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A author from our sister web site LiveScience.com got here to the Tom’s Information employees with a troublesome printer drawback from her mother:
“I obtained a brand new HP OfficeJet Professional printer and HP doesn’t have the the printer software program for it! Inconceivable. Is it secure to obtain one thing … or ought to I simply return it?”
What do you do when the software program in your new printer goes MIA? You may have a number of choices. You may dig just a little deeper to search out the drivers from the producer, you could find the identical software program from another supply, otherwise you could possibly skip the producer software program altogether.
Double test your documentation
You might be having hassle discovering the hyperlink to obtain drivers in your new printer, however HP and different producers hardly ever go away prospects excessive and dry. It’d be unhealthy enterprise to not correctly assist new merchandise, even when they’re new-in-box items of an older mannequin.
However realizing the place to look may be complicated. It was that producers included drivers with each printer on a CD, however as optical drives have fallen out of recognition, most producers have shifted to a web-based setup that requires customers to obtain the right software program as a part of the brand new printer setup course of.
MORE: The Greatest All-in-One Printers
This obtain hyperlink could also be listed within the fast begin information, the consumer’s guide, and different included documentation. This can normally be within the type of a URL, but it surely may not look the way you count on. Hold a watch out for shortened URLs, which can use a service like bit.ly and don’t initially look like hyperlinks to the producer’s web site.
Search for assist pages
If there’s no URL or hyperlink accessible within the documentation, the following place to look is the corporate’s assist pages. Listed here are a number of hyperlinks to get you began in your quest.
Brother: http://assist.brother.com/g/b/productsearch.aspx?c=us〈=en&content material=dl
Canon: https://www.usa.canon.com/web/portal/us/dwelling/assist/drivers-downloads (opens in new tab)
Epson: https://epson.com/Assist/Printers/sh/s1 (opens in new tab)
HP: https://assist.hp.com/us-en/doc/c05366101 (opens in new tab)
From right here, you’ll be able to search by mannequin title to search out driver downloads, together with manuals and different downloads.
Attempting to find hard-to-find printer drivers
Assist pages generally is a bit exhausting to search out typically, and producer instruments for looking out by mannequin aren’t good. Different occasions, one of the best ways to discover a assist and software program downloads could also be from the producer’s product web page. However should you aren’t discovering the wanted web page or software program obtain by these strategies, there are a few different strategies to strive.
First, strive a Google seek for the software program by title. To get extra particular outcomes, use this primary sample:
[Manufacturer name + “Model name and number” + driver download]
In case you aren’t discovering it utilizing the precise mannequin title, chances are you’ll be trying to find one thing too particular. Usually, there’s a broader household of printer fashions in the identical collection that use the identical or comparable software program. As a substitute of searching for the Canon Pixma TS9120, for instance, you might strive searching for the Pixma TS collection as an alternative. You may additionally wish to strive downloading the driving force for one more mannequin in the identical collection, because the software program could also be interoperable between fashions.
If it’s accessible, you may as well strive utilizing a distinct model of the driving force software program. You might not have the ability to discover the Home windows 10 driver you’re after, however what concerning the Home windows 8 model? Most drivers will provide at the least partial interoperability between OS variations, and will even provide an hyperlink or an automated replace characteristic that finds your elusive driver for you.
Ask the corporate immediately
If looking out fails, you’ll be able to attain out to the corporate itself. Most producers provide some form of chat-based tech assist, and you may strive asking for a direct hyperlink to the software program in your mannequin of printer. You too can attain out through e mail or social media. An e mail tackle for buyer assist needs to be simple to search out, but when not, simply ship a message to the corporate Twitter account or Fb web page.
Look to different sources
If even the corporate’s personal folks can’t give you the best software program, you’ll be able to attempt to discover the right drivers elsewhere. Whereas alternate sources will doubtless present up in the identical Google searches you probably did earlier, there are a number of most well-liked websites for locating outdated drivers.
The primary two are driver-specific websites: DriverScape.com and DriverGuide.com. Each provide a broad, searchable catalogue of downloads for fashions previous and new. Each websites are centered on Home windows drivers for all types of merchandise, however you received’t discover drivers for Mac or Linux working methods. In case you want choices for different working methods, you’ll be able to strive Softpedia.com or DriversBay.com, which supply sections devoted to MacOS and Linux drivers.
MORE: Kodak Photograph Printer Mini Overview: A Cellular Photograph Standout
In case you merely can’t discover the right driver for a non-Home windows system, you might additionally strive Gutenprint. This bundle of drivers ought to get you the place it is advisable to go, offering assist for 1000’s of inkjet and laser printers for MacOS and Linux working methods.
Strive a generic print driver
Lastly, should you merely can’t discover the drivers in your particular machine, there are nonetheless choices that may get your new machine printing. Home windows has its personal generic printer driver, referred to as Unidrv, which comes constructed into Home windows.
You may arrange your new printer by connecting it to your laptop, and discovering the “Gadgets and Printers” menu in your management panel. From that menu, choose the “Add a Printer” possibility, and when requested to put in the printer drive, choose “Generic” from the record of producers, then select printer possibility that greatest appears to suit your machine and wishes. The set up wizard will stroll you thru the remainder of the set up course of.
You might have to surrender among the extra superior options provided on the printer – you may even be caught printing textual content solely – however it could be sufficient to get you printing.
And, because the unique query requested about an HP printer particularly, you’ll be glad to know that HP additionally gives its personal common driver (opens in new tab) for Home windows. You will discover it on HP’s web site (opens in new tab), and it’ll obtain and set up similar to an ordinary driver bundle.
Credit score: Shutterstock
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