How do we save an old already installed HP printer driver on Windows 10 for future use?

[ultred ragnusen]

How do we save an old already installed HP printer driver on Windows 10 for
future use?
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=1786454Clipboard01.jpg

Windows Update bricked my old hard drive so I'm forced to set up Microsoft
Windows again, starting from scratch, on a new blank hard drive.

All I ever want is to have my software archives contain the drivers I know
I will need, one of which is the basic driver for the HP LaserJet 2100TN.

a. HP no longer supplies the printer driver for the Laserjet 2100
b. Microsoft doesn't supply the printer driver in Windows 10
c. You have to run a temporary "windows update" to install the driver

OK. I did that. It took about an hour for the Windows Update to finish, and
then I was able to select the basic HP laserjet 2100 driver and then my
networked printer worked fine.

All I want is to /save/ that printer driver.

Even now, Windows Update is not working well so I'm sure Windows Update
will brick my system again (and again, and again, and again).

How do I save the now-installed printer driver for future use now that it's
installed on Windows 10?

[Andy Burns]

ultred ragnusen wrote:

> It took about an hour for the Windows Update to finish

I have often wondered why the windows update method downloads drivers
*so* slowly?

> How do I save the now-installed printer driver for future use now that it's
> installed on Windows 10?

The files required to remotely connect a driver from one machine to
another should be under

C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\
aka \\hostname\print$

The added wrinkle is for variations between 64 and 32 bit machines
(thankfully the old wrinkle of differences between intel/alpha/mips/ppc
machines went away).

You should be able to make use of the remote install by sharing the
printer via networking, then the other machine will work out which
driver files it needs and copy them for itself

With a bit of detective work you can do it all manually, copying the
files like for like, running regsvr32 on the DLLs, it's a long time
since I had to stoop to doing it that way ...

Or you might find the relevant C:\Windows\INF\OEM*.?nf files
a manual process that involves hunting down any related files

[ultred ragnusen]

wrote:

> The files required to remotely connect a driver from one machine to
> another should be under
> C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\

Thank you for helping me and others out answering this printer driver
archival question for drivers that are getting harder and harder to obtain
on the fly.

The 64-bit system is brand new so it only has the default 64-bit Windows 10
printers, plus the HP 2100TN printer driver uploaded from the hour-long
printer "windows update".
- Fax
- Microsoft Print to PDF
- Microsoft XPS Document Writer
- HP LasterJet 2100 PCL6

In C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\ are four directories
- color
- IA64
- W32X86
- x64

Here is a screenshot of the above:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=6986137Clipboard02.jpg

The "IA64" directory is empty, and the HP Laserjet 2100 is not a color
printer, so I assume the driver I need to archive is somewhere inside
either of the two remaining folders, each of which contains 3 and 4 folders
but some are empty such that they each contain only these two populated
folders:
- 3
- PCC

Where the files inside each PCC directory are all "cab" files, but inside
the W32X86 "3" folder are the following 4 files, all dated 9/29/2017:
- mxdwdrv.dll
- PrintConfig.dll
- unishare.gpd
- unishare-pipelineconfig.xml

And inside the X64 "3" folder are far more files of mostly the same date
but a couple of which start with HP:
- HPLJ21P6.BUD
- HPLJ21P6.GPD

Here is a screenshot of that X64 "3" directory, sorted by file type:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=4489340Clipboard03.jpg

The HP BUD file is abinary but the HP GPD file is text, which confirms in
its header that it's related to the HP printer driver that the temporary
Microsoft Windows update process must have installed.
*%% HP LaserJet 2100 Series PCL
*%% Copyright 1998 - 1999, Microsoft Corp.
*%% All Rights Reserved.
*%% Model Specific Global Entries
*GPDFileName: "HPLJ21P6.GPD"
*ModelName: "HP LaserJet 2100 PCL6"
*MaxCopies: 32767
*PrintRate: 10
*PrintRatePPM: 10
*PrintRateUnit: PPM
etc.

From that, do you think this is the directory to archive?
C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\X64\3\

> aka \\hostname\print$
I couldn't get that command to work, so I will ignore it for now.

> The added wrinkle is for variations between 64 and 32 bit machines
> (thankfully the old wrinkle of differences between intel/alpha/mips/ppc
> machines went away).

I am all 64 bit as far as I know (although I have no idea what the driver
was that Microsoft uploaded during that special manual printer-related
Windows Update when I tried to install the printer driver.

> You should be able to make use of the remote install by sharing the
> printer via networking, then the other machine will work out which
> driver files it needs and copy them for itself

I would rather just /save/ just the necessary printer drivers that the
special printer-setup Microsoft Update uploaded, which I could do if I knew
what to save to my backup media.

> With a bit of detective work you can do it all manually, copying the
> files like for like, running regsvr32 on the DLLs, it's a long time
> since I had to stoop to doing it that way ...

I'm not familiar with "regsvr32" but a quick search shows it's a way to
"register" DLLs using the command syntaqx:
regsvr32 /u myfile.dll
https://www.lifewire.com/regsvr32-what-it-is-how-to-register-dlls-2623958

> Or you might find the relevant C:\Windows\INF\OEM*.?nf files
> a manual process that involves hunting down any related files

That directory has almost a thousand items, only one of which starts with
hp:
- hpsamd.inf

This HP inf text file is 202 lines long, where the header indicates it's
related to HP in some manner.
;Copyright (c) 2004-2011 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.
;HP Confidential.
[version]
Signature="$WINDOWS NT$"
etc.

I'm not sure what I would do with this file though.

[Andy Burns]

ultred ragnusen wrote:

> From that, do you think this is the directory to archive?
> C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\X64\3\

Looks like a winner

> I'm not familiar with "regsvr32" but a quick search shows it's a way to
> "register" DLLs using the command syntaqx:

Yes, some DLLs need to register themselves before they'll work

> That directory has almost a thousand items, only one of which starts with
> hp:
> - hpsamd.inf

They can be called OEMnnn.?n where nnn is a sequential number, suggest
you search for files containing HP or 2100 or whatever, it might be that
printers don't put files in the INF folder (.inf files are text, the
.pnf files are pre-compiled versions of the same thing, think you can
ignore those).

> This HP inf text file is 202 lines long, where the header indicates it's
> related to HP in some manner.
> ;Copyright (c) 2004-2011 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. ALL
> RIGHTS RESERVED.
> ;HP Confidential.
> [version]
> Signature="$WINDOWS NT$"
> etc.

if it doesn't hint at being laserjet related ignore it,

> I'm not sure what I would do with this file though.

your best bet to see if you have all the files you need, is copy them to
a different machine, that doesn't already know about the the LJ2100,
stop and start the spooler, and see if you go to change the driver for
an other printer, does LJ2100 show up on the list?

It's a long time since I tweaked around with this stuff ...

p.s. another nym?

[dg1261]

ultred ragnusen <ult...@ragnusen.com> wrote in
news:17awxppsq5nkw$.98ex5w6sx8kj$.d...@40tude.net:

> How do I save the now-installed printer driver for future use now that
> it's installed on Windows 10?

You could also try Double Driver (http://www.boozet.org/dd.htm). It scans
your current system and backs up drivers for subsequent reinstallation.

It doesn't say so, but it does work just fine on Win8/10 as well as earlier
OSes. I have used it to backup Win10 drivers. My habit is to "run as
administrator", but I'm not sure that's actually necessary.

[ultred ragnusen]

wrote:

> You could also try Double Driver (http://www.boozet.org/dd.htm). It scans
> your current system and backs up drivers for subsequent reinstallation.
>
> It doesn't say so, but it does work just fine on Win8/10 as well as earlier
> OSes. I have used it to backup Win10 drivers. My habit is to "run as
> administrator", but I'm not sure that's actually necessary.

Thank you for that helpful advice, which raised my hopes high, but,
unfortunately, through no fault of yours, the links for DD are all
seemingly dead.

http://www.boozet.org/download.htm

This points to two different mirrors, which go to dropbox and ubuntuone
sites, but all appear to have been wiped out prior to my visit.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1101915/download/double_driver_4.1.0_portable.zip
http://ubuntuone.com/p/BY7/

The idea, of collecting printer drivers, after the fact, is a good one - so
I am searching for similar software, in the hopes that it exists.

[ultred ragnusen]

wrote:

> The idea, of collecting printer drivers, after the fact, is a good one - so
> I am searching for similar software, in the hopes that it exists.

Some options I will explore to back up the HP LJ2100 printer driver, after
it is installed by the temporary Windows Update install-printer process.

Microsoft Print Migrator Software Utility
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-tools/Other-Office-Tools/Print-Migrator.shtml
https://www.thetechmentor.com/posts/how-to-backup-printer-drivers-and-restore-them-on-another-computer/
http://www.freedownload64.com/details/188718/microsoft-print-migrator.html
http://microsoft-print-migrator.sharewarejunction.com/

DriverMax, SlimDrivers, DriverBackup, Driver Magician
https://www.raymond.cc/blog/how-to-backup-your-drivers/

DriverBack, DriverMax
https://www.pcworld.com/article/151125/backup_drivers.html

OSToto Driver Talent
https://www.drivethelife.com/windows-drivers/how-to-backup-driver-on-windows-10-8-7-xp-vista.html

Here's a link to an archived DoubleDriver
https://www.techspot.com/downloads/6179-double-driver.html
https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/doubledriver.htm

[ultred ragnusen]

wrote:

> Here's a link to an archived DoubleDriver
> https://www.techspot.com/downloads/6179-double-driver.html
> https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/doubledriver.htm

Double Driver is simple to use, but it doesn't even /see/ installed printer
drivers.

The spool directory, for example, is completely missed even if you
/manually/ try to archive it with Double Driver.

[Zaidy036]

Another driver backup is DrvBK
<https://sourceforge.net/projects/drvback/> I use in Win 7 but reported
to work in 8.1 and 10

--
Zaidy036

[ultred ragnusen]

wrote:

> Another driver backup is DrvBK
> <https://sourceforge.net/projects/drvback/> I use in Win 7 but reported
> to work in 8.1 and 10

Thanks for that suggestion as the Microsoft Print Migration utility
apparently no longer works for any OS after those shipped in 2003 and the
DoubleDriver does back up drivers, but it completely ignores printer
drivers.

Others I need to still teste are:

DriverMax, SlimDrivers, DriverBackup, Driver Magician

DriverBack, DriverMax & OSToto Driver Talent

[ultred ragnusen]

wrote:

> Another driver backup is DrvBK
> <https://sourceforge.net/projects/drvback/> I use in Win 7 but reported
> to work in 8.1 and 10

Since DoubleDriver failed to even /find/ the HP printer drivers, I tried
this suggestion of DrvBack from Sourceforge, which also failed to even
/find/ the HP printer drivers.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/drvback/files/latest/download

The DrvBack program ran fine after it installed .NET Framework 3.5:
http://wetakepic.com/images/2018/02/17/Clipboard04.jpg

Here is a screenshot with the "Third parts" third-party filter selected:
http://wetakepic.com/images/2018/02/17/Clipboard05.jpg

And here's a screenshot of the "Oem" filter selected:
http://wetakepic.com/images/2018/02/17/Clipboard06.jpg

As with the DoubleDriver output, the only thing even remotely resembling
the HP Printer Driver that is installed by the temporary Windows Update is
something called "Local Print Queue", but what is that?
http://wetakepic.com/images/2018/02/17/Clipboard07.jpg

Fundamentally, there's something /different/ about the driver installed by
Microsoft temporary printer update such that this installed driver does not
show up in DoubleDrive or DrvBack driver backup programs.

But what is different about printer drivers from normal drivers?

[Mark]

On Tue, 13 Feb 2018 18:04:47 -0800, ultred ragnusen
<ult...@ragnusen.com> wrote:

>How do we save an old already installed HP printer driver on Windows 10 for
>future use?
>http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=1786454Clipboard01.jpg

Unfortunately I can't help you here. In the future avoid HP printers
since they drop support (i.e. driver downloads) very quickly.

--
<insert witty sig here>

[mike]

check out double driver backup.

[Ragnusen Ultred]

Am Fri, 23 Mar 2018 10:35:51 -0700, schrieb mike:

>> Unfortunately I can't help you here. In the future avoid HP printers
>> since they drop support (i.e. driver downloads) very quickly.
>>
> check out double driver backup.

DD, unfortunately, doesn't work on HP printer drivers.

Ask me how I know that.

[Gernot Hassenpflug]

Assuming it was a package from HP, then just keep the installer file
around.
Note that a lot of the HP printers work under gutenprint, the open
source project that supports a ton of inkjet printers, and recently also
added supported for hundreds of PCL-based lasers also.
gutenprint does not run under Windows (at least there is no official
port thereof), but does run under any linux system and MacOSX.
--
NNTP on Emacs 25.2 from Windows 7