If you need to reinstall your printer driver, most likely it went something like this. You bought a new printer or for some reason need to install the printer again. You go through the installation and you get this message: “Unable to install printer. The printer processor does not exist.”
Error messages are always frustrating and this one seems to always come when you really need to print something out. It never comes when you have the time or the patience to figure out what is wrong. Therefore, here are some quick ways to fix this error message quickly and easily.
Reinstalling the Printer Driver Manually
This method will only work if you have the installation software that came with the printer. If you do not have the installation software, then you will need to skip this section and go directly to the “Reinstalling the Printer Driver Automatically” section.
- Place the installation CD in the drive. If it tries to autorun, stop it.
- Click Start
- Click Control Panel
- Select Printer and Faxes or Printer and Other Hardware
- Select Add a New Printer
- Run the Hardware Wizard
- Select “Search automatically for updated driver software”
- Follow the onscreen instructions
After you have finished the Hardware Wizard, print out a test page to make sure everything is working correctly. If you are still having problems, then continue on to the next section.
Reinstalling the Printer Driver Automatically
If the previous method did not work or if you want to skip it and go to a method that is guaranteed to find the correct and most recent drivers for your printer, then this method will work.
First, you need to go online and find a highly rated driver update software. You will want to look for a 5 cow rating from Tucows or some other rating service. Additionally, you will want to find one that works for Windows 7, Vista, XP, and Windows 2000. This will let you know the software keeps up to date with a wide variety of platforms. At the very least, it needs to work with your Windows operating system.
Next, you will want to download the software and run the scan. It should list your printer as needing a driver. At that point, you will need to purchase the software to download the new drivers. Do not be surprised if it finds multiple drivers on your computer that need updating. This is normal and to be expected.
Finally, download and install the printer driver and any other drivers it finds. The whole process from scanning to finding and downloading the drivers will only take a couple of minutes. After you finish, you may be prompted to restart your computer. Once you restart your computer, your printer will be working correctly.
How Did My Drivers Become Outdated?
Software companies continuously update their drivers to make them run better and to coincide with the Windows Update. When this happens, your drivers become outdated and you don’t even know what happened. Therefore, it is a good idea to check for driver updates at regular intervals.
