Printer Install Notifications in Windows 10 1909: None

Can someone please explain this to me. I know Windows 10 is much better than Windows 7 in terms of picking up new drivers but after doing some testing I was thinking of how someone quite new to computers would manage to deal with this problem without support. Let's add for example that they misplaced the CD-Instruction Booklet if this still comes with the Canon MF3010 printer-scanner-photocopier and did not know that there is a 204 page Starter Guide as well as software, drivers and support available online.

I put the USB cord in from my Canon MF3010 in Windows 10 1909. I managed to print an A4 page with no problem at all but in device manager it says 'The drivers for this device are not installed' (Code 28) - 'There are no compatible drivers for this device' - 'To find a driver for this device, click Update Driver'. Actually Windows Update did not pick up on this driver.

In Windows Settings the message is 'Canon MF3010, Driver is unavailable'.

Going through the troubleshooters did not generate a result.

I know this has come some way from Windows 7 printer problems but:

- How is someone new to computing who does not understand about these processes supposed to know what to do?

- This particular printer-copier-scanner comes with a Toolbox which you have to manually install through a driver.

The fact is that I managed to print on 1909 with just plugging in the printer's USB but not in another computer running on 1809 for some reason...

Why are there not any notifications telling the user to install the correct driver? I turned all notifications on.

Does Microsoft have a list of generic drivers from Canon to get the user up and running?

I know very well that the solution is to download and install the correct drivers from the manufacturer but someone else may not.

These are my core points/questions:

I know very well that the solution is to download and install the correct drivers from the manufacturer but someone else may not.

• The fact is that I managed to print on 1909 with just plugging in the printer's USB but not in another computer running on 1809 for some reason...
  
• Why are there not any notifications telling the user to install the correct driver? I turned all notifications on.
• Does Microsoft have a list of generic drivers from Canon installed within Windows 10 to get the user up and running with printing?

"Does Microsoft have a list of generic drivers from Canon installed within Windows 10 to get the user up and running with printing? "
Yes - Every version of Windows going back to the 1990s has had basic/generic Printer drivers within for most popular brands.
They lack the full features of the manufacturers drivers.

"Why are there not any notifications telling the user to install the correct driver? I turned all notifications on."
Again that has been the same since the 1990s, no change. That is no surprise as Printer/MFP drivers are probably the most complex install a new user has to do.

It took me on and off a whole day just to install a cheap Canon type printer/scanner, it has options for USB, Bluetooth, WiFi Direct and Wireless Network connections.
Instructions are very confusing with most brands.
Many users don't even know how they are connected when done.

Helmut said:

"Does Microsoft have a list of generic drivers from Canon installed within Windows 10 to get the user up and running with printing? "
Yes - Every version of Windows going back to the 1990s has had basic/generic Printer drivers within for most popular brands.
They lack the full features of the manufacturers drivers.

"Why are there not any notifications telling the user to install the correct driver? I turned all notifications on."
Again that has been the same since the 1990s, no change. That is no surprise as Printer/MFP drivers are probably the most complex install a new user has to do.

It took me on and off a whole day just to install a cheap Canon type printer/scanner, it has options for USB, Bluetooth, WiFi Direct and Wireless Network connections.
Instructions are very confusing with most brands.
Many users don't even know how they are connected when done.

Many thanks. These are the type of good answers I was looking for.

I still can't figure out why 1809 didn't print with only the generic driver install but 1909 did. Perhaps Microsoft add new drivers to the back-end of Windows from one version to the next.

All this is probably alright for most people on this forum who understand the basic nature of Windows and the need to install a new driver if something isn't working right but it would help if there was an error message similar to "The printer driver (MF3010) was not correctly installed. Please download the correct drivers from the manufacturer or from Windows Update". It's not the end of the world but this would definitely help novice computer users as well.