Printer drivers on Win 10 - which and where?

I have a Brother HL-5250DN printer which I'm trying to get working on my new Win 10 Pro PC.

It is supposed to work just fine with the default driver but does not (it does on my old Win 10 Home PC). I eventually found an entry in Settings saying the driver could not be found.

Not having much of a clue about drivers I eventually found a download that purported to be drivers for this printer. I extracted it and found it contains numerous files. So my questions are:

a) Is any one of these the driver I want? (see attachment). EDIT: I assume it's one of the ones with the same name as the printer, but is it just a DLL that I want, nothing else?

b) If it is, where do I put it / what do I do with it?

Win 10 Pro 19042

Thanks.

SiBo said:

I have a Brother HL-5250DN printer which I'm trying to get working on my new Win 10 Pro PC.

It is supposed to work just fine with the default driver but does not (it does on my old Win 10 Home PC). I eventually found an entry in Settings saying the driver could not be found.

Not having much of a clue about drivers I eventually found a download that purported to be drivers for this printer. I extracted it and found it contains numerous files. So my questions are:

a) Is any one of these the driver I want? (see attachment). EDIT: I assume it's one of the ones with the same name as the printer, but is it just a DLL that I want, nothing else?

b) If it is, where do I put it / what do I do with it?

Win 10 Pro 19042

Thanks.

I've found that Windows looks for an .ini file to use to initiate the install if you are using the "have disc" option to install your printer. I don't see one listed there.

Yes, I looked for an INI file but no luck.

On the Brother site it says, "The built-in driver is already included with Windows® Operating System or is available through Windows® update."

Clearly this isn't the case, but whether the fault lies with Brother or Microsoft I don't know.

SiBo said:

Yes, I looked for an INI file but no luck.

On the Brother site it says, "The built-in driver is already included with Windows® Operating System or is available through Windows® update."

Clearly this isn't the case, but whether the fault lies with Brother or Microsoft I don't know.

Besides unzipping the file you mention, what else have you done? How were you planning to connect the printer to your pc, via USB or network? If you connect the printer via USB, turn the printer on then turn your pc on maybe the pc will find it and install a driver.

I know all too well how silly Windows 10 can be when trying to get a printer to work having spent much time battling an Epson 3880, finally getting it again to be recognized on my network but now having 4 "extra" Epson printers showing up as options that I can't get rid of.

You probably already saw this driver download page - maybe the Windows 7 package would work for you.

√ Brother HL-5250DN Driver Software Download For Windows, Mac - Brother Support

Thanks for your answers, but I've just managed to fix it. The solution was rather bizarre but I'll include it in case anyone else has a similar problem.

When I attached the printer it binged but it did not appear under Printers in Device Manager. It did appear in Devices and Printers on the Control Panel, but it would not allow you to update drivers, saying that the printer either didn't have one or didn't need one. Oddly enough, under events, it said that it DID have a driver, prnms013.inf.

After some searching I finally came across the printer in Device Manager under Software Devices! I selected Update Driver and pointed it to the directory I screenshotted above. It selected the correct driver and hey presto, the printer now works. Oddly enough, it still says it's using prnms013.inf and there is no mention of any of the drivers listed above.

The Printer disappeared from Software Devices and is now under Printers, appropriately enough.

Very odd, but it works, and I'll leave it at that.

Yep, welcome to the mystical world of Printer Win 10 style. Thanks for including your solution to help others. You can also mark the post as Solved. Many Regards!

SiBo said:

I have a Brother HL-5250DN printer which I'm trying to get working on my new Win 10 Pro PC.

It is supposed to work just fine with the default driver but does not (it does on my old Win 10 Home PC). I eventually found an entry in Settings saying the driver could not be found.

Not having much of a clue about drivers I eventually found a download that purported to be drivers for this printer. I extracted it and found it contains numerous files. So my questions are:

a) Is any one of these the driver I want? (see attachment). EDIT: I assume it's one of the ones with the same name as the printer, but is it just a DLL that I want, nothing else?

b) If it is, where do I put it / what do I do with it?

Win 10 Pro 19042

Thanks.

I am having the same issue. thanks for the solution but where did you get the directory of divers at if you can recall.