I’ve installed thousands of printer drivers both for work and at home. In my experience installing printer drivers takes between 5 and 15 minutes on average. I’ve had a few exceptions, some only took a minute while others took nearly an hour.
Although, the longer time was expected since it was a Fiery PS driver with many, many extras. If installing your home printer is taking more than 20 minutes chances are something is wrong.
When I run into a printer driver having issues installing, I’ve found its due to these reasons:
- The install program is corrupt. Download a fresh copy and try again.
- Not having admin rights. Login as admin or launch program as admin.
- Wrong architecture. Use 32 bit drivers in 32 bit environments. Same for 64 bit print drivers
- The setup program cannot detect the printer. Verify the correct printer driver is being used.
- Issues with the PC. The HDD is full, nearly full, too many apps opened, or the PC has a virus.
Printer Driver Install Problems
The most common reason I find installing printer drivers fails is because the install program is corrupt. It can happen to any file you download.
Since manufacturers rarely send drivers on CD anymore, you have to get the printer drivers from their website. Which is good because you get the latest printer driver. But there’s a slim change it can get corrupted.
Delete the printer driver package you downloaded, reboot the computer to clear the temp files, then download a fresh copy of the printer driver package.
Whenever possible, I use the printer manufacturers website to download printer drivers. The only 3rd party drivers I use are Gutenprint.
If for some reason you can’t find a printer driver then use a universal printer driver. I do not recommend using printer drivers from other websites.
Printer Driver Install with Admin Rights
The next common reason print driver installs fail is due to admin rights. If you’re lucky the operating system or client software will warn you about it.
Otherwise I’ve seen print driver installs finish but no printer ever shows in the queue list. Other times without the proper rights driver installs will hang up, roll back, crash, or give an error.
I got in the habit of right clicking and selecting run as admin for every install just in case.
Printer Driver Architecture Conflicts
This goes hand in hand with a mismatched model. When downloading a printer driver be sure to get the correct driver for your model printer as well as your OS architecture.
It’s possible to get a 64 bit printer driver for a 32 bit OS. Support pages from HP and Canon will detect your OS to prevent a mismatch. You can also check your version of Windows by right clicking on the start button and selecting System.
A mismatch can also happen when installing a shared printer or transferring a printer driver from one PC to another PC. If the printer driver package isn’t a match for your OS it can cause the installation to fail.
Additional Printer drivers can be added to shared printers from the host computer. Before transferring printer drivers make sure the OS architectures match.
Printer Not Detected Workaround
A printer driver can have issues installing if it can’t detect the printer. Some printer drivers search for a specific model before continuing with the installation.
I’ve seen cases where the printer driver detects a printer, just not the correct printer. Be sure you have the correct driver and the printer is connected.
One way around this is to choose an existing port: LPT1. If the printer driver install gives you the option you can choose LPT1 to continue the installation. Then address the connection issue later.
Another option is to install using the .inf file. This avoids the printer driver setup package altogether. Instead of launching the setup package, launch the Windows add printer wizard.
Step 1
Hold the Windows key + R to open the run box. Type control printers then hit enter or click Ok.
Step 2
From the Devices and Printers panel click Add a printer.
Step 3
Click The printer that I want isn’t listed.
Step 4
Select Add a local printer or network printer with manual settings. Then click next.
Step 5
Select Use an existing port (LPT1) then click next. You can add the network or USB port later.
Step 6
Click on have disk an browse to the .inf file.
Other Printer Driver Install Problems
If the other issues have been eliminated it’s likely there’s a problem with the PC itself. Not enough HDD space, low memory, or too many programs open can cause printer driver installation issues.
Close other apps, clean up the disk, scan for viruses, or run system file checker. Corrupt system files, viruses, or previous failed installs can cause printer driver installations to hang up.
Once a printer driver installation fails the incomplete installation is still in the temp folder. You have to reboot or run disk cleanup to get rid of the failed installation. Then you can try again.
How to Know If Printer Driver Installed Successfully
How you installed the printer driver will determine how to check the printer driver installed successfully. Printer driver setup programs have different screens than Windows installers.
If your printer driver installs successfully in Windows 10 then the last screen will ask if you want to print a test page. You can click finish or print as many test pages as you want.
Setup programs from manufacturers don’t always have completion screens. In those cases you have to check to see if the print queue was created.
You can open the Devices and Printers window to see if your printer was added:
Step 1
Hold the Windows key + R to open the run box. Type control printers then hit enter or click Ok.
Step 2
From the Devices and Printers panel select any printer to make the Print server properties appear. Click it and look in the drivers tab for your printer driver.
Another way to tell if the printer driver installed correctly is to open an app and try to print something. Most apps only check for new printers when they are first opened. So if your app was opened while you installed the printer it won’t see the new printer.
Close and reopen an app before checking for your new printer.
Summary
That has been my experience installing printer drivers. An average printer driver install only takes a few minutes. If your printer driver install is taking longer there is likely an issue.
Use the methods discussed to resolve any issues. Then verify the printer driver finished installing.
FAQ
Printer drivers take between 5 and 15 minutes to install.
A printer will show in your list of available printers after your printer driver finishes installing. Apps need closed and reopened to refresh available printers.
In my experience printer drivers fail to install due to these reasons:
1. The install program is corrupt. Download a fresh copy and try again.
2. Not having admin rights. Login as admin or launch program as admin.
3. Wrong architecture. Use 32 bit drivers in 32 bit environments. Same for 64 bit print drivers
4. The setup program cannot detect the printer. Verify the correct printer driver is being used.
It allows you to use your printer from a computer. A printer requires a means of communication with your computer. They aren’t advanced enough to do this on their own.
The Copier Guy, aka Dave. I’ve worked on scanners, printers, copiers, and faxes since 1994. When I’m not fixing them I’m writing about them. Although, I’m probably better at fixing them. I’ve worked with every major brand. As well as several types of processes. If it uses paper I’ve probably worked on one.
