Windows 10: W10 Didn't install my printers and can't even see them

I have two common home printers, Lexmark inkjet and HP laserjet on a home network, and when I upgraded from W7 to W10 they were not installed. The W10 network scan brought up nothing, even though both printers were switched on and 'awake'. Even with the laptop placed right next to the printers, still nothing! So I now have no way of printing and no way of installing a printer! Thanks MSoft. Can anyone help at all?
*Mad

PS: I also have blurry fonts, and I see from this forum and the web in general that that's a whole separate world of grief!

:)

 

Windows 10 driver for CanoScan 9950F.

Hi BrianBarber,

I upgraded my 3rd and last PC to W10. This one has peripherals, a Canon printer : Pixma IP4300 and a scanner : Canoscan 9950F.

Both are running well with W10.

Concerning the printer. I tried to install the downloaded driver with no success. W10 didn't even detect it. Then I uninstalled the driver and used the old setup DVD (the one given with the printer), with not much hope.

I was wrong ! As soon as the driver was installed, my printer jumped to life. I printed a pdf file for test : OK !

Concerning the scanner. Upgrading to W10 transfered the toolbox from W7 (V4.9) to W10 and it runs well too. I successfully made a test scan. I didn't reinstall the driver.

In fact I did nothing, Windows did it. I didn't took note of the driver version Windows installed, but if you want, I'll do it.

In brief : our (very good) scanner is compatible.

 

HP Scanner stopped working

At least before my printer worked and only the scanner didn't. Now the printer won't even work because I can't install the driver. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

It does help to know the model numbers of both printers and how they are connected. Also have you installed the manufacturer software, and is the connection set for "Private", when you open the Network & Sharing Center from the Control Panel?

Also what has the blurry fonts? And what is the full model number of your Toshiba Satellite, not just the model group info. There are 10 different versions of that Group for that laptop.

 

Hi, many thanks for replying, and sorry for not providing enough info. I've updated my spec.

The Toshiba laptop is a Satellite Pro L670-18F. Part No. PSK3FE-01L00QEN

The printers are:
Printer 1 - HP LaserJet 100 Color MFP M175nw
Printer 2 - Lexmark Inkjet Prestige Pro 805

The blurry fonts are wherever there is normal text, e.g. Edge, Office, everywhere really. There is a thread on this and some kind of workaround is discussed, but it doesn't seem to work for everyone. It's nothing to do with display drivers; it's a MSoft move to make text appear best on mobile devices (and to hell with the rest of us with laptops and desktops). I would hope the furore about it on the Web will make MSoft implement a fix/option in a forthcoming W10 release.

 

Did you try going to Devices and Printers > Add a Printer ? Printers should be turned on and internet active.

 

Yes, and no devices found.

 

I have just found out that w10 fails to detect and install any networked printers (at least for me). w8.1 just did it fine. You must install them manually.

 

I'd hesitate to generalize like that, but I have a network printer connected by Ethernet to the router.

I had to install it manually. I used the Win 8.1 installer package.

 

Is there a way I can install printers if W10 says it can't find any devices on my network?

 

Perhaps the Manufacturers Installation software will find your printer(s). That is how it is with my Canon printer.
You may need to visit your manufacturers web site and download the most current install software.

 

I had exactly the same problem with my networked HP inkjet printer: Win8.1 found and installed it with no problem, Win10 couldn't even see it!

What worked for me was downloading the latest Full Software suite package from HP and running that. It found the printer, installed the drivers, and installed the supporting HP software.

 

I also had a problem with my networked HP printer. Win10 correctly identified the printer but installed the wrong driver and didn't install any of HP software. I also downloaded the correct drivers and software direct from HP and installed. Everything then worked fine

 

Many thanks for all the suggestions. I will try another install of W10 (having rolled back to the comparative luxury of W7) and see if I can overcome W10's incompetence.

 

Why are you thinking that a second install will suddenly make Win10 smart?? There have been cases where a clean install worked better largely because the "cruft" of the in-place upgrade was no longer there. But multiple clean installs are not going to work any better than the first one.

More and more folks are posting about Win10 not seeing their printers or not installing the right printer drivers. In all cases, installing the Win8.x drivers and software from the printer manufacturer solved the problem.