Photosmart C4780 Solution Center - supported fix to uninstall of Flashplayer

[solnarch]

HP have known Adobe Flash was going to retired beginning of this year for years but didn't see fit to inform customers that applications such as HP Solution Center would stop working after Flashplayer was uninstalled, presenting just a pop up window with an "F" and "I" logo and no explanation. Furthermore, the Full Feature windows driver installer has not been updated since 2015 and appears to not solve the non-working HP Solution Center with a simple reinstall and there is no advice on the HP Support page to either recognise/advertise the problem nor proffer a solution supported by HP.

I have wasted a full day trying to diagnose the problem and then to try several of the suggestions from fellow customers, all to no effect - a thoroughly frustrating experience that should not have been necessary ! 😞

Would HP please provide either a work sheet of activities to get HP Solution Center working again or better still an update to the Full Feature Windows installer 

Regards

John

[Dragon-Fur]

@solnarch 

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The old Solution Software is not going to be updated.

The part that broke is the GUI that controls the main Solution Center menu.

That said, there are solutions for Scan and the Print software still works with applications.

For example, you can still print from Word and you can still print PDF files, too.

Start...

HP Document:

HP Printers - HP Solution Center doesn't open 

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By now...

The Community is flooded with options to "fix", to work around, hack at the central issue (Flash doesn't work), or to generally comment about the injustice of it all.

Following are a few of the more benign options - If you don't like what you find here, there are plenty of other opinions on the subject.

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Flash Player is permanently disabled as of 12-Jan-2021.

The HP Solution center software is based on Flash:

https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/end-of-life.html

Some of the possible solutions for Scan...

Start Scan using HP Scan executable.

You might be able to simply start HP Scan / Scan using the program executable.

Doing so "side steps" the problem of the main Solution Center not opening.

For example:

Nelis81 reports that the old Solution Center Scan software is located in "Digital Imaging"

 C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\

OR

 C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\

Double-Click on File name / executable:  hpiscnapp.exe 

Original Content...

What else?

HP Scan and Capture - Microsoft Store (formally Windows Store) - Requires Windows 8 or higher

• Download-Save-Install   HP Scan and Capture

Scan_and_Capture_Document-Photo_Settings_1

What else?

HP Scan Extended apparently still works for scanning and does not include a requirement for Flash.

The Caveat:  HPSE is perhaps dependent on the Full Feature Software (previously "HP Solution Center").

HP Scan Extended

• Download-Save-Install >  HP Scan Extended 
• HPSE is a subset an older Full Feature Software suite. 
• HPSE features are very similar to the HP Scan Software released after 2015.
• Although HPSE appears to be a separate software, HPSE is dependent on the infrastructure provided by the Full Feature Software.  The Full Feature Software for your printer should be installed before installing and using HPSE.
• OPTIONAL:  Add HP Scan Extended shortcut to Taskbar / Send to Desktop / Pin to Start
• Open File Explorer > Navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\HP Scan Extended\bin
• Right-Click HPScan.exe > Select Pin to Taskbar
• Right-Click HPScan.exe > Select Send to Desktop (Create a Shortcut)
• Right-Click HPScan.exe > Select Pin to Start

• HP Scan Extended features include (and are not limited to): Single, Multiple scans, Image and PDF scans, Email as PDF / JPEG, Source selection, Page Size choices include Auto-Detect (extracts image / document boundary).  Might include OCR (Save as Editable Text).

Examples

NOTE:  Image / PDF scanning settings are similar in some ways.

Be sure to check / adjust the settings in More >

HPSE_Scan-to-PDF_1HPSE_Scan-to-PDF_1E

What else?

Programs / Software like  Paint (mspaint) can be used to scan.

and...

NAPS2 – “Not Another PDF Scanner”

• Download-Save-Install >  NAPS2 
• Not another PDF Scanner – free program scans PDF files and image(s) as .jpeg or PDF file(s).
• Includes an OCR feature – may need Ghostscript add-on (See NAPS2 forum entry)
• Read the Support pages for information
• Download, save, and install the NAPS2 software to use.

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