Crazy Printer Problem

I have a crazy printer problem I cannot seem to resolve. I have a printer. I connect it to one computer and it loads and prints fine. I disconnect it and connect it to another computer, it "appears" to load, but then it says "driver is unavailable". How can this be if it printed on the other computer? The printer MUST have the driver. The problem appears to be in the settings of my computer in the printer section is my best guess(the one where it says 'driver is unavailable'). The computer where it doesn't print even has the printer listed in the Device Manager and it says it is working properly, and in the driver section even lists the driver, etc. Also in the print box where it says 'select printer' the printer is not listed! Makes no sense to me. In the print box of the computer that prints it IS there. That is all I can tell you. Maybe someone can make some sense out of this insanity, and get this printer to print on the other computer. Please help.

 

Sticky at the top of this Hardware forum:
When asking for support please tell us about your computer!

You must tell us the exact brand and model of each computer and what the Operating System is on each system, and the brand and model number of the printer.

 

You seem to be confused about the purpose of hardware drivers.

Hardware drivers are installed in the operating systems on the computers the hardware is attached to. This allows the operating system of the computer to establish communication with the device.

So, printer drivers are not installed in the printer, they are installed on EVERY computer that uses that printer.

As Max noted, we need more information. Windows can often detect, identify and install the necessary basic drivers to print just fine because the necessary drivers are already in its database. Other versions of Windows may not have the necessary drivers. Just being able to detect and identify does not mean the necessary drivers are installed.

If me, I would visit your printer's webpage, download and install the drivers for the applicable OS to the non-working computer. Then see what happens. If still no luck, then again, we need more information.

 

This is an excellent point. In fact, I would say don't install all the software - only the drivers. Most printers come with resource hogging suites of unneeded programs you don't need. I too use have an HP printer that all my devices print to over my network and only installed the drivers, not all the extra junk. And FTR, W10 had the drivers, so I didn't even need to install any separately.

 

Sorry...the computer is HP 2000 Notebook PC, Windows 10. The printer is HP psc 1200 all in one series. I am sorry I misunderstood this, but still need some guidance. I found the appropriate driver for the printer on the HP website. There was no download button, so all I could think to do was right click,, save target as, and I checked and it appears to have gone to my Downloads folder. I tried to upload the file here but it wouldn't allow it because it said it didn't have an allowed extension. It is an HTM file, size 294kb. The file name is EXTREMELY long, 3 lines of numbers and letters. Here is the first line: 04_Sj9cPyKssy0xPLMnMz0vMAFGjzOJ9DTwNjLzcDbwtwrxMDRwdHf2m3TyD. Does that look like a driver? I tried to install it from the HP site but I couldn't figure it out. I feel like such an idiot. This is probably so simple, I am sorry. I believe I have the driver downloaded. Now I need the steps to take to INSTALL it into my computer as you guys stated I need to do. The printer is on there and still says driver is unavailable. Also, when I connected the printer the Add New Hardware Wizard DID NOT come out and I tried it several times. I also went to the Add Device but nothing would show(the printer name). Please be patient with me and help me through this. Thanks.

 

Post a link to where you think you downloaded the driver.
How old is the printer?

 

There are NO driver downloads for that HP Printer - it actually tells a person that.
https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01796879
note:
Where is the download button? The HP print driver is built into the Windows operating system or is installed through the Windows Update feature on your computer. You do not need to download anything from a website in order to print, scan, or fax.

 

The HP PSC1200 is 14 years old.
Windows 7 includes drivers for the HP PSC1500 & 1600 series. I doubt Windows 10 will include drivers for the older series.
MaxTurner, perhaps you could check?

 

https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-psc-1200-all-in-one-printer-series/90763

I have a 14 year old Canon i560 inkjet printer - works fine on all Windows OSs right up to Win 10 It hasn't ever issued new drivers for win 7 upwards. I get it to work in compatibility mode.

 

My last HP Inkjet was given away after 6 years as even the 'basic' driver didn't work on Windows 8.1.
I always give things like that to local charities as they normally work with older OSs and most printers etc will live a lot longer....as Max indicates.

 

Are they both Win 10? You can try this on 7 or 10, on the system where the printer works run this command %WinDir%\System32\PrintBrmUi.exe
Select export, then copy that file to the "non-working" PC run the same command and select import.