Vista - Printer driver list empty

Hi,

No, this is not a standard "there is no driver for my printer" issue.

We have a network printer. HP have no driver for it, stating that the
driver is built into Vista.

On three of our machines, we have installed this built in driver using
an IP port and it worked fine.

On one computer, when we get to the "add the printer driver" screen,
we don't see a list of manufacturers and printers.

We see one single driver, the HP Photosmart printer driver which was
installed earlier. We have the "Have disk" and "Windows Update"
options. Tried "Have Disk" and pointed at c:\windows\inf and still
only saw the same Photosmart driver.

Tried uninstalling the Photosmart driver, and then, we only see "no
drivers found" show up in this screen. I can't seem to make it point
in the direction of the built in Vista driver. Any assistance
appreciated.

"jsmall@visinet.com.au" wrote:


> On one computer, when we get to the "add the printer driver" screen,
> we don't see a list of manufacturers and printers.
>
> We see one single driver, the HP Photosmart printer driver which was
> installed earlier. We have the "Have disk" and "Windows Update"
> options. Tried "Have Disk" and pointed at c:\windows\inf and still
> only saw the same Photosmart driver.
>
> Tried uninstalling the Photosmart driver, and then, we only see "no
> drivers found" show up in this screen. I can't seem to make it point
> in the direction of the built in Vista driver. Any assistance
> appreciated.

Same here after trying to install a crappy HP driver (Universal Printer).
Any hints greatly appreciated.

Bye

Marc

I have some mail out to the developer on this?

in the mean time point to
\windows\system32\driverstore\filerepository\prn??????.inf

???? is a two letter description for the manufacture.



--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"viersich" <viersich@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8EFD3A59-E39E-45B9-95B5-6CA5BCACB0CE@microsoft.com...
> "jsmall@visinet.com.au" wrote:
>
>
>> On one computer, when we get to the "add the printer driver" screen,
>> we don't see a list of manufacturers and printers.
>>
>> We see one single driver, the HP Photosmart printer driver which was
>> installed earlier. We have the "Have disk" and "Windows Update"
>> options. Tried "Have Disk" and pointed at c:\windows\inf and still
>> only saw the same Photosmart driver.
>>
>> Tried uninstalling the Photosmart driver, and then, we only see "no
>> drivers found" show up in this screen. I can't seem to make it point
>> in the direction of the built in Vista driver. Any assistance
>> appreciated.
>
> Same here after trying to install a crappy HP driver (Universal Printer).
> Any hints greatly appreciated.
>
> Bye
>
> Marc

Hi!

"Alan Morris [MSFT]" wrote:

> I have some mail out to the developer on this?

Ok, lets see what they say.

> in the mean time point to
> \windows\system32\driverstore\filerepository\prn??????.inf
>
> ???? is a two letter description for the manufacture.

Cool, thanks, works.

Bye

Marc

Hi.

> in the mean time point to
> \windows\system32\driverstore\filerepository\prn??????.inf
>
> ???? is a two letter description for the manufacture.

Ok, correction: does NOT work. Vista says (I have to translate from
German):"Main driver packet not found"

Bye

Marc

do you have a restore point prior to the HP driver installation?

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"viersich" <viersich@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7700DEC8-056C-46A6-AA9F-5E4D673916E7@microsoft.com...
> Hi.
>
>> in the mean time point to
>> \windows\system32\driverstore\filerepository\prn??????.inf
>>
>> ???? is a two letter description for the manufacture.
>
> Ok, correction: does NOT work. Vista says (I have to translate from
> German):"Main driver packet not found"
>
> Bye
>
> Marc

Hi.

"Alan Morris [MSFT]" wrote:

> do you have a restore point prior to the HP driver installation?

This was also my first thought. But unfortunately I don't.

Bye Marc

development wondered if there are any prn* or ntprint* directories under the
\filerepository directory.

thanks

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"viersich" <viersich@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0BBC33E5-1B3A-4F2B-9721-34F48C24A575@microsoft.com...
> Hi.
>
> "Alan Morris [MSFT]" wrote:
>
>> do you have a restore point prior to the HP driver installation?
>
> This was also my first thought. But unfortunately I don't.
>
> Bye Marc

Hi.

"Alan Morris [MSFT]" wrote:

> development wondered if there are any prn* or ntprint* directories under the
> \filerepository directory.

There are many (not empty)

42 "prnxxx"-directories and "ntprint.inf_a6d3ccdf".

Bye Marc

Please take a look at the %systemroot%\inf\setupapi.dev.log and
setupapi.app.log. Errors are marked with a "!!!".




--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"viersich" <viersich@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E9F1ABF0-98AC-44B1-9AD3-2A58A00EDB50@microsoft.com...
> Hi.
>
> "Alan Morris [MSFT]" wrote:
>
>> development wondered if there are any prn* or ntprint* directories under
>> the
>> \filerepository directory.
>
> There are many (not empty)
>
> 42 "prnxxx"-directories and "ntprint.inf_a6d3ccdf".
>
> Bye Marc