New HP Universal Print Driver solves Vista Printing Problems for LaserJets

[#1]

Update: I have tried to address many of these questions in my most recent post: Universal Print Driv...

People who have adopted or are considering using Microsoft Windows Vista are trying to determine whether their printers are supported. While I touched on this subject in a previous blog, Universal Adoption of Vista and Office 2007, I believe that people now want to know whether the printers they already have in-use or are considering are currently supported with Vista print drivers (and, if not, when they will be).

The great news is that the new HP Universal Print Driver 3.1 for Windows takes care of the headaches involved with deploying Microsoft Windows Vista print drivers throughout your organization! To download the free Universal Print Driver software (UPD 3.1), click here. This means that every HP device supported by UPD 3.1 will have a single easily deployable print driver that works within the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system.

You can verify whether your particular LaserJet is supported within UPD 3.1 by visiting this site. At last count there were 74 different LaserJet series devices supported by UPD, so there’s a high likelihood your's is supported by UPD 3.1. The primary benefits of using the HP Universal Print Driver still apply to UPD 3.1. Beyond working with Vista, you’ll find that adopting UPD 3.1 will:

• Make Printing Easier—providing one driver and one interface for users, improving satisfaction with the printing process and making it easier to print to almost any HP LaserJet in the office or on the road


• 
  
Save Time for IT departments—by freeing up staff, enabling broad device compatibility and helping to control color usage

• 
  
Reduce calls to the help desk and support—with real time print job, device and supplies status, end users can print without assistance

UPD 3.1 also supports Microsoft Windows--XP, XP Professional x64, 2000; 2003 Server (32/64 bit); Terminal Services and Citrix Presentation Server Environments. Installation of UPD 3.1 on any Windows PC is rather easy. A download and a few clicks will enable people to print to almost every HP printing device with HP PCL6, HP PCL5 or HP postscript level 2 and 3 emulation.

This is a lot easier than searching for whether your printer has a specific Vista driver available and downloading, testing and certifying a separate driver for each device you have. Adopting UPD 3.1 is much more streamlined than this legacy process!

For the enterprise, the HP UPD 3.1 supports tools that enable IT administrators to assign individual, group and job attributes. The HP Managed Printing Administrator or Active Directory templates allow IT administrators to easily define printing and device discovery privileges for users. You can manage printing by users or user group by identifying which printers they can use based on location or features, or who can print in color.

UPD 3.1 remains an excellent tool for business users to easily print to virtually any HP printing device with a few clicks, which is also especially advantageous for mobile users. IT staff can configure and designate printers for simple access by corporate and mobile users using the Managed Print Administration tool or Active Directory templates.

I know that this Windows Vista print driver picture has been stressful and I hope this clears up the confusion, at least for HP LaserJets. It will be interesting to see how quickly people adopt UPD 3.1, relative to Help Desk calls on Vista.

Feel free to leave me a comment on your experience with printing within Vista and how UPD 3.1 helped with this process . . .

[#2]

I understand that this will work with laser printers. How about for inkjet printers? Do you have a list of printers that will work with Windows Vista now?

[#3]

Thanks for your comment! To determine whether your HP inkjet has a print driver within Vista, as well as the process for activating, please visit this site: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?docname=c00868762&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

Best regards,

Vince

[#4]

What are we supposed to do if our brand new Laserjet Printer P2015 is not on the list for the new Universal Print Driver?

[#5]

Searching for the above mentioned HP Managed Printing Administrator installation file to download. On itrc.hp.com there is a similar question posted many months ago, but without answer or any explanation why it cannot be found by searching the HP web site. Search only gives several documents, among them the Service Administration Guide. This guide mentions HPMPAINSTALL.MSI to download from www.hp.com. But from what part of the HP web site? An accurate link would be helpful.

[#6]

Downloaded all 3 UDP drivers and I have had issue's sharing a laserjet on a network. The HP is attached to a XP Home machine and am trying to print to it with a Vista machine. Seems to be a common problem with no easy answer. Got one? When I go to the sharing tab for the HP LaserJet there is no listing for Vista under Additional Drivers. It only shows XP and 2000. How do I know the drivers were installed correctly? I tried using the driver update tool on the Laserjet page and it hangs.

[#7]

Just wandering if anybody is having problem. I am trying to use the UPD 3.1 in Vista for HP LJ 4100 and 4050. (Have not tried anything else yet)

Whenever I try to open the printer properties, it crashes Windows Explorer! I am able to open the printing preferences without a problem.

Does anybody knows if this is a problem with the driver or my installation of Vista?

FYI. I am using Vista Ent.

Thanks.

GT

[#8]

Has a driver been created to allow scanning as well? I have been able to print, but not scan on my HP LaserJet 3390.

Any suggestions to solve this problem?

[#9]

I do not see the HP 7410 printer on the list of printers supported by the new driver. The driver loaded by Vista for this printer provides only rudimentary functions, defective duplexing, and no support for fax or scanning that I can determine. I cannot understand why you do not have an appropriate driver since Vista has been available since 11/06.

[#10]

It appears that this driver soes not support the HP 7410 printer. The driver loaded by Vista does not appear to support proper duplexing, scanning, faxing from the computer and other important functions. When will a fully functioning driver be available? Vista has been out since 11/06.

[#11]

Hmm... Tried installing the drivers (PCL 6 and PS) on my Toshiba Laptop (Vista Business) - no problem. Managed to connect to my HP Color Laserjet 2840 - no problem. However, when I try to view the properties of the printer, the driver crashes Windows Explorer! Big problem

Oh well, back to the drawing board.

[#12]

I have a Photosmart2700 and according to the HP web site there are no VISTA drivers available? The printer is using a wireless network connection, and I have used the instructions available to make a printer definition. The definition looks correct, and it looks like the print is being sent to the printer, but it never actually gets there? Any suggestions?

[#13]

I really appreciate that you're commenting on this important subject. I have some people working on answers and will get back to you as soon as possible. -Vince

[#14]

Part of the problem that I'm having is that Vista does not want to "see" the LPT port I've installed (the PC does not come with one installed). Even when I can get it to do that, it will then not see the printer, my Laserjet 2100m. I'm running this, by the way, in a compaq 2180NX.

One other think I'd love is a list of HP printers that support Postscript. Thanks for you opinion on this.

Bob K

[#15]

The driver for my Laserjet 3015 all-in-one installed automatically in Vista. However, the HP software to control the machine settings no longer works so I can no longer control settings via my computer nor receive faxes to the computer. Will any updates of this software be posted?

[#16]

Yes but it does absolutely nothing for the scanner and fax functions with my 2840. Tech supports says "maybe July" but that's a long time to let a couple of hundred documents per day pile up unscanned and unstored!

I guess, if you were so inclined, you could say my 2840 is a very large, very expensive paperweight!

[#17]

Dear Mr. Ferraro -

I am extremely disappointed and surprised that HP is not developing VISTA drivers for the PHOTOSMART ink jet range. Was surprised that these drivers weren't incorporated directly into VISTA, as were MANY HP drivers, some for MUCH older models. The Photosmart range was extremely popular and were very capable/quality printers. I'm certain there are still tens/hundreds(s)(?) of thousands of these still in use. Even if HP developed a generic color/photo driver that still allowed you to use the printers in VISTA (even if it was missing some "extra" features), would at least be a reasonable effort to take care of your long-term customers. Abandoning these customers (and the thousands and thousands of printers still in good working order), just for getting with the times and upgrading to a state-of-the-art OS, is simply wasteful (to the environment) and neglectful (to your customers). Requiring customers (or even suggesting) that they need to purchase a new printer (on top of everything else), just because they upgraded their OS is not good customer service. I sincerely hope HP reconsiders their decision not to support the Photosmart series in Vista. I personally am looking forward to a PHOTOSMART P1100 driver. Let me know if you can look into this.

For the time being, is there a work-around for the P1100 in VISTA (XP Driver with installation tweaks) or different HP color inkjet emulation? Thank you.

[#18]

Purchased new HP machine with MS Vista; machine does not have parallel port to attach HP LaserJet 4. This may be a common problem for new machines lacking a parallel port.

Does HP offer a parallel to USB cable adapter (with drivers) for MS Vista?

[#19]

I downloaded and installed the PCL5 universal driver and have lost the duplexing capability on my laserjet 1320! The reason I bought this printer was for the duplexing ability!

[#20]

This is probably a stupid question, but how do I tell my printer to look for this new universal driver? I downloaded the file and unzipped it. But when I go to my printer's Properties page and click the driver, I get a Windows Explorer error that reads, "Function address 0x6a0da5aa caused a protection fault. (exception code 0xc0000005) Some or all property page(s) may not be displayed." I copied the .cab files to my C:\HP\DRIVERS folder but will my printer find them there? It's a duplex printer (HP 2420dn) and the problem is it doesn't offer duplex printing as an option. Thanks for your help.

[#21]

If you're looking for more specific responses to these comments, please visit my follow-on blog, "Laser Printing Problems using Microsoft Office Vista" at http://h20325.www2.hp.com/blogs/laserjet/archive/2007/03/15/2761.html

[#22]

Does anyone have any idea when HP is going to come out with a driver for Vista that works for the 7410? I use duplex printing all the time in my business but since Vista the back page always prints upside down.

Thanks.

[#23]

Is there any update on the 3390 scanning/fax solution???

[#24]

I am getting errors trying to use the UPD for LJ 4610n and LJ 4700. The error is "an unsupported HP print device". Both of these devices are on the supported list. Our network addresses printers directly through DNS without print servers. Any resolution to this, or am I doing something incorrect? Thank you.

[#25]

HP LaserJet M1005 MFP series vista driver help? direckt link

[#26]

I am getting Event ID 6161 when I try to print on HP 2840 AiO printer. Connection is USB. Port is DOT4, disabled the bidirectional support, restarted the print spooler service. not able to print the test page also. Cable length 1.8m.

[#27]

This post provides a half truth at best. The UPD provides printing services only, which means it does not support scanning functions on a multifunction device.

So far as I can tell, it only supports monochrome printing, too. While all of the right dialog boxes are there to handle color, at least on my HP 2840 all of the output is black toner only.

So the UPD is a stopgap only so far as Vista is concerned. I sincerely hope HP hasn't put its Vista drivers on the back burner figuring this lets it off the hook.

[#28]

HP 2550LN with Vista and Office 2007 using either UPD 3 OR 4 is frankly a nightmare. Files printed explode from a saved file size of some 4mb to a print size of 64mb and then the printer screams for more memory. The identical file printed to the same printer using Windows XP and Office 2003 prints at some 4.5mb in print size. This may not be HP's fault but someone from HP needs to tackle this with Microsoft. Finally, the UPD 4 PCL driver for this printer although indicating color only appears to print in BW. What is going on ?

[#29]

Dear Mr. Ferraro,
I realize this discussion is about LaserJet issues but have not found anywhere to go to discuss issues with Photosmart printers. I have a Photosmart D7360 that I bought in March specifically because I wanted a printer that would do duplex printing with Vista. My previous HP printer was not supported for this feature in Vista. So, imagine my chagrin (read consternation) when I found that my new HP printer with the duplexer attachment would not duplex automatically in Vista. I have talked with tech support many times about this and keep getting told that a driver update will be forthcoming to resolve this problem. In the meantime I am relegated to manually turning and reinserting paper to get duplex printing accomplished.

WHEN??? I am rapidly losing faith in HP and its interest in customer satisfaction. Does HP really have any intention of updating the driver for this printer so that I can use all the advertised features? I am on the verge of selling my printer to anyone who does not need duplex printing and purchasing any printer NOT made by HP that would duplex successfully with Vista.

If there is another blog where I can find answers, please tell me.
Chris Smith (princesofmaine@wildmoo.net)

[#30]

When will the M1005 MFP printer be supported by your universal driver? Thanks
Roland

[#31]

Dear all,

I have a Konica Minolta bizhub C350 (peerless controller) in my office, my question is, will this Universal Printer Driver work for this machine?

[#32]

I am running XP and have a 2550L color laserjet. After installing the HP-UPD4_1-PCL6-32, it is not printing in color, but only black and white..HOw do I fix this problem?

Krishnan

[#33]

I've recently updated to the UPD and my pc still reboots after sending a print job. It did print the test print after the initial installation of the driver, however, any subsequent jobs cause it to reboot. I'm using an HP Color Laserjet 4600dn. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[#34]

I need a driver for my D145 that fully supports all the functions I had when using the printer with XP. The Vista driver HP supplied is very poor.
If HP will not fully support this fine printer in Vista why would I want to replace it with a newer HP model?

[#35]

Dear Vince,

There is a problem with one of the driver files on the HP website. When you try to download 32 bits universal printer driver pcl5 for Windows 2003 (version 4.1 july 30 2007, size 17MB)than the download does not start. Is the file corrupt or the weblink incorrect?
Thanks Danny

[#36]

It seems is now November 2007 and there has been no response on solving the scanning/fax problem with the LaserJet 3390 and Vista!

I may just pack this one up and look fo ranother solution (not HP)

[#37]

I had previously posted about the Vista software
for the 3390 but it would seem the download site has software and that the easy care now works for my 3390 in Vista! That's great.
hp_LJ3050-3052-3055-3390-3392_Full_Solution_AMWE.exe
I never received notification as I was signed up to get and last I was told that easy care only worked on networked 3390s to tell toner left etc. I'm glad I took a peak.

[#38]

Radio Shack sells a parallel cable that will work with Vista. I think that it works better than using the parallel connection with XP.

[#39]

I put a link to this blog on the Laserjet 2840 Vista problems forum and HP keeps deleting the link. Does HP have a problem in letting its users compare old blogs to their current support problems?

[#40]

For anyone seeking info... I was able to use the PCL6 universal driver for my P2015.  Works great.

[#41]

True............................

[#42]

The comment by dcbedford above relating to printer drivers for d145 that provides all the previous functions in XP does not seem to have had a response.  I am having problems printing photos in "Best" mode.  The printer simply does not get the print instruction.  It prints fine in "Normal" and "Draft" modes.  Any ideas?