Today, the printer is a very important device. With a typewriter, you not only print documents, you scan and fax documents.
Printer drivers are the base of communication between the device and the printer. Encountering an issue with the printer driver, such as Printer Driver is unavailable, indicates a serious issue and stops your printer from printing or performing any other function. Driver not available printer could be of any brand, i.e., HP, canon, brothers, Epson, and many others; however, the troubleshooting steps don’t change. Hence, if you are also the one who is encountering the “Windows printer driver is unavailable” error on your screen, then read the troubleshooting instructions shown below and follow them to fix it.
This article aims to help users whose printer says driver unavailable and then blocks printing functions. We’ll discuss all the possible solutions that fix driver not available errors on Windows.
WHAT IS A PRINTER DRIVER? A printer driver is a computer program that lets your computer communicate with your printer like a software program.
The printer receives the translated message and functions accordingly. If your printer driver not available on your computer, the printer won’t ever give any print result to you.
The latest printer drivers are available to download below.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN MY PRINTER SAYS DRIVER UNAVAILABLE? Printer Driver is Unavailable means the installed printer drivers on your Windows PC are not working or activated. It signifies that a corrupt, missing, or outdated driver may occur the issue, though easy fixes are available. The disabled or not installed printer drivers also display the driver not available printer errors.
WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE CAUSES? There are several reasons for the Windows printer driver is unavailable error. The most commons reason are mentioned below;
No printer drivers on Windows Outdated or older drivers Missing printer drivers Crashed programs Corrupted drivers eSoftSafe Driver Update Pro is the best option to quickly fix and update your printer drivers.
HOW TO FIX WHEN PRINTER DRIVER IS UNAVAILABLE ON YOUR WINDOWS SYSTEM? There are a few ways to fix the “windows printer driver is unavailable” or “driver not available printer” error.
The guide below will help you learn the fix. Also, try the first fix first; if the first doesn’t work for you, try the second and then the third, and so on. Let’s fix your printer drivers issue –
Fix 1 —Connect your printer to Windows PC Again It’s not always necessary that if your printer says driver unavailable, then the driver isn’t available, and it could be a connection issue as well. If the Windows computer and your printer are not connected properly, the printer can’t detect anything on the PC, resulting in no printing. Therefore, retry reconnecting both devices –
Open Control Panel from the Windows menu. Under the Hardware and Sound, click on the View devices and printers option. Right-click on your printer model name and select remove device in the context menu. This method is preferred and suitable for the plug-and-play printer. If the reconnection fix still shows the unavailable printer driver issue, try fix 2.
Fix 2 — Find and update compatible printer drivers Outdated drivers are the most common reason for driver not available error, and updating these drivers is the perfect way to fix it. Using a Driver Updater tool, we’ve mentioned an automatic way to find and update the right printer drivers on your Windows PC.
Download the eSoftSafe Driver Updater Pro tool Open and double-click on the driverupdaterprosetup.exe file. Click Yes to allow installation and Click next. Accept the license agreement and finish the installation. Launch the Driver Updater Pro on your windows to scan the pc automatically. If updating your outdated drivers doesn’t fix the issue, try fix 3.
Fix 3 — Manually update the printer driver from Windows Manually updating the driver is quite a long process for some users. But when an automatic update doesn’t work, the manual update can help when your printer says driver unavailable.
Press Windows + R keys. Type devmgmt.msc in the box and press Enter. You can also use Start Menu to open Device Manager. Select your printer device and open the Print Queues submenu. Right-click on your printer name and click Update driver. Click on the driver and download wushowhide.diagcab setup from Microsoft. Install the setup and go next to select the Hide updates option. The eSoftSafe PC Cleaner Pro automatically scans for all the corrupt files and windows junk. It may also help clean the useless files and drivers to allow you to install new printer drivers.
If reinstallation has not fixed the issue and displays the same “windows printer driver is unavailable” error, then run a troubleshooter to fix it.
Fix 4 — Run the printer troubleshooter on Windows Windows printer troubleshooter finds the actual issue and fixes it automatically. To run the troubleshooter;
Press the Windows + I key on your keyboard. Open the Devices tab. Select Printers & Scanners in the left panel. Click on your printer name and select Manage. Fix 5- Update your Windows system If you’ve tried all the above fixes, but the driver is not available, and the printer has no issue, maybe your Windows OS older version is blocking your printer driver from communicating with the printer device. Hence, update your Windows OS with the below steps;
Click on the Windows icon in the left corner. Click the Settings icon. Navigate to the Update & Security tab and click on it. Fix 6 — Install Generic Printer Driver Suppose anything above has not resolved the driver unavailability error message. In that case, it’s possible that the Windows system is detecting your printer as an unknown device and not taking its name or model number. In this case, installing a generic printer driver is the only solution.
Open Device Manager in windows using the start menu. If your printer isn’t enlisted, see the Unknown Devices category. Right-click and select the Update Driver option. Select Browse my computer for drivers. We recommend going above mentioned fixes first. If nothing solves your “printer driver is unavailable” error, try this Fix because installing a generic printer driver can block Printer functionality.
Also try this…
Automatic Driver Fixer If you don’t want to waste your time going through all the manual instructions and fixes shown above, we’ve one automatic solution for you — eSoftSafe Driver Updater Pro. Install this Driver Updater tool on your Windows PC, and it’ll scan all available, unavailable, missing, corrupt, and outdated drivers of your printer. We’ve mentioned the download steps in Fix 2 above. A list will tell you all about your printer drivers where you need to click on FIX NOW tab to solve the “Printer Driver is Unavailable” error in one click. Three steps for an automatic fix –
Step 1– Install eSoftSafe Driver Updater Pro
Step 2- Run the program and scan the windows PC.
Step 3 — Fix and update printer drivers.
We hope the printer works perfectly to perform its different functions without any “driver not available” or “driver unavailable” error.
We hope that one of the solutions above will be effective for you in fixing a driver unavailable error. But if the same problem persists then don’t go! We have engineer technical team for better maintenance. So, connect directly with them by making an instant call to the provided hotline anytime and from anywhere in the world. Your problem will be 100% solved.
Reference blog = Printer Driver is Unavailable
