Win 10 driver issue - won't print single sided!

[DonAwalt]

This is the wierdest problem I have ever had...on my two Windows 10 laptops, printing to the Color Laserjet 4765dw can NOT be done single sided! I verified this in both Word 2016 and PDF printing/Sdobe Acrobat Reader.

What I have checked:

1. Verified no settings that I can see on the printer itself setting this as a default

2. From Word's printer options, I set it to 'print both sides - flip short edge' - does this; Set to 'print both sides - flip long edge' - does this correctly; "print on one side' - it prints on both sides, flip long edge! It's always long edge flip, both sides if set to Print on one side.

3. Deleted and reinstalled printer.

4. Redownloaded driver from HP site and used it - the print test says it is HP LJ300-400 color MFP M375-M475 PCL 6, Type 3 - User Mode, version 61.120.5.12262

5. Reinstalled the latest firmware again (haven't had to update tht for  long time, I thought it might have gotten corrupted) - verified it is 20150126, 26 Feb 2015.

6. On one Win 10 laptop I changed the setting in Printer Properties/Devices/DUplex printing to not installed, and rebooted - only then did it stop printing in single sided.

7. I tried installing some sort of generic HP printer river yesterday, I forget what it was - like a PCL 5 driver maybe? I am sorry I didn't record the name - anyway, it printer extremely slowly, 1 page about every 10 seconds, but it did NOT exhibit the problem. I uninstalled and reinstalled the proper printer, and the inability to print on a single side returned.

8. I hve a macbook pro too - using Word 2016 there, I do NOT see the problem - maybe indicating it is a Windows/driver issue.

This printer is a wireless printer, but when I reinstall the printer, it sees it on the network. There is only one, so no risk of it being th wrong printer or something.

This just started about 3 days ago, seemingly for no reason - maybe some silent update happened? It seems like a driver problem happened, but maybe induced by a Windows  update or something? Thanks for any help you can offer!

[dansdaduk · Accepted solution]

I understand that some (Windows) printer drivers:

• Include the requisite 'set duplex' control sequence in the generated print job when the user selects duplex for a print;
• Do not include the requisite 'set simplex' control sequence in the generated print job when the user selects simplex for a print;
• Hence the 'simplex' jobs do not override the printer's own default simplex or duplex setting; if this default is set to duplex, the job will print on both sides.

What you should be able to do is change the printer's default from duplex to simplex.

Easiest way to do this will probably be via the Embedded Web Server interface (just point your browser at the printer's IP-address): on the System tab, select the Paper Setup page, and change the Duplex setting from On to Off.

See https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/LaserJet-Printing/MFP-M476dw-Always-Prints-Duplex-in-MS-Word-2010/m-p/... for more details.

[DonAwalt]

Oh my gosh you are awesome! Thank you so much for solving this! While I don't know what changed that it started doing this, I changed it per your suggestion and tested both single sheet and doublel sheet and it works great! Thank you again so much, this problem was very perplexing!!!