Windows 7 - I keep getting "File needed: Printer driver INF ..." No driver found

From a Windows 7, 64bit PC, I am trying to add an HP LaserJet 5100 printer that is connected to another machine on the network. The other machine's OS is XP home 32 bit. I first try adding a printer from Devices and Printers, choosing 'Add a network ... printer', choosing the printer that I want (hplaserjet5100pcl6 on ...) that pops up on the screen, and after waiting for it to install, get message 'No Driver Found'. I press OK, and am presented with 'File needed...' dialog box. I search around blindly for an .inf files that will work, all of them resulting in "windows cannot locate a suitable printer driver...". The other thing I have tried is going to the HP LaserJet 5100 driver page on the HP web site, choosing the driver page for windows 7, 64bit PC, and, being presented with several choices of drivers, I choose the most logical to me, HP Universal Print Driver For Windows PCL6. I download the .exe file, and then run it. The HP Universal Printing Installer comes up, so I agree to their terms, choose Tradition mode, click Install, and then I go through the same steps as before, Add a network ...printer,etc, finally ending with the same 'No driver found', etc. messages. What else can I try?

Hi ciccihal, try going through device manager > update driver> browse my computer and point to where the inf file resides

Please follow Pebbly's excellent directions.

This may help as well ...

http://h20331.www2.hp.com/Hpsub/down...nal,%20web.pdf

Problem is, I haven't a clue what the name of the correct .inf file is called or where it is located on my computer. Also I can't update the printer driver in device manager because printer doesn't exist there yet ... I haven't been able to install it yet because I can't find the inf file that it needs to be installed.

This is where your print drivers should be located on your hard drive:

C:\HP Universal Print Driver\pcl6-x64-5.4.0.11744

cincihal, download this driver http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...5&mode=4&idx=0 It's a self extracting .exe file , create a folder on your desktop and extract the file to it , inside you will find a .inf file , point windows to this

nice one Lemur +1

Thanks Pebbly. Just installed it on my drive to see where it went.

Still not working. Here is what I did:

1. Downloaded upd-pcl6-x64-5.4.0.17744.exe that Pebbly linked to.

2. Double clicked upd-pcl6-x64-5.4.0.17744.exe and clicked Unzip

3. In User Account Control window that popped up, it asked ‘Do you want to allow the following program to make changes …, I clicked Yes.

4. In the HP Universal Printing Installer that popped up, I

a. Clicked Yes to agree to the terms of use.

b. Clicked the Traditional Mode radio button

c. Clicked Install

d. Clicked ‘Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer’

e. Chose the hplaserjet5100pcl6 printer in the list of printers and clicked Next

f. ‘Window Printer Installation’ window pops up with ‘Connecting to hplaserjet5100pcl on …’ ‘Checking Windows Update. This might take a while…’

g. ‘Connect to Printer’ window pops up with ‘ No driver found’ ‘ Windows can’t find a driver for HP LaserJet 5100 PCL 6 on the network. To locate one manually, click OK. Otherwise, click Cancel and consult …’ I click OK

h. A window titled ‘File needed: Printer driver INF for HP LaserJet 5100 PCL 6’ pops up with ‘The file ‘*.INF’ on (Unknown) is needed.’ ‘Type the path where the file is located, and then click OK.’ I click on the Browse button and it opens the ‘Locate File’ window already at the path of C/HP Universal Print Driver/ pcl6-x64-5.4.0.17744/. This window lists 11 .inf files. At this point I am not sure what to do so I try a couple of things. I first try clinking on one of the .inf files and then clicking Open. This just closes ‘Locate File’ window and I’m faced again with the ‘File needed: Printer driver INF for HP LaserJet 5100 PCL 6’ window. Clicking the OK button in this window brings up the ‘Add Printer’ window with ‘Windows cannot locate a suitable diver. Contact your administrator for help locating and installing a suitable driver.’

What Should I try next?

Do you have the installation disk for the printer? If so, put it in the Win 7 computer and install it.