HP ENVY 5540 Series Printer - Can no longer print double sided

[Meli3]

Hi, I would be very grateful for help:

My HP ENVY 5540 used to print double-sided automatically. It no longer does this, but comes up with a screen telling me to go and put the paper in again - this happened several weeks ago and I don't know why??

I have read other threads and tried solutions but they are not working:

1. I tried going to Control Panel, clicking on "Printer properties" and "device settings" - I have changed the setting to say that the duplicating device is "installed" and clicked "apply".  I have re-started the computer and the settings look OK (i.e. "Automatic Duplex Unit" installed) but I have still have the same problem when I try to print double-sided.

I have uninstalled and re-installed the printer and updated drivers.  I re-started the computer again after doing all of this.

I would be grateful for any other suggestions.

PS  I just tried printing a PDF document double-sided and it worked!!  But still can't print d/s from Microsoft Word Doc??

Thanks

[Jeet_singh]

@Meli3,

Welcome to the HP Forums 🙂 I would like to take a moment and thank you for using this forum, it is a great place to find answers. For you to have the best experience on the HP forum, you could also visit our HP Forums Guide for First Time Here? Learn How to Post and More. I see from your post that you are having multiple issues on your HP Envy printer. Don't worry we'll work together to help you find a solution.

To provide you with an accurate solution, I'll need a few more details:

Have you recently made any changes on the printer before the issue started?

Did it happen after a recent software update? How is the printer connected? USB/Wireless

Have you tried to run Print and Scan Doctor?

Have you tried to check the print settings? 

Have you tried to uninstall and reinstall the printer drivers?

In the meantime, let's try these steps here: 

Let’s start by performing a network power drain. Follow the steps below:

Turn off all the devices connected on your network including the PC, Smartphones, printer, modem (if present) and router. Make sure all the devices in the network are turned off / unplugged.

Wait for 2-3 minutes.

Now turn on the modem if present. Wait till all the lights are steady and idle.

Then turn on the router. Again wait for a couple of minutes so that the lights are all steady.

Then turn on the PC and other devices.

If you are facing any issue while using the printer then try using HP Print and Scan Doctor (PSDR). PSDR is an automated tool which can diagnose and resolve printing and scanning problems. Please go to this link: HP Printers - Using HP Print and Scan Doctor (Windows)  to download and run HP PSDR. Once you open the program, select your printer and click on “Fix Printing” to automatically diagnose and fix the issue.

• Press “Windows key” + “r” to get the “Run” window.
• Type "services.msc" to get Services – Go to “Print spooler” – Right-click and “Stop” the service.
• Now again open "Run" - Type “spool” and ok - Go to PRINTERS folder - delete everything in that folder.
• Go to services again - Start the print spooler.
• Now check for issue resolution.
• If the issue persists, also try clean installing the printer drivers. 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 Envy printer entries and uninstall them.
• Now go to Control panel – Devices and printer – Select all the printer entries and remove the device.
• 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 the Run window, type – “c:/programdata” – Go to Hewlett Packard folder, remove any printer related folders & files.
• Restart your computer.
• Please click here to download and install the software.
• In the connection type window, select “Wireless” and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

Now go ahead and check the settings, 

• Go to Control panel – Devices and printer.
• Right-click on Envy 5540 and select “Printer properties”.
• Select the “Device settings” tab.
• Ensure that the “Duplex unit” is set to “Installed” rather than “Not installed” and save the settings.
• Now again give a right-click on the printer icon and select “Printing preferences”.
• If a "Printing shortcuts" tab is available, select the "Print on Both Sides" or "Two-sided (Duplex) Printing" option.
• If “Printing shortcut” is not available, click the “Layout”, “Features”, or “Finishing tab”, depending on which tab displays in your driver version.
• Locate the "Print on Both Sides" or "Two-sided printing" menu or option, then select the binding or page flip option depending on if you want the document to read like a booklet or a tablet and save the settings.

Check this link: HP Printers - How to Print on Both Sides of the Paper (Windows) (Duplexing) for detailed instructions.

If you have followed the steps suggested and still having the issue, I would suggest this could be due to security settings changed on the User profile.

You may either create a new user, login with the new user profile to install the printer or Turn off the UAC from the control panel and Restart the PC. 

Here are the steps to configure UAC settings: 

Open User Account Control Settings by clicking the Start button and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type uac, and then click Change User Account Control settings. 

To turn off UAC, move the slider to the Never notify position, and then click OK.  

if you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. You will need to restart your computer for UAC to be turned off. 

Let me know how that pans out,

Feel free to post your query for any other assistance as well,

It's been a pleasure interacting with you and I hope you have a good day ahead.

If you wish to show appreciation for my efforts, mark my post as Accepted Solution.

And click on the Purple Thumbs up icon at the bottom of my comment.

Regards,

[kiwiarnold]

I have done pretty much all the steps you described, however, the printing preferences panel still shows "Print on Both Sides Manually" above the Flip options dropbox. Note it says "manually" not "automatic". This happens even after setting the printer properties to have Automatic Duplex Printing "installed". Later on, it switches back to "not installed" on its own.

This is getting very annoying and I do not want to redo all the uninstalling and reinstalling unless I know there is a proper fix to this problem. This happened after a recent Windows Update. 

[Betty0610]

@kiwiarnold

Welcome to the HP Support Community.

Let's try using the built-in drivers: https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/c01796879

Let me know if this helps.

If the information I've provided was helpful, give us some reinforcement by clicking the Accepted Solution button, that'll help us and others see that we've got the answers!

Thanks!