Officejet 3830 - Driver is unavailable!

[ryu830]

I just bought a brand new printer (Officejet 3830) and installed the full featured setup file, but I got this "driver is unavailable" message when I try to use the printer.

Upon doing some research... this seems to be a common problem whenever "Windows 10 " updates itself... why does this happen? I think it's a bug that HP & Microsoft need to workout together.

I can print from my/family's android+apple phones, but not this Dell Laptop.

Please help.

[greenturtle]

Hi

Thanks for using the HP Support Community.

Can you try this:

* *Note that if there are other printers installed, these will need to be reinstalled after this.

Step 1. Uninstall the HP Software from your PC.

Please follow the steps provided to uninstall the printer software in the link: Uninstalling the Printer Software (Windows)
https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/c02259020

Also, please follow the steps provided below to completely remove the printer software from printer properties.
Steps to remove printer driver files from Print Server Properties:

Step 2. Open the Print Server Properties dialog window by doing one of the following:
• Click the Start menu and in the search field type 'printui /s /t2' (without the quotes), and then press Enter or click it in the search list.
• Press WINDOWS-R on the keyboard to bring up the Run window, type in 'printui /s /t2' (without the quotes), and then press Enter or click OK.
• From the Start menu or the Start screen:
• Open Devices and Printers.
• Select any printer and then click "Print server properties" at the top of the window.
• Click on the Drivers tab.
•
Step 3. Backup your registry before making any registry changes, the following resource will show you how:
https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/c03485724

Step 4. Update the registry using the Reg file below
Note: this will change some printer related policies for your PC):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/avbv56zdgwv7600/kernel.reg?dl=1

Step 5. Right click the Start menu and select Run.
Type Services.msc and press OK.
Locate and stop the Print Spooler service

Step 6. Browse to c:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers.
Rename W32X86 to W32x86.old
Rename x64 to x64.old
Note: if any of these folders fail to rename reboot your PC and then Continue following the steps starting from Step 5.

Step 7. Restart PC.

Step 8. Finally, reinstall the HP Software.

Hope that helps!

[ryu830]

I tried this solution...

When I restarted my laptop, I got a warning message that popped up from the lower right hand corner that said something to the affect of: changes/updates were blocked from being made to this laptop.

I'm not running any type of 3rd party antivirus software other than Windows' own security center.

Why did this happen?

[greenturtle]

Hi,

Was the install successful?  Not sure about the pop up message, the macro was basically to clean out previous drivers and bring the PC to a "Clean" State for install.

Thanks.

[ryu830]

It installed, but it still says "Driver is Unavailable."

The computer didn't allow me to install the "kernal" macro... After I restarted the laptop, I got that warning message for some reason.

Do I lower Windows 10 security, if so, how do I do that?

[greenturtle]

Hi,

When opening any documents, were you able to print?  WIn 10 supposed to have an In-OS driver that allows users to print without installing the HP drivers,

Thanks.

[ryu830]

No, I can't print anything... in fact, when I try, there's no printer listed in the drop down menu.

Oh... here's another thing I noticed... I have an old HP printer driver that I can't remove. I even went to the "Printer Server Properties" drivers tab and try tried to remove it manually, but the "remove" button is greyed out!

What do I do now?!

[ryu830]

Any update on this matter?

[greenturtle]

Hi @ryu830

Seems like a tough issue to resolve.  The steps provided above were meant to "set the pc to a default state " so that drivers can be installed from scratch,  Since Windows is blocking the "cleanup", perhaps can try the Microsoft Uninstaller?

Can you try this Uninstaller from Microsoft and then reinstall the FULL feature software again?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17588/fix-problems-that-block-programs-from-being-installed...

Hope this helps as we're running out of options!

[ryu830]

Ok, I'm going to give this a try. I'll let you know the outcome.