Printing from Office now demands deskjet selection

I have Windows XP SP2 and MOS 2003 SP1 on this box with an HPLJ 1200 printer.

I have an HPLJ 1200 PCL which normally shows up as selected when I print from Windows or Office documents. Lately, however, it prints fine in Windows with a selection of the HPLJ 1200. When I first had the problem printing in Office, I updated the driver two weeks ago, and interestingly when I updated the driver there seemed to be no problem printing from Windows or Office. I also found it would only do this when I updated it by showing the printer in View as a hidden item and using a different wizard from Device Manager. I was told that you can't update the driver from device manager, but in fact you absolutely can if you show hidden devices. From ViewShow Hidden Devices, the printer and a number of items appear and I used that wizard because it was the only way I could make Office print then. Now to print documents from MOS 03 I have to select a printer (the deskjet) that doesn't exist from the print dialogue box after hitting FilePrint. I don't have to actually default the Desk Jet although maybe I should default the selection of the printer I don't really have.


AT HP's site, there isn't a newer driver than several posted there in May, 2003 over a year ago and in searching I accidentally must have downloaded a deskjet driver creating the deskjet entry. I have noticed that if I default the deskjet I don't have that shows up as a selection, the LJ I do have will print fine from Windows or Office.

Would appreciate any help. What's the question?? Why do I have to select the entry of the printer I don't really have when printing from Office but not Windows?

Tia,

Chad Harris

I would delete any and all printer drivers that are listed for the printer
in any location; restore the system to a date before the oddities started
(I'm a belt-and-suspenders sort of guy); Install the latest driver for the
printer in accordance with the instructions. Then, select it as default and
try printing from Word and other applications.

Let us know.

Tom
MSMVP-DTS

"Chad Harris" wrote in message
...
I have Windows XP SP2 and MOS 2003 SP1 on this box with an HPLJ 1200
printer.

I have an HPLJ 1200 PCL which normally shows up as selected when I print
from Windows or Office documents. Lately, however, it prints fine in
Windows with a selection of the HPLJ 1200. When I first had the problem
printing in Office, I updated the driver two weeks ago, and interestingly
when I updated the driver there seemed to be no problem printing from
Windows or Office. I also found it would only do this when I updated it by
showing the printer in View as a hidden item and using a different wizard
from Device Manager. I was told that you can't update the driver from
device manager, but in fact you absolutely can if you show hidden devices.
From ViewShow Hidden Devices, the printer and a number of items appear and
I used that wizard because it was the only way I could make Office print
then. Now to print documents from MOS 03 I have to select a printer (the
deskjet) that doesn't exist from the print dialogue box after hitting
FilePrint. I don't have to actually default the Desk Jet although maybe I
should default the selection of the printer I don't really have.


AT HP's site, there isn't a newer driver than several posted there in May,
2003 over a year ago and in searching I accidentally must have downloaded a
deskjet driver creating the deskjet entry. I have noticed that if I default
the deskjet I don't have that shows up as a selection, the LJ I do have will
print fine from Windows or Office.

Would appreciate any help. What's the question?? Why do I have to select
the entry of the printer I don't really have when printing from Office but
not Windows?

Tia,

Chad Harris

The advice is sound good common sense advice, Tom, and I dragged your
response to a folder to save but I can remeber to nuke all the drivers and
start with a clean slate. It is odd behavior, and I'm not sure why I didn't
pay attention when I must have downloaded the deskjet driver from HP. A
couple of interesting things to me are that:

1) the HPLJ selection shows up whether printing from Office or Win XP so
something about Office--files, code needs the other printer selected and I'm
sure it's driver to be exact

2) That when I had some trouble a while back which stopped printing
altogether but I bet Office would have printed from the desk jet icon
selection, I raised these questions. One thing that interested me was I
discovered that I could only get the printing started by loading a driver
using a wizard that is slightly different from showing hidden devices in
Device Manager. People told me there was no such thing, and I can
appreciate why they would say that but there was and what interested me was
when I ran the somewhat different Wizard from Device Manager--take a look,
the printing started right up again.

I think if I'm going to figure the why out of this, I should search down
every driver I've downloaded with the time and take a close look at exactly
what driver is installed when and then nuke them.

If you have a minute to look at these questions, I'd appreciate your
response to any of them if you're inclined. No one answered it when I
posted it a month ago:

Running Win XP SP2 RC2 on a non-networked machine I recently had a problem
printing Word 2003 (MOS 2003) documents. They printed erratically (with
great delay or not at all and error messages that Word had not been
configure for the printer)--when it had never had a problem throughout the
Office Beta or on its release or with Word 2002 in Office XP before it since
it's release. I did all the troubleshooter and MSKB printer steps and
triple checked my cables and connections. I found I could not
download/install a printer from the HP or 3rd party driver site that would
work, nor could I use the Add Driver wizard reached by using "control
printer" from the Run Box to hit the Printers folder or by right clicking
the printerPropertiesAdvanced TabAdd Printer Button--the "Add Printer
Driver Wizard."

*The Wizard from Device Manager Fixed Printing; the Wizard from the Control
Panel Printer or Printers folder didn't.*

There was one place that worked--a place where many people say you can't add
a printer driver. It was the only place I got my printing back on track,
and the Wizard there has a different name. Go to Device
Manager"devmgmt.msc" in the run box or via System
PropertiesViewShow Hidden Devices. This is the place I suppose where
Device Manager deals with non-plug and play drivers.

Right click your printer and on that right click context menu you'll see the
fifth entry which is "Show Hidden Devices" and as a rule, 4 new entries will
appear on Device Manager. One will be printers and when you expand that and
right click your printer, the first entry will be "Update Driver"you will
get a *Hardware Update Wizard* witth the name of your specific to printeron
that Wizard,and different in name and for me functionality than anywizard
access via the Control Panel. I don't know how the "Add Printer Driver
Wizard" interacts with the internet, but I'd assume the same way as this
link says the "Hardware Update Wizard" interacts with the internet:

Using Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 1 in a Managed Environment:
Device Manager-- How Device Manager communicates with sites on the Internet
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...on123121120120


This MSKB I found later after I got fixed, provided some info on reaching
the printer from Device Manager but not *why that *wizard would have a
different (and successful functionality) over the other wizard*. The KB
talks about reaching hidden devices (26 for me as opposed to 22 non-hidden)
but doesn't talk about adding drivers.
You can reach the Wizard that helped me by showing hidden devices, and this
KB (315539) references this:

Device Manager Does Not Display Devices That Are Not Connected to the
Windows XP-Based Computer

http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;Q315539

This has raised some questions for me I hope someone can answer:

1) What was the intended difference of the two *different Wizards* and the
two different locations where they are found? One worked and another just
didn't.Was this just a fluke or does that *Update Hardware Wizard* specific
to my printer(s) work better than Windows Update or the Add Printer Driver
Wizard from the Advanced Tab of the printers folder (or the printer's
properties would have? It did in this case and I would assume they would
work the same. They didn't this time. The Add Printer Driver Wizard has
you select your make and model via two pull downs of course.

2) Is it recommended or necessary to uninstall the previous driver before
installing a new one in any device? Are different devices different in this
respect? My experience lately with printer drivers Invidia drivers, and
Logitech mouse drivers seems to be different than with sound card drivers.
Is there any rule to follow here? Could it differ by manufacturer of the
peripheral or the driver?

3) Why isn't there a *driver tab* in printer properties like every other
device in Device Manager? After all the Hardware Update Wizard accessed
from Device Manager obviously is interacting with the internet like the
dialogue boxes and buttons accessed from other hard

4) Why are any devices hidden in the first place in Device Manager,
including Printers?

5) Aren't drivers added by "plug and play" or drivers accessible by the OS
sometimes dated and less quality (generic) than some drivers from the
peripheral hardware manufacturer's site? I know about the HCL and KBs
describing it, but no one would expect MSFT to be able to plug and play and
update drivers for the many devices that exist. I imagine this is a
different situation from a printer that's not plug and play.

6) Somehow by mistake I installed an HP deskjet driver from the HP site
because I had trouble finding my driver on the site, and when I did download
and install the latest HP driver from their site it didn't work. I couldn't
print. If I try to delete the deskjet entry from the printer's folder by
right clicking, I get a message saying "This operation has been cancelled
due to restrictions on your computer. Contact the Adminstrator. I checked
the Security tab for the HP LJ 1200 andf found that every box is checked to
give me full privleges to Manage Printers as well as Documents including the
list after I click the Advance button and get to the Permissions tab. Do I
have to configure this further still using the other tabs on the Advanced
Security Settings dialogue box to be able to delete that entry.

7) Both the fictional desk jet driver I installed and the actual laser jet
driver point to the same port--Dot 4_001. They both test print fine.
What's the difference in the LP1, LP2, and LP3 ports and the Dot 4_100 ports
that they are pointing to by default? I didn't configure them there at
least knowingly.

8) Since my printer isn't a post-script printer, what are post-script fonts
and what's the significance of post script printers? Are these older
pritners and older corresponsing fonts?

Thanks,

Chad Harris
__________________________________________________ ________________________




"Thomas Ferguson" wrote in message
...
I would delete any and all printer drivers that are listed for the printer
in any location; restore the system to a date before the oddities started
(I'm a belt-and-suspenders sort of guy); Install the latest driver for the
printer in accordance with the instructions. Then, select it as default and
try printing from Word and other applications.

Let us know.

Tom
MSMVP-DTS

"Chad Harris" wrote in message
...
I have Windows XP SP2 and MOS 2003 SP1 on this box with an HPLJ 1200
printer.

I have an HPLJ 1200 PCL which normally shows up as selected when I print
from Windows or Office documents. Lately, however, it prints fine in
Windows with a selection of the HPLJ 1200. When I first had the problem
printing in Office, I updated the driver two weeks ago, and interestingly
when I updated the driver there seemed to be no problem printing from
Windows or Office. I also found it would only do this when I updated it
by showing the printer in View as a hidden item and using a different
wizard from Device Manager. I was told that you can't update the driver
from device manager, but in fact you absolutely can if you show hidden
devices. From ViewShow Hidden Devices, the printer and a number of items
appear and I used that wizard because it was the only way I could make
Office print then. Now to print documents from MOS 03 I have to select a
printer (the deskjet) that doesn't exist from the print dialogue box after
hitting FilePrint. I don't have to actually default the Desk Jet
although maybe I should default the selection of the printer I don't
really have.


AT HP's site, there isn't a newer driver than several posted there in May,
2003 over a year ago and in searching I accidentally must have downloaded
a deskjet driver creating the deskjet entry. I have noticed that if I
default the deskjet I don't have that shows up as a selection, the LJ I do
have will print fine from Windows or Office.

Would appreciate any help. What's the question?? Why do I have to
select the entry of the printer I don't really have when printing from
Office but not Windows?

Tia,

Chad Harris

I do not follow some of the details of what you wrote. Admittedly, I have
not been able to take the time to read it carefully and reflect. I'll have
another look at it all later tonight. Perhaps that and other matters will be
clearer to me after that.

In the meantime a couple of observations/comments, if I may.

I don't know how you came to have two listings for the printer. Sometimes it
comes about if a driver is installed (say from a CD that came with the
printer or DL from the maker's web site) and either does not properly
install (often because the install process does not complete for one reason
or other) or becomes corrupted. Windows will then install its own driver on
the next startup if it has one. Now, two printer instances are listed.
Usually only one will work but sometimes neither works.

It is possible to have two different drivers installed for the same printer
and have both working but that is another matter.

With your permission, I would like to forward your information to a couple
of other people for possible comment or suggestion. They might take quite
some time to answer as they are very busy.

Tom
MSMVP-DTS


"Chad Harris" wrote in message
...
The advice is sound good common sense advice, Tom, and I dragged your
response to a folder to save but I can remeber to nuke all the drivers and
start with a clean slate. It is odd behavior, and I'm not sure why I
didn't pay attention when I must have downloaded the deskjet driver from
HP. A couple of interesting things to me are that:

1) the HPLJ selection shows up whether printing from Office or Win XP so
something about Office--files, code needs the other printer selected and
I'm sure it's driver to be exact

2) That when I had some trouble a while back which stopped printing
altogether but I bet Office would have printed from the desk jet icon
selection, I raised these questions. One thing that interested me was I
discovered that I could only get the printing started by loading a driver
using a wizard that is slightly different from showing hidden devices in
Device Manager. People told me there was no such thing, and I can
appreciate why they would say that but there was and what interested me
was when I ran the somewhat different Wizard from Device Manager--take a
look, the printing started right up again.

I think if I'm going to figure the why out of this, I should search down
every driver I've downloaded with the time and take a close look at
exactly what driver is installed when and then nuke them.

If you have a minute to look at these questions, I'd appreciate your
response to any of them if you're inclined. No one answered it when I
posted it a month ago:

Running Win XP SP2 RC2 on a non-networked machine I recently had a problem
printing Word 2003 (MOS 2003) documents. They printed erratically (with
great delay or not at all and error messages that Word had not been
configure for the printer)--when it had never had a problem throughout the
Office Beta or on its release or with Word 2002 in Office XP before it
since
it's release. I did all the troubleshooter and MSKB printer steps and
triple checked my cables and connections. I found I could not
download/install a printer from the HP or 3rd party driver site that
would
work, nor could I use the Add Driver wizard reached by using "control
printer" from the Run Box to hit the Printers folder or by right clicking
the printerPropertiesAdvanced TabAdd Printer Button--the "Add Printer
Driver Wizard."

*The Wizard from Device Manager Fixed Printing; the Wizard from the
Control
Panel Printer or Printers folder didn't.*

There was one place that worked--a place where many people say you can't
add
a printer driver. It was the only place I got my printing back on track,
and the Wizard there has a different name. Go to Device
Manager"devmgmt.msc" in the run box or via System
PropertiesViewShow Hidden Devices. This is the place I suppose where
Device Manager deals with non-plug and play drivers.

Right click your printer and on that right click context menu you'll see
the
fifth entry which is "Show Hidden Devices" and as a rule, 4 new entries
will
appear on Device Manager. One will be printers and when you expand that
and
right click your printer, the first entry will be "Update Driver"you will
get a *Hardware Update Wizard* witth the name of your specific to
printeron
that Wizard,and different in name and for me functionality than anywizard
access via the Control Panel. I don't know how the "Add Printer Driver
Wizard" interacts with the internet, but I'd assume the same way as this
link says the "Hardware Update Wizard" interacts with the internet:

Using Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 1 in a Managed
Environment:
Device Manager-- How Device Manager communicates with sites on the
Internet
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...on123121120120


This MSKB I found later after I got fixed, provided some info on reaching
the printer from Device Manager but not *why that *wizard would have a
different (and successful functionality) over the other wizard*. The KB
talks about reaching hidden devices (26 for me as opposed to 22
non-hidden)
but doesn't talk about adding drivers.
You can reach the Wizard that helped me by showing hidden devices, and
this
KB (315539) references this:

Device Manager Does Not Display Devices That Are Not Connected to the
Windows XP-Based Computer

http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;Q315539

This has raised some questions for me I hope someone can answer:

1) What was the intended difference of the two *different Wizards* and the
two different locations where they are found? One worked and another just
didn't.Was this just a fluke or does that *Update Hardware Wizard*
specific
to my printer(s) work better than Windows Update or the Add Printer Driver
Wizard from the Advanced Tab of the printers folder (or the printer's
properties would have? It did in this case and I would assume they would
work the same. They didn't this time. The Add Printer Driver Wizard has
you select your make and model via two pull downs of course.

2) Is it recommended or necessary to uninstall the previous driver before
installing a new one in any device? Are different devices different in
this
respect? My experience lately with printer drivers Invidia drivers, and
Logitech mouse drivers seems to be different than with sound card drivers.
Is there any rule to follow here? Could it differ by manufacturer of the
peripheral or the driver?

3) Why isn't there a *driver tab* in printer properties like every other
device in Device Manager? After all the Hardware Update Wizard accessed
from Device Manager obviously is interacting with the internet like the
dialogue boxes and buttons accessed from other hard

4) Why are any devices hidden in the first place in Device Manager,
including Printers?

5) Aren't drivers added by "plug and play" or drivers accessible by the OS
sometimes dated and less quality (generic) than some drivers from the
peripheral hardware manufacturer's site? I know about the HCL and KBs
describing it, but no one would expect MSFT to be able to plug and play
and
update drivers for the many devices that exist. I imagine this is a
different situation from a printer that's not plug and play.

6) Somehow by mistake I installed an HP deskjet driver from the HP site
because I had trouble finding my driver on the site, and when I did
download
and install the latest HP driver from their site it didn't work. I
couldn't
print. If I try to delete the deskjet entry from the printer's folder by
right clicking, I get a message saying "This operation has been cancelled
due to restrictions on your computer. Contact the Adminstrator. I
checked
the Security tab for the HP LJ 1200 andf found that every box is checked
to
give me full privleges to Manage Printers as well as Documents including
the
list after I click the Advance button and get to the Permissions tab. Do
I
have to configure this further still using the other tabs on the Advanced
Security Settings dialogue box to be able to delete that entry.

7) Both the fictional desk jet driver I installed and the actual laser jet
driver point to the same port--Dot 4_001. They both test print fine.
What's the difference in the LP1, LP2, and LP3 ports and the Dot 4_100
ports
that they are pointing to by default? I didn't configure them there at
least knowingly.

8) Since my printer isn't a post-script printer, what are post-script
fonts
and what's the significance of post script printers? Are these older
pritners and older corresponsing fonts?

Thanks,

Chad Harris
__________________________________________________ ________________________




"Thomas Ferguson" wrote in message
...
I would delete any and all printer drivers that are listed for the printer
in any location; restore the system to a date before the oddities started
(I'm a belt-and-suspenders sort of guy); Install the latest driver for the
printer in accordance with the instructions. Then, select it as default
and try printing from Word and other applications.

Let us know.

Tom
MSMVP-DTS

"Chad Harris" wrote in message
...
I have Windows XP SP2 and MOS 2003 SP1 on this box with an HPLJ 1200
printer.

I have an HPLJ 1200 PCL which normally shows up as selected when I print
from Windows or Office documents. Lately, however, it prints fine in
Windows with a selection of the HPLJ 1200. When I first had the problem
printing in Office, I updated the driver two weeks ago, and interestingly
when I updated the driver there seemed to be no problem printing from
Windows or Office. I also found it would only do this when I updated it
by showing the printer in View as a hidden item and using a different
wizard from Device Manager. I was told that you can't update the driver
from device manager, but in fact you absolutely can if you show hidden
devices. From ViewShow Hidden Devices, the printer and a number of items
appear and I used that wizard because it was the only way I could make
Office print then. Now to print documents from MOS 03 I have to select
a printer (the deskjet) that doesn't exist from the print dialogue box
after hitting FilePrint. I don't have to actually default the Desk Jet
although maybe I should default the selection of the printer I don't
really have.


AT HP's site, there isn't a newer driver than several posted there in
May, 2003 over a year ago and in searching I accidentally must have
downloaded a deskjet driver creating the deskjet entry. I have noticed
that if I default the deskjet I don't have that shows up as a selection,
the LJ I do have will print fine from Windows or Office.

Would appreciate any help. What's the question?? Why do I have to
select the entry of the printer I don't really have when printing from
Office but not Windows?

Tia,

Chad Harris