Printer prints blank if paper type set to Plain

Why wouldn't you install at least the basic HP driver for your printer?

If you're referring to drivers directly from HP, don't need to. Windows has always contained the necessary drivers (not via update) for printing with HP's. For the scanner portion, I use vuescan. I used to use the built in fax and scan function of windows but it was very limited by design.
Anyway, the fact that it will print from the printers control panel itself is a start. As I said in an earlier post, I'm no printer expert. Just trying to eliminate possibilities. Still don't know about printing in black only though. Hasn't been said yet.

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My normal solution with printer drivers is to uninstall all traces of the offending driver and software and start again. Be sure to have a backup. Yesterday I couldn't get Print to PDF working having been too aggressive removing traces if a bust Canon printer and had to recover from the last Reflect backup!

I Agree .Best way to do it is remove all traces of the drivers.

Since this has been a reoccurring issue with different printers over a period of time and the printer will print via the control panel I would have to say the printer itself is not the problem,
I suspect the drivers are either
1. Being updated with newer incompatable drivers via windows updates
2. newer Incompatable drivers being installed via another program(i.e adobe, etc.) wich installs it's own printer drivers.

LM2007
Check your installed windows updates and scroll down to the driver portion to see if that may be an issue.
Windows does a poor job of removing drivers. Instead, download and run DriverStoreExplorer from the link below.
It requires no installation. Just unzip and run the .exe. You can see and remove all traces of any driver on your system.
They will be listed by category in alphabetical order. Be careful about what you choose to remove. Start with the HP drivers first, Note the version and date. Some drivers will listed under multiple categories (i.e display drivers). You can tell by the version numbers. If they are a match, they are one in the same and all must be removed.

Release DriverStore Explorer v0.11.92 . lostindark/DriverStoreExplorer . GitHub

The problem will be to find an older driver that will work with all your apps but you may already have it. Click the older version button on the right
Do you have the original install media?
Does this happen with every app\program that uses a printer function?
Do you remember updating or installing anything just prior to this happening?

Also see:
Prevent Windows Update from Updating Specific Device Driver
Enable or Disable Driver Updates in Windows Update in Windows 10
I prefer the latter. If it aint broke, I"m not about to let windows fix it.