5 ms·

I believe the issue is that since the printer is so old, there is no driver available for Windows 10. Checking the HP site, the latest is for Vista from 2008, s

I believe the issue is that since the printer is so old, there is no driver available for Windows 10. Checking the HP site, the latest is for Vista from 2008, so dragons are to be expected when you run with drivers on an OS that isnt listed as being compatible with significant architectural changes. I dont think its fair to blame the OS here and in this case you may get a better experience, and maybe security (removing those old HP background processes running with elevated privileges) using microsofts generic postscript printer drivers.

Nextgrid 6y ago
The problem here doesn't seem to be the driver. The driver appears to be working once installed. The problem is that the driver gets removed every time a major system update is installed. The update system used to be fine in this regard and they decided to rewrite it in such a way that it doesn't keep existing drivers even if they appear to be compatible.
- chinhodado 6y ago
  Exactly. The driver once installed works perfectly. It's Windows update blowing it away that is the problem.
  - nullify88 6y ago
    > https://kb.ucla.edu/articles/hp-laserjet-1012-and-windows-10 https://kb.ucla.edu/articles/hp-laserjet-1012-and-windows-10 As stated in a previous comment, you're installing drivers for another model of printer. So I find it unreasonable to believe there wont be problems down the line even if they appear to be working. HP has a Universal Print Driver that will support your printer and be compatible with Windows 10 with out resorting to installing drivers meant for another printer. Not exactly a high prority test case for Microsoft.
    - Nextgrid 6y ago
      > you're installing drivers for another model of printer That shouldn't be the OS's decision to make. The user wanted his machine to install something, and the something even worked fine after install. Are you advocating for the OS deleting files/software that it considers "wrong" without explicitly asking the user? Besides that, the driver appears to be fully compatible because it works fine once reinstalled. It would be one thing if the driver just stopped working (because the printing driver API changed, which is fair enough for a decades-old printer), but in this case it's not about API incompatibility but a broken update system.
    - chinhodado 6y ago
      The driver works fine. It's a black laser printer, there isn't any fancy feature to have problem with. It prints what I tell it to print. > HP has a Universal Print Driver that will support your printer and be compatible with Windows 10 The last time I checked, none of the official driver on the vendor website worked, nor the automatic driver that Windows installed. I mean that would be the obvious first thing people check when their devices don't work... For me using those drivers just printed out an error.

Nextgrid 6y ago

The problem here doesn't seem to be the driver. The driver appears to be working once installed. The problem is that the driver gets removed every time a major system update is installed. The update system used to be fine in this regard and they decided to rewrite it in such a way that it doesn't keep existing drivers even if they appear to be compatible.

chinhodado 6y ago
Exactly. The driver once installed works perfectly. It's Windows update blowing it away that is the problem.
- nullify88 6y ago
  > https://kb.ucla.edu/articles/hp-laserjet-1012-and-windows-10 https://kb.ucla.edu/articles/hp-laserjet-1012-and-windows-10 As stated in a previous comment, you're installing drivers for another model of printer. So I find it unreasonable to believe there wont be problems down the line even if they appear to be working. HP has a Universal Print Driver that will support your printer and be compatible with Windows 10 with out resorting to installing drivers meant for another printer. Not exactly a high prority test case for Microsoft.
  - Nextgrid 6y ago
    > you're installing drivers for another model of printer That shouldn't be the OS's decision to make. The user wanted his machine to install something, and the something even worked fine after install. Are you advocating for the OS deleting files/software that it considers "wrong" without explicitly asking the user? Besides that, the driver appears to be fully compatible because it works fine once reinstalled. It would be one thing if the driver just stopped working (because the printing driver API changed, which is fair enough for a decades-old printer), but in this case it's not about API incompatibility but a broken update system.
  - chinhodado 6y ago
    The driver works fine. It's a black laser printer, there isn't any fancy feature to have problem with. It prints what I tell it to print. > HP has a Universal Print Driver that will support your printer and be compatible with Windows 10 The last time I checked, none of the official driver on the vendor website worked, nor the automatic driver that Windows installed. I mean that would be the obvious first thing people check when their devices don't work... For me using those drivers just printed out an error.