default printer error 709

[Butterburger]

Hello!

Windows 7 on Lenovo laptop, Officejet 4500 connected by LAN (not wireless)

Test-Page works, Scanner works, printer installed and working.

Trying to change default printer from "Microsoft XPS Document Writer" to "HP508E0 (HP Officejet 4500 G510g-m)" using "Set as default printer" from "Dvices and Printer" window. Result: "Operation could not be completed (error 0x00000709). Double check the printer name and make sure that the printer is connected to the network."

Printer name I cannot influence. Therefore I cannot see what to check.

Printer is printing, so I assume network connection is established.

HP Solution Center is showing drivers etc are up to date.

Windows Troubleshooter suggests to set my printer to default. But it also fails to do so without stating a reason.

How to set my HP4500 as default printer?

Thank you, kind regards

Michael 

[Gordon_H]

Hi Butterburger,

Is the printer shared with other computers on the network? If so, try unsharing it and reboot you PC, set it as default, then reshare it.

Let me know how it goes.

[Butterburger]

Hello Gordon,

thank you for your answer. I was able to unshare the printer. But after reboot I got a warning from Windows related to a missing printer driver. Windows suggested to update the driver for the HP 4500. However, no suitable driver was found -- neither on the internet nor on the CD. Also re-installation of printer software from CD failed.

Even more problem is: The printer is not working any more. The display on the printer reads "power save mode". But how to return to normal operation mode? I pressed some of buttons on the printer but nothing happens (well, some beeping noise). I even failed to switch it off in order to turn on again.

I think "unsharing" the printer was no good idea after all.

Please help,

thank you, kind regards

Michael

[Gordon_H]

I don't believe unsharing "caused" the issue you have now, it merely exposed a deeper problem. First thing you should do would be to uninstall the printer software via Windows Control Panel. Next, you'll want to reset the printer by doing the following:

Follow these steps to perform a reset of the product.

1. Press the Power button to turn on the product (if not already on).
2. With the product turned on, disconnect the power cord from the rear of the product.
3. Unplug the power cord from the wall outlet.
4. Wait at least 15 seconds.
5. Plug the power cord back into the wall outlet.
6. Reconnect the power cord to the rear of the product.
7. If the product does not turn on by itself, press the Power button to turn it on.

Lastly, download the current software & drivers for your printer from the link below and reinstall:

http://goo.gl/2oTbx

[Butterburger]

Gordon,

Thank you for your reply. I managed to restart my printer by disconnecting from power. In another part of this HP forum I found it is a recognized issue. There are assumptions this might be solved by a microcode update. However, I did not find any official anouncment by HP.

Back to this topic. I think I was able to delete and re-install the drivers. Now I have not less than six (6) printers installed:

- Fax (I think it is a base component of Windows)

- XPS Document Writer (I think it is a base component of Windows, currently this is the default printer)

- HP4500 Fax (This was not visible in my first setup)

- HP Office Jet 4500 (IP)

- HP Office Jet 4500 (http)

- HP Office Jet 4500 (USB)

- HP J4500 (?)

...none of them working!

However, Windows stopped polling me to update drivers. Also the exclamation marks at the printer and laptop symbols are vanished. Also the Lenovo Support Tools do not moan about malconfiguration any more. But since I cannot print I do not trust in this. Also, trying to change the default printer results in same message with return code 0x709.

I have a second laptop with Linux installed. With this laptop I am using the HPLIP packet. For this I might add, installation was hazzle free, no problem at all, quick (<5 minutes), very easy and with excellent documentation. All functions of the HP4500 printer are working as expected with Linux -- including choice of the default printer. Is there a chance to run HPLIP on Windows 7 instead of the shipped Windows drivers?

Thank you, kind regards

Michael

[Gordon_H]

I am not sure why all those instances of the printer are showing up. You should right click and remove each of the following entries:

- HP4500 Fax

- HP Office Jet 4500 (IP)

- HP Office Jet 4500 (http)

- HP Office Jet 4500 (USB)

- HP J4500 (?)

Once you have done so, uninstall the current HP software (as you did previously), reboot the PC, then reinstall the HP software from the downloaded file again.

As far as running HPLIP on Windows, that would not be possible as it is Linux only (HPLIP stands for HP Linux Imaging and Printing).

[Butterburger · Accepted solution]

Gordon!

Thanks again for your effort. Indeed I managed to re-install the printer drivers. And this time I had more luck, all three printers plus the XPS writer seem to work again. Unfortunately no change regarding the default printer, still RC=0x709.

While waiting for the installation procedure, I was searching Microsoft knowledge base and found one interesting article: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/unable-to-setup-default-printer-...

Take care to proceed to page two...

The procedure described in that document worked in my case: for each defined Windows logon user I had to change one entry in Windows registry manually:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows

Nota bene: first change permissions for the key, then change "Microsoft XPS Writer" to "HP Officejet 4500 G510g-m" within the key's value field. All other parts of the value field remained unchanged.

The change was effective immediately, default printer now is my HP4500. Test was successful!

Well, I had impression this is not an HP related issue but a general limitation in Windows. From my experience, Linux and HPLIP seem far more convinient for the unexperienced user. 

Cheers

Michael

[Gordon_H]

That's great...glad to see you were able to get the issue resolved. Thank you for coming back to share so that others may benefit in the future!

[Jonnylinton]

I have just purchased a a6500 printer after my old hp after 10 years of loyal service finally came to an end . I am not able to set as default with error message 0x00000709 is there a fix on ho website as this seems to be happening for other users

[-JohnB-]

Jonnylinton

This microsoft thread has some possible steps for solving the issue you are having. Give it a shot and let us know the results:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/itprovistaprinting/thread/70537359-5bc4-4a6a-99b1-8...

Best of Luck!