My HP ENVY 4500 printer driver is not available (message in Control Panel Devices and Printers)

[Tupelo29er]

The HP ENVY 4500 printer has worked well in the past.  It no longer allows scanning from my laptop.  Control Panel Cevices and Printers shows that the Printer Driver is not available.  I have uninstalled the printer software and reinstalled it several times, but is still does not work.

I am now getting a message "Unsuccessful Network Installation".

[Tupelo29er]

I tried once again to update the printer drivers but received the same message "Windows encountered a problem installing the drivers for your device."  "Windows found drivers for your device but encountered an error while attempting to install them." 

"HP ENVY 4500 series"            "The print processor is unknown." 

"If you know the manufacturer of your device, you can visit their website and check the support section for drivers."

[Dragon-Fur]

@Tupelo29er

If you did not do so before,

After the printer software is uninstalled, 

 Restart the computer and log in.

Download, save, and install the Full Feature Software

After the software is installed, Restart the computer and log in.

If the problem persists, consider:

Restart everything, including the router on your network.

Next...

See if the Doctor can help:

Print and Scan Doctor - https://support.hp.com/us-en/topic/printscandoctor

The following document provides known solutions to the error:

 Printer Not Found During Network Driver Setup (Windows)

Reference and Resources – Places to find help and learn about your Printer

Printer Homepage – “Things that are your printer”

Drivers / Software / Firmware Updates, Videos, Bulletins/Notices, How-to, Troubleshooting, User Guides, Product Information, more

HP ENVY 4500 e-All-in-One Printer series

Click Thumbs Up on a post to say Thank You!

Answered? Click post "Accept as Solution" to help others find it.

[Tupelo29er]

I tried the suggestions that you listed but was unable to make any progress.  The install programs would just hang and not complete.  

I was able to use the original CD disk that came with the printer.  It allowed the printer install process to complete.  The printer will now allow for printing but not scanning.  When I run HP Print and Scan Doctor for scanning it hangs at

[Dragon-Fur]

@Tupelo29er

---

@Tupelo29er wrote:

I tried the suggestions that you listed but was unable to make any progress.  The install programs would just hang and not complete.  

I was able to use the original CD disk that came with the printer.  It allowed the printer install process to complete.  The printer will now allow for printing but not scanning.  When I run HP Print and Scan Doctor for scanning it hangs at

---

Doctor hangs at "?"

I don't know.

Could be something trapped / tangled in one of the Temp folders that is hanging the installation.

Could be a bad registry key.

Could be a bad port.

1. How-to “Create TCP Port” Contributed by greenturtle

Create TCP IP port

1. Print a Configuration Page to get the printer's IPv4 address (you can also tap on the wireless icon on the Front panel of your Printer to get the IP address)
2. On your PC, go to Control Panel, from Devices and Printers, right click the printer and left click Printer Properties, select the Ports tab.
3. Click Add Port, select Standard TCP/IP Port, then select New Port and follow the wizard.
4. Type in the proper IP address for the printer.

This video resource will show you how to do it:
Create & Use TCP IP port

Note that you can ALWAYS revert back to the original port that the HP software installed by selecting the HP port under the Ports tab (in Printer Properties)

OR

Could be a failed network installation (assuming you are installing the printer on the network).

For example, for Wireless,

From the list of documents in Category Troubleshooting > Wireless, Network & Internet >Wireless Connections & Networking

 Printer Not Found During Network Driver Setup (Windows)

IF the printer softwere is sufficiently installed, the following software will work for scanning..

HP Scan Extended – Exceptional free HP scan program:  HP Scan Extended features include (and are not limited to): Single, Multiple scans, Image and PDF scans, Page Size choices include Auto-Detect (extracts image / document boundary). Download, save, and install to use.

NOTES

• HPSE is an older subset of the printer software; features are very similar to scan software included in 2015 or newer Full Feature Software packages.
• If you have the newer version of the scan software inside your Full Feature Software, use that: Printer Assistant shortcut icon on Desktop (named for printer) > Scan a document or image (wording varies).
• Although the HPSE program works as a separate program, HPSE is dependent on the infrastructure provided by the printer software. The Full Feature Software for your printer should be installed before installing HPSE.

NAPS2 -- Not another PDF Scanner – free program scans PDF files and image(s) as .jpeg or PDF file(s).  Includes OCR.  Download, save, and install to use.

@ShlomiL  Windows 10 won't allow reinstallation of printer S/W.  Words of Wisdom?   Thanks!

Thank you for participating in the HP Community Forum.

We are a world community of HP enthusiasts dedicated to supporting HP technology.

[ShlomiL · Accepted solution]

Please try this and let me know if that may help:

1. From the Control Panel > Devices and Printers remove any instance of your printer.
2. Right-click the background area and select Device Manager.
3. Within the Imaging Devices section, remove any instance of your printer and keep that window open.
4. Open the HP Envy 4500 software and select Connect a New Printer.
5. Select the listed wireless printer and follow the installation.
6. Once the installation hangs on installing network printer go back to the Device Manager.
7. Within the Printers category remove any listed instant of the printer or any listed Unkwon Device, then cancel the installation.
8. Select a Wireless connection again and select your printer, then check for any difference now.
9. If it still hangs repeat the same steps as above, but by deleting the printer from within the WSD Print Providers section this time, once again cancel the installation and try again.

May you see any difference or will the same behavior persist?

[Dragon-Fur]

@ShlomiL

I knew it - I missed the method to check the device manager and use the "interrupt" method to install the software.

Thanks so much for stepping in!  Smiling.

Hope the weather is cooling off where you are - it is finally the time of year for it.  Smiling.

[Tupelo29er]

I followed the steps that you recommended twice without being able to resolve the issue.  Both times the printer would print a test page and request that it be put on the glass for scanning (alignment procedure).  Both times the printer screen message indicated to place paper in the feeder tray, place test page on the glass, then press the "OK" button.  Both times the scanner bar would move a few millimeters and then stop / hang with no futher progress.  [Requiring power off, unplug everything, etc]

I tried the steps you suggested a third time and did not place paper in the feeder tray as suggested on the printer display screen.  I did not want it to print yet another test page (was my thinking / intent).  Well, since it didn't find paper in the feeder tray it skipped the test page and alignment procedure and the printer display screen changed to the normal baseline Copy / Scan / Wireless Direct / ... etc screen.  I was then able to copy and also "scan to computer" and "scan from computer".  Success, I guess!

I downloaded / installed NAPS2 as suggested.  I was able to scan to NAPS2 from the printer and also request a scan from NAPS2.  Both succussful.

I was also able successfully to scan using the HP Smart, HP Printer Home Page (Web).

I was not able to scan using Microsoft Windows 10 scanner software (app).  It start scanning but stopped after 2 or 3 seconds and a message box popped up       "Problem scanning"     "Something went wrong.  Please try again."        I tried several times, but no luck.  The fact that this software is not useable is not a big deal to me.  Just letting you know in case it is not a known problem. 

Thanks,

Tupelo29er

[Tupelo29er]

I gave ShlomiL the Accepted Solution, but I used several of your suggestions as well.  I followed the "Create TCP IP port" instructions.  I also installed the NAPS2 software which seems to work very well (thanks).

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention is that I ran Print and Scan Doctor 5.1 and the "Fix Printing" completed fully without stopping or error messages.  However, when selecting "Fix Scanning" it would hang at the "Windows (WIA) scan" point in the procedure and not complete successfully. 

I tried Print and Scan Doctor 5.1 "Fix Scanning" several times (just for verification that all is proper) with no success (hangs at the "Windows (WIA) scan" point) even though the printer and scanner seems to mostly (a couple of times when requesting a scan it took a second try) work correctly now. 

[ShlomiL]

Good to know you are now able to use the printer!

If you may experience any scanning issues in the future, following steps 7 & 8 below should clear such a WIA error:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00896190

Cheers,

Shlomi