Windows 10: "Unobtainable" printer drivers?

I recently purchased a new system to replace my ageing Surface Pro 2. The Surface Pro 2 had an Epson Stylus Photo R260 attached on a USB port and was also connected through our LAN to an HP Laserjet 1200 via a TCP/IP port. I should note that all the systems in our network are running Win 10 Pro 64.

When I tried to set up the printers on my new system, however, I found that the Window print driver store no longer had the specific drivers for these printers, but had some new "universal" drivers. Unfortunately neither of these actually worked correctly. The HP universal driver merely errored out and the Epson driver blurred and overprinted text.

I've done some searching but have not yet found a source for the older drivers that actually work. Of course my old (and other systems) have the correct drivers.

So the help I need to ask for is:
1) Does anyone know of a source of historical drivers beyond what Microsoft is showing, or
2) Can anyone guide me as to how to move the correct drivers from one of my old systems to my new one?

I certainly appreciate any advice anyone might have.

:)

 

printer driver is unavailable

Hi Robert,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

I regret the inconvenience caused to you. We will be glad to assist you with this issue.

It would be grateful if you can reply to this question in order to assist you further:

• How exactly did you try to download the drivers?
• Did you try to check if the printer driver's are shown in the device manager?

Let's try the following steps and check if it helps:

Step 1: Run Hardware and device Troubleshooter.

• Type troubleshooting in the search bar and select it.
• Select View all on the top left corner.
• Click Hardware and device
  troubleshooter.
• Follow the on-screen instructions to run the troubleshooter.
• Check if issue persists.

Step 2: I suggest you to visit the manufacturer website of the printer and download and install the latest drivers and check if it helps.

Let us know the status of the issue. We will be glad to assist you further.

Thank you.

 

printer driver

Hi Catherine,

We need to clarify a few things first for us to better understand your printer concern. Kindly answer the following:

• Are you having an issue using your printer or downloading the driver for your printer?
• If you're having an issue downloading the driver for your printer, can you please tell us how do you download the its driver? Kindly provide us the step-by-step process on how you do it.
• Are you encountering an error message when you attempt to download the driver for your printer? We strongly recommend that you post a screenshot of the issue here for us to further investigate your concern.
• If the issue is with the printer itself, are you having a problem in printing or scanning? What is happening when you attempt to print or scan?

 

Windows 10 and Printer Drivers

Hi Kathryn,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community.

1) What is the make and model of the printer?

2) Have you installed all the latest drivers for the printer?

I suggest you to make printer as a default printer you can follow the below steps:

• Press Windows key+ X and select
  device manager.
• Select devices and printers
• Right click on the printer you want to use, and then click
  set as default printer (You'll see a check mark on the printer's icon signifying that it's now your default printer).

I also recommend you to run the print troubleshooter to check the issue.

• 
  Type troubleshooter in the search box and then press enter.
  
• 
  In the left pane click on View all.
  
• 
  Select the printer option and
  follow the on screen instructions.
  

Please reply to us with the status of the issue.

Thanks.