No printer driver after upgrade to Win V1903

Win 10 v1903 (upgrade 3 days ago). Wireless printer HP ENVY Photo 6255. I have 3 PCs - two have been on v1903 for quite awhile and the wireless printer works fine from those PCs. Those PCs were already on v1903 when this new printer was added to the network. The wireless printer was working fine on this PC (my main PC) until it upgraded to v1903 3 days ago. The HP printer application says the printer is ready but all attempts to print from the HP printer app or from any other app fail (sometimes with error 0X8000ffff). Most of the time the request to print results in nothing - nothing even gets into the printer queue - and no error is reported.

The Windows settings application claims the driver is unavailable.

I have tried installing the driver with HP software and via Windows. I keep getting success but the status is still driver unavailable. I have deleted the printer from the Windows settings app and reinstalled it again from scratch. Successful result but the driver is still unavailable. Through all this the printer works fine from the other PCs. This doesn't seem to be a printer issue - it is just the driver issue on this particular PC.

I don't know what to try next. Suggestions?

-- Larry

- - - Updated - - -

On a whim, I tried doing a scan - it scanned! So it's just the print part of the driver that is an issue. Or maybe the print parts and scan parts of the device have separate drivers?

The printer has no wired connection - Wi-Fi only.

I have tried installing the complete HP software - succeeds but no driver is installed even though it says it will install one.
I have tried installing just the HP driver - succeeds but no driver is installed.

I have tried all the above with this PC connected to the network via Wi-FI and via Ethernet cable. One of the installation packages claimed that one method would be better but neither worked for me. Normally this PC is connected to the network via an Ethernet cable to the router.

I've noticed that in the Computer Management - Device Manager, there is no printer entry but a WSD Print Provider (which lists the proper printer) is listed. Also there is no print queue for the printer. On the other PC where printing works, the Device Manager has entries for the printer, a print queue, and the WSD Print Provider.

-- Larry

bro67, I'm leaving the WSD Print Provider alone but it is listed with the printer name and IP. I followed the instructions to install a new printer and it claimed to work. I didn't need to use the printer's IP address - the printer was listed as one I could install a driver for. The result was a printer appeared but no driver available. I essentially got back to where I started.

I noticed that the Computer Management - Device Manager listed a unknown device under Other Devices. It has the IP of the printer. Examining it's driver info says the driver install failed either because the driver is not digitally signed or not signed appropriately. While I was thinking about that something happened with the Computer Management - Device Manager app and all of a sudden the printer was not listed as an Other Device. It had popped into the Software Devices list. In fact, that list now has 4 printers listed, all with the proper IP address. One is generic printer and the other 3 have the actual HP printer name. All 4 have the same driver - Microsoft driver, dated 6/21/2006, version 10.0.18362.1, signed by Microsoft Windows.

I'm at a total loss.....

-- Larry

I think you may need to reinstall the HP ENVY Photo 6255 drivers but connect the printer to any one of the pcs with a usb cable first, then setup the wi-fi connection later.

I kinda had to do that with my family's HP Envy Photo 7855 printer on some of the pcs - setup the driver with a usb cable connection first, then rerun setup and add it thru a Wi-Fi connection; now the HP ENVY Photo 7800 series app lists two entries of the printer [one thru a local usb connection and another for a wifi network connection]

seems like Win10 is not downloading & installing the proper HP printer driver for the HP ENVY Photo 6255.
it's definitely a driver issue; maybe how win10 installed the driver.

other times it could be certain win10 updates for 1903 that are interfering with the HP drivers.

Can I give you another suggestion before re-routing your printer through another computer and making that a print spooler computer?

I have two printers hooked up to my network at home. They are Brother printers, and like yours, they are network compatible.


There are TWO ways (Static and Dynamic [automatic]) to allow a device connected to a network DHCP protocol controlled network to operate. However, one method is what is called a STATIC method and that is permanently reassigning a your HP Printer with a specific IP address (like 168.192.68.12) that is a "stationary" IP address. This IP address will not change because you are going to change your settings under the network settings of your HP and manually enter an IP address; a static IP address, so that your computers can find that device (peripheral) without automatically searching for the IP address.

First, you need to know what your Network Gateway IP address is. Should look similar to this: 168.192.xxx.1... The 4th position of your local IP address is normally your Network Gateway IP Address.

Second, since you have a small network it will be easy for you to choose and remember the STATIC IP address of your choice for your printer.

Third, reinstall the printer driver software on that computer for that HP printer and do not let the software choose the location of the printer automatically tell the software that you have a specific IP address (a STATIC IP Address) you want to use; use it instead.

Fourth, you will find it easier to uninstall the printer software on the other computers (IF you DO NOT uninstall the printer driver software before reinstallation of ANY printer driver software you are going to end up with duplicate printer drivers and will be easily confused as to which one to use because there will be multiple copies of the same driver installed for the same printer) and then reinstall it on them using your new STATIC IP you chose for your permanent spot on your network.

Fifth, make sure that you set the printers internal network parameters to STATIC and NOT automatic. Also, make the printer's STATIC IP address high enough so that it will not bother the other computers on the network in which they get their IP dynamically (automatically).


Example:

Your router's Gateway IP Address is:: 192.168.xxx.1 (Usually the Default is either 192168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1)

(Note: Replace the 'xxx' with a number between 2~250. I do not use the defaults for my internetwork because of security reasons.)


Computer 1 uses IP address : 192.168.1.2
Computer 2 uses IP address : 192.168.1.3
Computer 3 uses IP address : 192.168.1.4

Now keep in mind that your computers with have different (dynamic) addresses each time they reboot. Your printer's address will NOT change once you set the printer's settings to a STATIC (stationary) setting.

Your printer Static IP Address should be like 192.168.1.80

Keeping your printer's Static IP address well above the other's Dynamic ones will help you in the future and know where you will always "find" the printer on your network when you need to install other printer software and drivers on your computers.

Hope this helps.

I decided to try something easy and it worked. I powered down the printer and on this PC, where I couldn't print, I connected the printer with a USB cable. Powered up the printer and it just appeared and, it works! Even better, it still works via the wi-fi connection from the other PCs. Although the original problem was not solved, working around it with the USB cable is perfectly fine for me. Yahoo!

Thanks to everyone for their help and suggestions.

-- Larry