HP LaserJet 5si driver install on Windows 10 through Windows Update

[5siOrBust]

In the recent past we and our customers have been able to install the HP LaserJet 5si driver by using the Windows Update option to download a larger set of drivers when installing a printer driver on Windows 10. In the much further past this driver was available in the default set of drivers without having to use the Windows Update option.

It appears that now this driver is no longer available to download and install through the "Install the printer driver" screen in Windows 10, even using the Windows Update option. We have found the driver is still available through the Windows Update Catalog site, but when we click Windows Update on a recent version of Windows 10 the HP LaserJet 5si driver is still not listed as an available driver to install. I have confirmed that a Windows 10 with build 1703 installed still downloads the 5si driver with the Windows Update option, but builds 1803 and 1809 do not.

We and our customers rely heavily on this driver for many different situations as it is the closest thing to an industry standard PCL 5 driver that exists, while also performing much better than most other printer drivers along with not leaking memory and other resources as we see with most other printer drivers. We use it in virtual printer environments and as a replacement for a slow or problematic printer driver in many physical print situations.

While I would love to see this printer driver available without even having to use the Windows Update option to download, I wanted to see if the behavior we're seeing of this driver no longer being available to download in Windows 10 using the Windows Update option was intended, and if so, see about having this driver added back to the drivers downloaded with this option.

[Repairatrooper]

This printer is so far into EOL state that HP will be nothing to support it. Even PCL 5 in UPD format has not had an update since version 5.9.