Why can't Windows 10 install a simple HP LaserJet 2100m printer driver?

On Sun, 21 Aug 2016 22:22:54 -0400, Wolf K wrote:

There may be a
driver out there that works, see Glowing Blue Mists's post, but his
advice essentially is "Try these, one of them may work."

When I tried to install the printer, Windows 10 "recognized" the HP
LaserJet 2100m but didn't have the driver (as expected).

Then I hit the button in the "install the printer driver" dialog box, which
said "Windows Update" as blue mist suggested.

It said "Windows is updating the list of printers.
This might take a few minutes."

They're not kidding about the "few minutes". I didn't start a stop watch,
but, I'd say it took about fifteen or twenty (or so).

Then it showed three (yup, 3) lines for the manufacturer I care about, each
one slightly different spelling:
1. Hewlett Packard
2. Hewlett-Packard
3. HP

The first "Hewlett Packard" only had four entries, none of which were what
I wanted.

The second "Hewlett-Packard" had more entries, but not the one I had
wanted.

The third "HP" has tons more entries, so, next time, that's the one to look
at first.

Woo hoo!
Three choices a
- HP LaserJet 2100 PCL6
- HP LaserJet 2100 Series PCL 5
- HP HaserJet 2100 Series PS

Not knowing which to choose, I figured a "series" was better than not a
series, so, I choose "HP LaserJet 2100 Series PCL 5".

At 7:50 it said "installing printer" and the green bar kept cycling over
and over and over again (how big are these things?) ...

After a few minutes, it said:
- You've successfully added HP LaserJet 2100 Series PCL5
[Print a test page]

Woo hoo! I knew you guys wouldn't let me down!
- Windows Printer Test Page
- You have correctly installed your HP LaserJet 2100 Series PCL5 on NAME
- (lots of stuff)
- Print Processor = hpzpplhn
- OS Environment = Windows x64
- Driver Name = HP LaserJet 2100 Series PCL 5
- Driver Type = Type 3 - User Mode
- Driver Version = 6.1.7233.0
- Additional Print Driver Files:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPZLSLHN.D LL
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPZSSLHN.D LL
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPZUILHN.D LL
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPZLSLHN.D LL
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPCDMCLH.D LL
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPZ5RLHN.D LL
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPZSMLHN.G PD
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPZSLHN.DL L
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPMCPD25.C FG
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPZSCLHN.I NI
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPMCPDPS.X ML
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPZSCLHN.D TD
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPZEVLHN.D LL
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPZIDR12.D LL
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPZINW12.D LL
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPZIPM12.D LL
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPZIPR12.D LL
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPZIPT12.D LL
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPZISN12.D LL
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPBMIAPI.D LL
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPBMINI.DL L
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPBOID.DLL
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\HPBOIDPS.D LL

http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/softwa...ark-v1.8.0.zip
So, my fundamental question is:
Q: Isn't in *that* 22MB PARK download the Win10 64-bit driver?

PARK == Printer Administrator Resource Kit. I actually d/l it and poked
around inside it. No driver.

Drat. I poked around also, and I clicked on *every* exe (I know, it's not a
great idea, but I was desperate and since it was from HP, I 'trusted' it.)

Thanks for looking for me because I wouldn't know what a driver looks like
if it hit me in the face.

It's a set of tools to configure the HP
Universal Print Driver to work with what you've got. You start by
"acquiring" a driver, in your case it would be the one that came with
the printer. But that one won't work with W10, apparently, so you'll
have to configure it....

Bottom line: there is no W10 driver for your model printer, but Hp has
kindly provided a kit fro you to roll your own.

Um... ok. I wouldn't know how to roll my own if it hit me in the face.

You could try the W7 driver on the W10 machine. D/L and install it. If
it works, fine, although it will likely not be able to access all the
printer's features. If not, use the W7 machine as a print server. Takes
about 5 minutes to set up.

Thanks for sticking with me. I think the solution to hit the Windows Update
button in the printer driver form did the trick, as the test page worked.

Woo hoo! I knew you guys wouldn't let me down.
Certainly that was NOT intuitive, so I thank you all for helping me out!

Let's hope this helps the next guy with the same problem!

On Sun, 21 Aug 2016 21:52:41 -0500, Paul in Houston TX wrote:

Current wait time is about 8 hours.
There is a temporary patch for that but I forgot the KB#.

Thanks. It finally worked!

Woo hoo!

- You've successfully added HP LaserJet 2100 Series PCL5
[Print a test page]

Woo hoo! I knew you guys wouldn't let me down!
- Windows Printer Test Page
- You have correctly installed your HP LaserJet 2100 Series PCL5 on NAME
- (lots of stuff)
- Print Processor = hpzpplhn
- OS Environment = Windows x64
- Driver Name = HP LaserJet 2100 Series PCL 5
- Driver Type = Type 3 - User Mode
- Driver Version = 6.1.7233.0

Thank you all for your expert help!!!!!!!!
You guys ARE the Usenet!

On Sun, 21 Aug 2016 19:36:14 -0400, Wolf K wrote:

The printer is discontinued.
That means that HP is no longer updating
the driver.

The only thing still confusing me is *who* made the driver that eventually
worked, from the temporary "Windows Update" from within the printer
installation dialog.

Why would only the Windows 10 temporary update have the HP LaserJet 2100
when HP themselves didn't have the driver for the HP LaserJet 2100?

Did Redmond write the driver?
Did HP write the driver?
Why can't the driver be in the "regular" Windows update?

Why is the driver only available in the temporary Windows update?

Danny D. wrote:
On Sun, 21 Aug 2016 21:52:41 -0500, Paul in Houston TX wrote:

Current wait time is about 8 hours.
There is a temporary patch for that but I forgot the KB#.

Thanks. It finally worked!

Woo hoo!

- You've successfully added HP LaserJet 2100 Series PCL5
[Print a test page]

Woo hoo! I knew you guys wouldn't let me down!
- Windows Printer Test Page
- You have correctly installed your HP LaserJet 2100 Series PCL5 on NAME
- (lots of stuff)
- Print Processor = hpzpplhn
- OS Environment = Windows x64
- Driver Name = HP LaserJet 2100 Series PCL 5
- Driver Type = Type 3 - User Mode
- Driver Version = 6.1.7233.0

Thank you all for your expert help!!!!!!!!
You guys ARE the Usenet!

It wasn't me! It was everyone else!

Il giorno Mon 22 Aug 2016 04:16:22a, *David E. Ross* inviava su
comp.sys.hp.hardware il messaggio .
Vediamo cosa scrisse:

Canon CanoScan N670U scanner. When my Windows XP PC
died, I got a Windows 7 PC. There are no Windows 7 drivers for the
scanner,

I used safely the old XP drivers in W7 (32bit); sorry I can't remember the
model

--
/-\ /\/\ /\/\ /-\ /\/\ /\/\ /-\ T /-\
-=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- - -=-
http://www.bb2002.it
............ [ al lavoro ] ...........

On Mon, 22 Aug 2016 08:23:21 -0400, Wolf K wrote:

Hewlett Packard. OS makers are not responsible for drivers.

That makes sense.
But then why didn't HP have the driver on their web site?
And, why didn't Windows just *find* the driver in the first place?

On Mon, 22 Aug 2016 08:19:19 -0400, Wolf K wrote:

I understood the words but in my all (many) years, I personally have never
run into a situation where a common printer didn't have a driver on a
common operating system.

Sheer luck, I'd say. It's a common experience.

I must admit, I've been using Windows since the 2.1 days, and, well, that's
probably, on average, one printer a year, so, something like 20 printers or
so over time.

In the beginning, as you know, the driver came with the printer - and then
Windows started *finding* the drivers for us - and then Windows started
*including* the drivers.

So it was odd that I wasn't able, at first, to get Windows to *find* the
driver - but - in this case - with the temporarty printer-specific Windows
update, it found the correct driver.

But why did it require that temporary Windows update?
Did Microsoft write that driver?
Did HP?

If HP wrote it - why wasn't it on HP's web site?
So odd this stuff.
Even after 20 years.

If the driver no longer exists, why does HP offer that huge PARK download
when you follow the prompts for the driver.
http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/softwa...ark-v1.8.0.zip

What is that PARK download then?

Read my other post.

GlowingBlueMist's list, unless you have all the printer specs on
hand, you can't know which one may work. So just try them.

GlowingblueMist's suggest worked of doing a temporary printer-specific
Windows update.

What's confusing about that is that it's not intuitive that it would be
temporary - and it's not intuitive that the temporary Windows update would
have the driver but that Windows itself couldn't find the driver and that
the HP site didn't have the driver.

So confusing after 20 years of installing printers.
Does it make any sense to you?

On Mon, 22 Aug 2016 07:34:00 +0000 (UTC), Ammammata wrote:

I used safely the old XP drivers in W7 (32bit); sorry I can't remember the
model

Thanks for trying to help out.

I'm glad the printer ng is crossposted because, for the life of me, I can't
imagine that we need a thousand *different* printer drivers.

I just can't imagine that printers are *that* different, model to model.

So, sheer logic tells me that probably a huge number (half? three
quarters?) are really just duplicates of a more generic printer driver.

There can't be thousands of different printer drivers.
Printers aren't all that different.

In article , lid
says...

On 8/21/2016 6:53 PM, Wolf K wrote:
On 2016-08-21 21:09, Danny D. wrote:
On Sun, 21 Aug 2016 19:57:50 -0400, Wolf K wrote:

Not odd at all, the driver is still good for W7.

I'm sorry, but I don't understand at all what you're trying to tell me.

Your W7 machine has a driver for that obsolete printer. But there is no
driver that works with W10.

[snip irrelevancies]

To quote from my other post:

The printer is discontinued. That means that HP is no longer updating
the driver.

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en...069-25469.html

HTH


The problem is that HP has a history of building hardware that is much
more durable than HP's support of that hardware. I have a similar
problem with a Canon CanoScan N670U scanner. When my Windows XP PC
died, I got a Windows 7 PC. There are no Windows 7 drivers for the
scanner, so I moved it to my wife's Windows XP PC. If her PC dies, I
will have a perfectly good scanner that does not work with any PC.

That's so common with almost all add-on hardware. Designed/forced
obselescience.

Wolf K wrote:


OS makers are not responsible for drivers.

Categorically *wrong*. What good is an OS that you
cannot install ?

Sufficient drivers are on the OS installer disc,
to produce a minimally operational computer. Between
the hardware makers and the OS makers, they contrive
to stick with standards where possible. But nothing
prevents a hardware maker from doing their own thing,
and being left behind.

1) AHCI or IDE or RAID driver.
(MSAHCI, MSIDE, IASTORV, STORPORT, etc)

Prevents "Inaccessible Boot Volume".

The computer would have a STOP error, if
the disk driver is not available.

There are situations where this remains a problem.
(Like using an archive-only 10TB hard drive with no
standards-compliant interface. There is always *something*
that is not on the DVD.) Microsoft tries to cover
the high-runner situations for you. One flavor of
disk drive (that consumers are not supposed to be
able to buy), the *owner* of the drive provides the
driver (archive.org, Google, Facebook). Those drives
do not conform to the ATA standard.

If you want RAID, you should bring up the system in
AHCI, and use a migrate function. Flipping on RAID
immediately, isn't always necessary. Good RAIDs support
migration after the OS is up.

2) VESA video driver (a.k.a Microsoft Basic Display Adapter).
The OS will offer operation of the screen at
1024x768 on Win10, using a driver that knows of the frame
buffer being in a standard place. Other OSes may offer
800x600 or 640x480 on VESA mode. No video acceleration
is offered. Just a basic frame buffer so the
user can see the screen. Presenting a black screen
wouldn't be very useful.

Those are examples of minimums for the usage of humans.

Having a NIC driver is nice, and due to the small size
of NDIS drivers, they can pour a ton of those on the
disc as well. If you have a working NIC, you can then
download optional drivers. I have at least one
config here, where I have to get the driver DVD out
of the motherboard box, because an older OS doesn't
have the necessary NDIS driver (hardware newer than OS).

Standard "Class" drivers are also included. By licensing,
Microsoft removed the right of manufacturers to include
things like USB2 or USB3 drivers. Those drivers are now
on the installer disc. Having working USB is necessary in
a world without alternatives like PS/2 for keyboard/mouse.
Firewire is covered by a Class driver (until Win8.1/Win10
removed Firewire networking support? - maybe storage
still works).

An HP printer is a third-party device, separate from
the computer, and optional in every sense of the word.
Obtaining a driver, can happen at your leisure. Because
now, you've bootstrapped yourself far enough to surf
the web.

The worst part of all drivers, is the state of documentation.
And not knowing what is available (Microsoft Universal
Printer Driver), or where to get it. Or in the case of
dot-matrix printer support, finding out that there
are actually a form of Class drivers right in the OS
for those too (Epson or IBM mode, with names that
make no sense). Only a rocket scientist gets their
ten year old dot-matrix running again. The support is
there, but it's almost impossible to figure out.

Paul

On Mon, 22 Aug 2016 16:40:59 -0000 (UTC), "Danny D."
wrote:

In the beginning, as you know, the driver came with the printer - and then
Windows started *finding* the drivers for us - and then Windows started
*including* the drivers.

A driver is for a combination of a particular printer and a particular
version of Windows. For a Windows version that comes out after the
printer did, the printer can not come with a driver for it.

On Mon, 22 Aug 2016 16:40:55 -0000 (UTC), "Danny D."
wrote:

On Mon, 22 Aug 2016 08:23:21 -0400, Wolf K wrote:

Hewlett Packard. OS makers are not responsible for drivers.

That makes sense.
But then why didn't HP have the driver on their web site?
And, why didn't Windows just *find* the driver in the first place?


I missed the early part of this thread, so I don't know what printer
you are talking about. But writing a driver for a new version of
Windows takes time and money. HP, like all manufacturers, does so only
if the printer is not very old and they are still selling it in
sufficient quantities. It does not pay for them to invest the time and
money to write drivers for products that are obsolescent.

On Sun, 21 Aug 2016 22:11:51 -0000 (UTC), Danny D. wrote:

Where on earth is the HP laserjet 2100m (model c4172a) printer driver for
64bit Windows 10?

Why can't you ask this in alt.comp.os.windows-10?

--
s|b

"Danny D." wrote:
Where on earth is the HP laserjet 2100m (model c4172a) printer driver for
64bit Windows 10?
The following drivers are available on Win10 64 bit
CL5, PCL6 and PS for the LJ2100.
Microsoft are not and never have been responsible for manufacturer specific
printer drivers.
Go to add new printer
Click the printer I want isn't listed
Click add a local printer or network printer with manual settings
Select use existing or create new port as required
Click on Windows Update and wait (it will take a few minutes0.
Look under HP and voila!
The above is from memory so the words may be different.
Tony

"Danny D." wrote:
On Sun, 21 Aug 2016 20:37:10 -0500, GlowingBlueMist wrote:

Laserjet 2100 PCL6
Laserjet 2100 Series PCL5
Laserjet 2100 Series PS

Exit the printer installer and the printer list reverts to just the
drivers that come with W10 and you will need to do the "update" all over
again for the full list.

So it sounds like it's time to give it another try.

That sounds like a great idea!
Thank you for testing that out.
I will try that.

Which do people think I should use?
a. PCL6
b. PCL5
c. PS

I'm guessing pcl stands for printer-control-language and I know that PS is
postscript. It doesn't matter to me which I choose.

Does it matter?
Just saw this. I don't use PCL6 because of some problems it used to have (years
ago and I can't remember). Try PCL5, I doubt you will need PostScript.
Tony