Below are the steps that I use when installing a HP LaserJet Printer, MFP, or copier on a Windows PCs. Following these steps will ensure that you do not have issues printing and controlling the printer.

As easy as it may seem, installing a printer on a Windows PC may be tricky. Most seem to get this wrong. If you go through the Windows Settings à Devices à Printers and Scanners and add a printer from there, you will often find that the printer does not get installed properly. Windows will typically install the printer with a WSD Port and use the Microsoft IPP Driver. This causes big issues with the HP Print devices.

We constantly get support calls on printers where the print jobs are not coming out or taking a long time to print or the printer is showing as offline. Another big support call issue is that they cannot select trays or print in color. After checking a couple of things, we find that the printer was not installed properly and has the wrong print driver, wrong port, or both are wrong.

HP recommends using the HP Universal Print Driver. In most cases this is the best driver to use and can be used for all your HP Print Devices. However, there are some issues with using the HP Universal Print Driver and the security in some domain environments. The print driver will look like it installed properly, but the domain security prevents 2 services from being installed. This causes your printer to be setup incorrectly. See my blog post about this issue for full details.

Security may Prevent HP Universal Print Driver from installing correctly

An easy way to tell if the universal print driver has this issue, after installing the Universal Print Driver go to the device settings tab of printer’s properties page and change the Automatic Configuration from Off to Update Now.

If you get the following error, then you will need to manually set all the printer settings on the Device Settings Tab or you can use the device specific discrete driver described in Method 2 below.

Method 1 – Installing the Universal Print Driver

1. Download the HP Universal Print Driver by going to the following website.

http://hp.com/go/upd

2. Choose the PCL 6 driver that is appropriate for your operating system and download it to your PC. In some cases, there may be a specific need for a Postscript driver, choose that one if required.

3. Open the file and click Unzip. When the file finishes upzipping, it will automatically run the install program.

4. When the Install wizard starts, click Yes to accept the End User License Agreement.
5. Choose Traditional Mode and click Next.
6. Choose Add a printer using TPP/IP Address and click Next.
7. Next you will be prompted for the IP Address of the printer. Enter the IP Address of the printer. The Port Name is automatically generated. Check the Query the Printer and click Next.

The most important part on this window is making sure you change the Device Type from Automatically detect to TCP/IP Device. Failure to change this will usually result in a WSD port.

8. If you have installed the universal print driver in the past, choose Replace the Driver to make sure you have the latest driver installed. If you have never installed the Universal print Driver, you will not get this screen.

9. Enter in the Name of the Printer. Use a meaningful name so you know which printer is which if you have several printers installed on the PC.
10. Choose Do Not Share and click Next
11. Print a Test Page and then Finish when test Page prints..

12. You will get a final screen showing whether the device was successfully installed.

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Method 2 – Installing the Device Specific Discrete Driver

1. The first thing you will need to do is download the device specific discrete print driver. Go to hp.com and hover your mouse over the Support menu at the top. A menu pop down. Select Software & Drivers.
2. On the next screen click on Printer.

3. Type the model of your printer and click submit. If you see your model pop up as you are typing, you can also click on it from there.
4. Click the plus sign in front of Driver–Product Installation Software to expand that section. Then click the plus sign in front of Basic Drivers to expand that section. Choose either the PCL 6 V4 version or the Postscript version depending on what you need. The majority of the time, you will use the PCL 6 version unless there is a specific need for postscript. Download the driver and run the installer.
   
   
5. The installer is only the print driver will extract the files to a folder on the C: drive. Be sure to record this location for later.

6. Next, open the Control Panel. You can start typing the word Control in the Windows Search box and click on Control Panel when it shows up.

7. If your screen looks as below, check the Category to Small Icons
8. Next, click on Devices and Printers
9. Click Add a Print from the menu at the top.
10. When the Add a Printer wizard opens, choose The printer that I want isn’t listed.

11. On the next screen, choose Add a printer using a TCP/IP address or hostname.
12. Next you will be prompted for the IP Address of the printer. Enter the IP Address of the printer. The Port Name is automatically generated. Check the Query the Printer and click Next.

The most important part on this window is making sure you change the Device Type from Automatically detect to TCP/IP Device. Failure to change this will usually result in a WSD port.

13. Choose Have Disk when you get to this screen.

14.Click Browse.

15. Browse to the place where the driver was extracted.

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16. Choose any of the INF files. It usually does not matter. I usually choose the first one on the list.

17. Clock OK

18. Choose Device Specific Discrete Print Driver and then click Next

19. If you get this screen, choose replace driver and then next to ensure you have the most up to date driver.
20. Enter in the Name of the Printer. Use a meaningful name so you know which printer is which if you have several printers.
21. Choose Do not Share and click Next.
22. Print a Test Page and then Finish when Test Page prints.