed programs:

When I run printui.exe /s I see the following list of drivers:

Any thoughts on what is going wrong?