HP Solution Center does not work

[Aardvark21]

Wstack, have now resolved issue, thanks to CQZ, as well for his very informative and helpful post! Many Thanks guys!

[JRBC]

If you still want to use the HP Solution Center, the process can be automated with a batch file (provided that you have an older version of Flash installed). Create a batch file that saves the current date, changes to a date before Flash was discontinued, starts HP Solution Center, waits a couple of seconds for the app to open (2 seconds was enough on my machine), and then changes the date back to the current date. These are the commands in my batch file:

REM Save today's date
SET TODAY=%date:~4,2%-%date:~7,2%-%date:~10,4%
REM Set date back to an older date
DATE 01-11-2021
REM Start HP Solution Center
Start "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\Hpqdirec.exe"
REM Wait 2 Seconds
Timeout 2
REM Change date back to today's date
DATE %TODAY%

I named my batch file RunHPSC.bat -- To run the file, right click and 'run as administrator'

To make it easier. I created a shortcut to the batch file on my Desktop and set the shortcut to 'Run as administrator' -- Right click to open 'Properties' then click 'Advanced'  in the 'Shortcut' tab and check the 'Run as administrator' box.

[pacofonix]

Great solution, @Wstack! I had to do a few more tricks to make your solution work. I own a HP Scanjet G2710 scanner (not a printer), which I couldn't find in the registry path @Wstack described. I really wanted to keep using hpqkygrp.exe to scan because it is the only software that works with TMA (I tested all the HP and Windows alternatives without any success on this feature), but without the correct parameters, launching it defaults to 200ppp, which is very low for films.

I tried to reproduce all the steps but got stuck on the P&SDoctor, as it didn't show any of the G2710 software or hardware (got stuck for hours "Searching for products" when hit "My product is not in the list" and "Retry"). So, I had two options to make HP Solution Center work again to analyse the hpqkygrp.exe  command line with Process Explorer: change the date using a .bat file like the one @JRBC wrote, or using a tool like FlashPatch (https://github.com/darktohka/FlashPatch/releases/latest) which removes the Adobe Flash Player timebomb.

Both solutions are as temporary as Adobe and/or Microsoft want, given that they could totally remove Adobe Flash Player at some point for security reasons. I went applying FlashPatch because it avoids modifying the whole system time setting.

Then, I got HP Solution Center working again and, for a future proof solution, obtained the command line for all buttons HP Solution Center shows, which I will paste here:

Scan picture:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqkygrp.exe"  -n"#Hewlett-Packard#HP Scanjet G2710#CN06SA50JY0530" -a"SCAN" -f"SCAN_BUTTON" -g"{D3C1F512-3E0E-4c70-852F-38FB5391E553}"

Scan Document:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqkygrp.exe"  -n"#Hewlett-Packard#HP Scanjet G2710#CN06SA50JY0530" -a"SCAN" -f"SCAN_BUTTON" -g"{B2AE3C8F-0525-4180-AC33-147528EBA82F}"

Scan film:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqkygrp.exe"  -n"#Hewlett-Packard#HP Scanjet G2710#CN06SA50JY0530" -a"SCAN" -f"SCAN_BUTTON" -g"{01E50C64-AF50-4ec5-93AA-F0BF50944B33}"

Make copies:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqkygrp.exe" -n"#Hewlett-Packard#HP Scanjet G2710#CN06SA50JY0530" -a"SCAN" -f"COPY"

Scanning settings:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqkygrp.exe"  -n"#Hewlett-Packard#HP Scanjet G2710#CN06SA50JY0530" -aSETTINGS -fSCAN_PREFERENCES

Buttons settings:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqkygrp.exe"  -n"#Hewlett-Packard#HP Scanjet G2710#CN06SA50JY0530" -aSETTINGS -fSCAN_BUTTON

I found in my registry a key "CurrentDeviceNew" containing my scanner ID "CN06SA50JY0530" in "\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Hewlett-Packard\DigitalImaging\Director" . Also in "CueDeviceID" in several places:

"\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{6bdd1fc6-810f-11d0-bec7-08002be2092f}\0000\DeviceData"

"\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{6bdd1fc6-810f-11d0-bec7-08002be2092f}\0000\DeviceData"

"\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\Upgrade\PnP\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceMigration\Devices\USB\VID_03F0&PID_2805\CN06SA50JY0530\Driver\DeviceData"

So, if anyone knows more about this, I will be glad to test. I would like to make this fix as general as possible, given that it looks like different devices store their ID in different registry locations.

[Wed92]

I had the same problem. I have  canceled "Flash player" and downloaded "HP scan and capture". Now I can scan again.
I found "HP scan and capture" in "Microsoft Store"

[MojoCuba]

well alright,

thanks for the suggestions. i managed to formulate this option where HP solution center works, and at same time windows doesnt have flash installed. all the while you can still have flash on chrome opera etc (anything but microsoft browsers)

here goes

1) download the adobe flash uninstaller

2) restart

3) make sure solution center shows error : "flash not installed"

4) install this manually :

flashplayer32_0r0_344_winax.exe  <-- make sure to tick "do not update automatically"

5) uninstall all of solution center

6) restart

6* make sure the folders "c:\windows\system32\macromed\flash & c:\windows\syswow64\macromed\flash"

contain the "FlashUtil64_32_0_0_344_pepper" files 

7) re-install solution center

and then it will work

and voila

* for flash with other browsers, just download and install ONLY the respective installer 

[Dave_Burton]

The main problem with HP Scan and Capture is that it doesn't do OCR.

I made a little program to implement Wstack's solution. You may download it here:

https://geeksalive.com/no_solution_center.zip

Just unpack it somewhere and run the enclosed no_solution_center.bat script.  It does three things:

1. Runs a little Perl program to examine the Windows registry, and figure out how to run the HP Scanning tool, per Wstack's instructions.

2. Creates another file, called  no_solution_center_cmd.bat  which contains the needed command.

3. Runs the newly-created  no_solution_center_cmd.bat  script to start the HP Scanning tool.

Currently, it doesn't know how to look up the needed SoftwareCUEContextID info for scanners, only for all-in-one printers. If someone can tell me how to query the registry to find the same info for scanners, I can add that to the little Perl program which does the work. (Or if you make that improvement to my program, please let me know!)

[NYgnat]

Just remember to set date back as soon as Solution Center loads.

[Dave_Burton]

Wed92 wrote, "Too difficult for me, no chance."

Not anymore, Wed92. I wrote a little program ("no_solution_center") to make it easy. Just download the program, unzip it into a folder, and run it.  It does the registry lookups etc. to make it easy to implement Wstack's solution, giving us back complete scanning functionality, including resolution selection, multipage documents, and OCR (unlike HP's sorry "Scan and Capture" tool):

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printer-Setup-Software-Drivers/HP-Solution-Center-Not-Working-probably...

[Dave_Burton]

Hi Pacofonix,

My program currently finds the All-In-One printer's "SoftwareCUEContextID" by the following steps:

1. REG QUERY "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Print\Printers"
That enumerates the printers.

2. Look through the list of printers for those with "HP" in the name; ignore the rest.

3. For each HP printer, look under PrinterDriverData and find the SoftwareCUEContextID entry, e.g.:
REG QUERY "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Print\Printers\HP Officejet 6500 E709n Series\PrinterDriverData" /v SoftwareCUEContextID

Then it just builds a command line, to run hpqkygrp.exe for the last printer found with a SoftwareCUEContextID (in my case there's only one). For your ScanJet that command would be:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqkygrp.exe" -n"#Hewlett-Packard#HP Scanjet G2710#CN06SA50JY0530" -aSCAN -fSCAN_DOCUMENT

(I should probably let you select between devices, if there's more than one, but it currently doesn't do that.)

So, my question for you is what are the equivalent steps to find the SoftwareCUEContextID for your ScanJet?

To start with, are the scanners listed under "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Print\Printers", or are they listed somewhere else?

If you can send me the relevant registry entries (exported via regedit) then I should be able to easily add the ability to handle ScanJet scanners to my program.

Regards,
Dave

[pacofonix]

Hi Dave.

I simply used Process Explorer after installing FlashPatch and got the commands for all HP Solution Center buttons. That's what I pasted in my previous reply in case anyone finds useful all accepted arguments.

And no, I don't have any device listed in "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Print\Printers". At the end of my previous reply I pasted all registry paths in which `regedit` found the ID I got using Process Explorer. I guess that "\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Hewlett-Packard\DigitalImaging\Director" is the most generic one (value "CurrentDeviceNew").

Regards