Printer does not work after Windows 10 update in January

[Saxboy]

Hi, first time on the forum and I hope someone can help me with my printer problem?

I've had my HP Office Jet Pro 6960 for a couple years and it has always worked well with my Dell lap top until January this year when I received a Windows 10 update. After the update the printer would not work and in "Settings" in Windows 10 it said "driver unavailable."

I've tried the following corrective actions;

Deleted the printer and all related software and reloaded it from the disc that came with the printer.

Deleted the printer and all related software and allowed Windows 10 to identify the printer and load software.

Downloaded the latest HP driver from the HP web site.

Ran the HP Scan and Print Doctor programme

Ran "Print Trouble Shooter" in Windows 10

Waited for the next Windows 10 update, which I received a couple of days ago

Followed some of the more detailed fixes on the forum

None of the above worked and resulted in the same message of driver unavailable.

My printer and lap top are connected by BT WIFI and my lap top has a Intel Core i5 processor, if that helps.

I'm not particularly tech savvy so would appreciate a simple idiot's guide to fix this problem.

Regards

[praveen196]

@Saxboy Welcome to HP Community!

 I understand you are having issues while printing from your HP OfficeJet Printer.

Don't worry we'll work together to help you find a solution.

Let's start off by performing a Hard reset on the printer. 

Please make sure that the printer is connected directly to the wall outlet and not to the surge protector.

With the printer turned on, disconnect the power cord from the rear of the printer and also unplug the power cord from the wall outlet.

Remove USB cable, if present.

Wait for 2-3 minutes, press and hold the power button on your printer for about 30 seconds to remove any additional charge.

Now plug back the power cable straight to a wall outlet without any surge protector or an extension cord and then plug back the power cord to the printer.

Turn on the printer and wait till warm-up period finishes and the printer is idle.

Let's perform a clean install to try and fix this issue. Here are the steps:

First, unplug the USB cable from the printer if present.

Go to Control panel – Programs and feature – Select all the HP OfficeJet printer entries and uninstall them.

Now go to Control panel – Devices and printer – Select all the printer entries and remove the device.

Restart your computer.

Click the bottom-left Start button on desktop, type device manager in the search box and tap Device Manager on the menu.

Once in device manager, click on the view tab in the top & choose “Show hidden devices”.

Then from the device manager list, check the entries under “Printer”  – If there are any entries, please right click and choose “uninstall” – In the confirm device un-install pop-up, make sure you select the box which says “Delete the driver software for this device".

Also, check the entries under "printer queue" and "imaging devices" and repeat the same exercise. Delete any printer entry or any entry which says “Unknown device”.

Once done, close device-manger. Then press the "windows key" + "r" to get the "Run" window open - Type "printui.exe /s" (there is a space between .exe & /) and press enter.

Under print server properties, go to drivers - remove any entry there as well.

Again, go to run window, type – “c:/programdata” – Go to Hewlett Packard folder, remove any printer related folders & files.

Open run again, type “%temp%” and press enter to get the temporary files. Delete all the files here. Skip the items which cannot be deleted.

Now restart your computer again.

Open the Run window again, type “services.msc” and press ok to get services window.

Scroll down to “Remote Procedure Call (RPC)” – right-click and go to properties. Make sure the service is started and startup type is “Automatic”.

Now scroll up and go to “Function Discovery Provider Host” – right-click and select properties – Change the startup type to “manual” and start the service.

Repeat the same exercise on “Function Discovery Resource Publication” as well.

Click on  https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/software13/COL39376/lj-166432-4/HPEPrintAppSetupx64.exe  and install the software.

Connect the USB cable only when prompted.

If the issue persists, I would suggest here is to Uninstall the printer drivers and then try installing the Windows built-in drivers for the printer.

Simply turn on the printer and connect the USB cable from the printer to the PC. The drivers will be installed in 2-3 minutes. Go to Control panel - Devices and printers to check the printer entry and make it as default printer if needed.

Check http://hp.care/2nxKJv8 for additional instructions.

Keep us posted,

If you would like to thank us for our efforts to help you, 

Give us a virtual high-five by clicking the 'Thumbs Up' icon below, followed by clicking on the "Accept as solution" on this post, 

Have a great day!

[Saxboy]

Hi Praveen169, apologies for the late response but I have only recently been discharged from hospital.

I have followed the recommended process but unfortunately in did not work. Going through it step by step, typing "%temp" into the run dialogue box just produced another dialogue box asking "which programme I wanted to use to open the programme." Since it was just removing temporary files, I just cleared the Temporary File manually.

The link at the end of the process to download the new driver does not work; I tried to download the driver from the HP UK web site and that didn't work either. Finally I used the installation disc that came with the printer and that said install had been successful but on checking the "Control Panel" and "Settings" in Windows 10, they said the driver was unavailable.

The process mentions connecting and disconnecting a USB if connected. I found with my WiFi connection the printer must be turned of at the socket as well as the machine itself otherwise some files cannot be deleted.

Having followed the process and still not got a working printer, I followed the next step and deleted the printer drivers via Device Manager. If should be noted that Windows 10 had stored them under "Software devices" and not "Printers."

I turned on my printer and selected the drivers from what Windows 10 listed. I selected "HP OfficeJet Pro 6960 PCL-3" which Windows 10 showed was digitally signed - it did not work. I then selected the "Generic Driver" which was also signed but it did not work. In both cases I received a dialogue box which stated the driver was "not digitally signed" or "not signed in the appropriate manner."

Please can you help further, regards

[AJ113]

Hi Praveen,

Just to add a me too to this - Office Jet 6970.

Displays as Driver unavailable in Control Panel > Devices - the scanner part is found fine.

As Saxboy has also tried:

Full remove from: %temp%, programdata, spool, app data, registry and of course add / remove programs.

Other PC's on the network still seem to be connected to it fine and can print - but sharing the printer still doesn't allow the one computer to connect - says it cannot find the driver.

Strangely, there are different error messages depending on if you try to install via windows, install via HP driver download, or install via HP Smart. the HP printer repair doctor also has its own error message.

I've also tried a startup boot config to disable driver enforcement (to get around the driver signing error) - which did not help.

Because Pictures always help:

This may have been caused by a Windows update, but it strikes me as a driver issue too.

Regards,

Andrew

[praveen196]

@Saxboy 

Thank you for the update.

In that case, I would suggest you perform the system reset and then try to install the drivers and check.

Have a nice day!!

[praveen196]

@AJ113

I understand your concerns. 

Please rollback to the previous windows version. Then install the drivers and check.

https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/c04755993

Let's perform a clean install to try and fix this issue. Here are the steps:

First, unplug the USB cable from the printer if present.

Go to Control panel – Programs and feature – Select all the HP OfficeJet printer entries and uninstall them.

Now go to Control panel – Devices and printer – Select all the printer entries and remove the device.

Restart your computer.

Click the bottom-left Start button on desktop, type device manager in the search box and tap Device Manager on the menu.

Once in device manager, click on the view tab in the top & choose “Show hidden devices”.

Then from the device manager list, check the entries under “Printer”  – If there are any entries, please right click and choose “uninstall” – In the confirm device un-install pop-up, make sure you select the box which says “Delete the driver software for this device".

Also, check the entries under "printer queue" and "imaging devices" and repeat the same exercise. Delete any printer entry or any entry which says “Unknown device”.

Once done, close device-manger. Then press the "windows key" + "r" to get the "Run" window open - Type "printui.exe /s" (there is a space between .exe & /) and press enter.

Under print server properties, go to drivers - remove any entry there as well.

Again, go to run window, type – “c:/programdata” – Go to Hewlett Packard folder, remove any printer related folders & files.

Open run again, type “%temp%” and press enter to get the temporary files. Delete all the files here. Skip the items which cannot be deleted.

Now restart your computer again.

Open the Run window again, type “services.msc” and press ok to get services window.

Scroll down to “Remote Procedure Call (RPC)” – right-click and go to properties. Make sure the service is started and startup type is “Automatic”.

Now scroll up and go to “Function Discovery Provider Host” – right-click and select properties – Change the startup type to “manual” and start the service.

Repeat the same exercise on “Function Discovery Resource Publication” as well.

Click on  https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/software13/COL39376/lj-166432-4/HPEPrintAppSetupx64.exe  and install the software.

Connect the USB cable only when prompted.

Have a nice day!!

[AJ113]

@Praveen196

I've had another crack at this pc again with no luck.

I've unable to rollback to the previous windows version - more than 10 days ago that the update was done.

The full remove and install from crash instructions also do not work - I end up with the same issue.

To note the FTP link does not work - I got the full installer off the HP support site.

Any other ideas?

Regards,

Andrew

[praveen196]

@AJ113 

Thank you for the update.

In that case, I would suggets you perform the system reset and check.

Windows 10 has a reset feature that repairs your computer by reinstalling the operating system. This feature is recommended for recovery because it reinstalls Windows 10 while either preserving your personal data and customizations or removing all your personal data.

You have a choice of two methods to reset your computer.

• If Windows 10 loads correctly, see the section titled Perform a Windows 10 system reset in Windows in this document.

• If Windows 10 does not start correctly, see the section titled Perform a Windows 10 system reset through Windows Recovery Environment in this document.

Have a nice day!!

[Saxboy]

Hi, I have followed the "HP PCs - Resetting Your Computer (Windows 10)" procedure and it did not cure my printer problem. I also received on the 12th June the latest Windows 10 update and that did not resolve the concern either. Therefore based on this evidence there must be a problem with the HP driver itself. Please advise what HP will do to resolve this issue.

[praveen196]

@Saxboy

I understand your concerns. 

In that case, I would suggets you contact our phone support and check for the support option. They will help you.

Here is how you can get in touch with phone support.

1)Click on this link - www.hp.com/contacthp/

2)Select the product type.

3)Enter the serial number of your device or select let HP detect your product option.

4)Select the country from the drop-down.

5)You should see the HP phone support number or Chat option listed.

We are experiencing longer than expected wait times to reach an agent due to the CoViD-19 impact and there might have been issues in you getting the expected resolution on the issue. 

Have a nice day!!