MFP M477 software installation, Win 10, 2 different computers

[CharlesWi11]

I have done everything described in this rolling post...and like everyone else the software packages runs, asks for what items to load I click next and the installation begins. The progress percent counts up to 12% and then says the software has been successfully installed. Print a test page is checked, but when I click finish nothing happens. I go to Devices and Printers, nothing.

I have tried clean booting the system... turning the fire wall off and unistalling the av software.  Nothing works.

This is fresh build of Windows 10 1703... I have been able to load this on other Windows 10 machines.

Would appreciate a little attention from HP to this... Brother printers are looking better all the time!

[CharlesWi11]

Perseverance! Using a combination of solutions offered here I was finally able to get the full software package to load.

On one Windows 10 pc I connected via USB and it failed at 12% like before.  I uninstalled and reinstalled and during the installation I opened device manager and waited for the printer to appear.  Once it appeared I immediately updated the driver to the PCL-6 (dash) version.  The installation completed with all software installed and test page printed. I was able to use the HP tool to reconfigure the printer to ethernet connection and everything is working.

On a second  Windows 10 pc I was able to replicate this "workaround" over ethernet by doing the same exact process. No reconfigure was necessary.

Theory... The printer is not correctly identifying itself to Windows 10.  The "identification" that WIndows recieves forces it to use a generic driver.  This generic driver does not satisfy the HP installation so it times out even though it claims success.  In order for this routine to successfully complete you have manually identify the device and the driver to force the installation to complete.

This "workaround" is frustrating and requires a bit of urgency to successfully complete.  HP needs to resolve the installation code and force the installation routine to use the correct drivers or update the WHQL drivers.  

I hope this helps someone, sorry it isn't a step by step guide.  Maybe someone at HP support can put it into a step by step format.

[Thandwar]

This is the only Working Solution i found, you sir, are a GOD for finding this out!

I've been on this for 3 hours....

+++

[Drusus2]

Unfortunately none of the previous workarounds is working (anymore).

The recent Windows 10 Update 1703 caused the Windows bundled driver (from HP) to get installed and now we have the older "HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477 PCL 6" "Type 3 - User Mode" driver 8.10.1320.2893 active.

I previously had the newer HP driver and wanted to switch to them again so I removed the printer, removed the older HP software (including i.r.i.s) and then downloaded the current driver from http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/software13/COL61848/t2-149283-3/HP_Color_LJ_Pro_MFP_M477-PCL-6_v4_Prin... just to see that the installer again fails.

I am able to start the installer and select the printer but installation jumps from 8% to finished (skipping the remaining 92% of the installation) and this install indeed failed. Trying to restart the installer will then show the information that the previous installation failed and the files will be removed. After a reboot we are back to start.

This is now a real problem as the HP Scan software is also gone on my system and no way to install it again. Why can't HP fix this issue as they are already aware of this for a real long time?

How can we debug this to see why the installer aborts? What else could be done to make the installer happy again? Just removing the printer and the i.r.i.s software is not sufficient and neither do I get the option to change the driver during installation (as one of the previous posters mentioned as a workaround).

The installer does not offer to install just the HP Scan but says the scanner and printer drivers are mandatory (which however fail).

Using the Windows 10 OS provided driver works for printing and I could also use the Windows 10 "Fax & Scan" application to get some basic scan features but the HP Scan application offers way more (e.g. multi page handling, save as pdf etc.). So I really want this one back again.

Can someone from HP please provide a working solution here? Or at least some guideance how to debug this failing installer to see what is causing the problems here? Thanks.

[CharlesWi11]

Sad to say but I don't believe anyone form HP is monitoring this post...

I just did a reinstall of windows 10 1703 and can say with certainty that the workaround I posted works and allows you to install the complete software package.  I have completed the installation on 4 Windows 10 1703 pcs now.

During installation you need to go into Device Manager (run, devmgmt) and update the driver to PCL-6 manually. Right click on the M477 when it shows up as a printer, update driver and select "Browse my computer for driver software". Select "let me pick form a list of available drivers on my computer".  When the list of printers comes up you should see the PCL-6 (dash), select the one with the dash (-) not the PCL 6.  This must be done while the software package is installing and before it times out at 12%.  If done correctly it will complete the installation.

Uninstalling and reinstalling or attempting to install a different driver file will not work.  This is a manual process that must be completed during software installation if you want the package to install.

One thing I noticed on the last installation is that the name of the printer may not change to PCL-6 in Device Manager even with the updated driver installed.

The issue is a food fight between Windows 10 and the HP installer over which driver the printer will use and Windows wins unless you intervene.  I agree that HP should fix this but it seems to be an isolated problem affecting a smal number of people (as evidenced by this forum) for a printer that is now over two years old.  It would surprise me if anyone from HP acknowledges the issue let alone if HP fixes the installer. 

[Drusus2]

Hi,

changing the driver version (from the old "PCL 6" to the new "PCL-6") during the installation helped for USB connection but not for LAN (Ethernet) connection --- which however is the connection I need.

So I completed the USB installation to at least get back the Scanner software. I then removed the USB printer and added it back as LAN printer. Printing works but then the scanner software does not even start and complains that the scanner is not found "The HP CLJ477 Scan was not found." and no way to change the scanner anywhere...

So this is not a solution either.

I disagree that this only affects a few folks as we do have multiple similar threads and the majority of affected users won't even take the time to complain here.

I never has such a bad software experience with other vendors and HP should really take care of their broken software - as this is not just a driver race here.

Bottom line is that the full installation still fails - even with all workarounds listed here.

Also tried their "HP Print and Scan Doctor" which however does exactly the same as the manual process, i.e. downloads the full installer and starts it --- with the very same resulting installation failure.

So back to the beginning: how can we check where and why the installer is really aborting and how to correct this? This is not (only?) the driver issue.

Are there any logs from the installation which can be checked?

[CharlesWi11]

There is a utility created when you do a full install called "Reconfigure your HP device".  I was able to successfully use this on one of the 1703 machines that I first installed as a USB printer.  This brought back the network connection to the scanner hadware but it did not use the WSD printer port that Windows 10 prefers so it would pop a Windows update failure (failed to update M477) each time it checked for Windows updates.

There is also an HP utility called Scrubber.exe that you might try after you uninstall the software. It never gave me any indication that it "cleaned" anything but during my trial and error investigation I used the scrubber and ccleaner reg cleaner and was able to get the installation to work with my workaround.

Sorry to hear this workaround isn't working for you, i've successfully used it on four Windows 10 1703 systems now without fail.  It has worked for others on this thread as well so maybe I didn't explain it properly or you have a problem that I didn't experience.  Hope you find something that works...

[Gerald_H]

>  it seems to be an isolated problem affecting a smal number of people (as evidenced by this forum)

It is not an isolated incident. It happens on A LOT of systems and there are a number of negative Amazon reviews due to this. Also, the M477 is not the only series affected.

I guess most people just don't care if they can scan this way. Maybe they then just don't scan at all or they install the HP Scan app from the Windows Store which works fine - but it does not have a TWAIN driver for integration in other applications.

Since there was no error during the installation I for a long time was under the impression that maybe this is normal and the driver can only be used with the Scan Application from the Windows Store.

[CharlesWi11]

We can aurgure the symantics of that statement if you want but the reality is that after searching the Amazon websites (both US and UK) and this forum I find a total of 47 individual complaints.  Sixteen of these complaints were resolved by an HP "technician" suggesting a print driver workaround similar to the one I mentioned up this post.

Believe me I am not an advocate of the complexity associated with installing this device.  My only intent was to sensitize people to the fact that HP is not monitoring this forum and there is nothing in the way of significant complaints to trigger an alarm to the technical support folks.  I for one do not have the time to spend on hold waiting to talk to a technician as the workaround has resolved my problems on four different pcs.

If you know the are "A LOT" of others that are suffering this problem then I would suggest you encourage them to add to this post.  If there are "A LOT" of others suffering without the OEM software package and are waiting for a resolution I would encourage you/them to give this workaround a try....I've heard back from "A LOT" of people that it worked for them as well. 

[Drusus2]

Hi,

I tried the reconfigure utility earlier but this did not helped.

Your other two pointers however finally solved the problem!

Steps used to recover:

- remove printer from Windows

- run HP uninstaller

- reboot

- run the HP Scrubber utility

- see that the start menu still lists HP AiO Software and HP scan

- left click on HP AiO Software to remove that software

- left click on the HP Scan uninstall only opens the Windows generic uninstaller where the software is not listed

- left click on the HP Scan utility to open file location, remove the entire HP folder with the software manually

- run CC Cleaner to fix registry issues

- reboot

Now install the HP driver software. As soon as the printe shows up in the device manager change the driver from the older "PCL 6" to the newer "PCL-6" while the HP installer is still running.

After all of this I finally got my scanner "mostly" back. Printing and scanning is working now. The HP AiO software however still has problems and lists the printer as offline or unable to get status --- even though the very same software does generate a popup after printing informing me that toner is low (but unable to check the status details). Workaround for that issue is to use the web frontend of the printer to get the details.

Thanks to everyone who helped here.