HP Drivers and Different Wizards to Add Them: Printer Properties and Device Manager

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