subject: How to Update and Reinstall the Printer Driver for Any Printer [print this page] How to Update and Reinstall the Printer Driver for Any Printer
If you receive an error message after installing a new printer or after trying to print a document, it may be necessary to reinstall your printer driver. Printers are a very popular add on; therefore, they have a number of possible downloads. You need to determine which download you need before attempting to reinstall or update your printer drivers.
Determining Which Driver You Need
Luckily, printer drivers are very easy to check.
Step #1
Look at your printer and write down the make and model of your printer. Examples of possible HP Deskjet printers follow:
HP DeskJet 840c
HP Deskjet D1468
HP Deskjet D1460
HP Deskjet D2460
HP Deskjet 1120c
HP Deskjet F4280 All-in-One
HP Deskjet F2180 All-in-One
HP Deskjet F4180 All-in-One
This is the information you will need when searching for the appropriate driver. Of course, if you do not own a HP Deskjet, the make and model will be different. However, they all look similar to this.
Step #2
Go online to the printer manufacturer's website. HP, Lexmark, Canon, and Epson are the popular printer makers and they all have websites you can download from. If you have a less well-known printer, then you may or may not have updates available.
Step #3
With the make and model number in hand, search through the website for the latest driver offered. Then download and save the driver to your computer or to a USB drive.
Reinstalling Your New Updated Driver
Find the downloaded folder either on your computer or on the USB drive.
Open the folder and double click the "exe" file. This will create a new file.
Turn on your printer
Connect the printer to your computer
Click Start -> Printer and Faxes
Click "Add a Printer"
Click "Next" and ignore the "Plug and Play" message
Uncheck the "automatically detect and install printer"
Click Next
Click "Have Disk"
Click Browse and locate the file that was created in step 2.
Click OK -> Next
Click Yes or No depending on whether you want a test page or not
Click Finish
Updating and Installing All Your Drivers
As you can see, reinstalling or updating just one driver is a pain, not to mention time consuming. Plus, you have to know exactly where the driver originates; otherwise, you can end up with some faulty drivers that mess everything up. However, there is an easier way.
With driver update software, you can search for all the drivers on your computer at one time with a click of the mouse. The software will scan and check every driver on your computer for needed updates and then give you a list of the ones needing updates.
At this point, you have a choice of downloading all the updates or just a few. One click of the button and the driver is downloaded for you. One more click and the driver is installed. In less than two minutes, all the drivers on your computer are updated.
