HP Laserjet 1200 No Go on Network

[McPC]

Unable to get an HP Laserjet 1200 printer set up over my network. Running Win7 Professional 64 bit.

I can see then printer when browsing network for printer but Windows insists on searching Windows Update, striking out and when browsing for other files I can't get any other HP *.inf files (both 32 & 64bit) I downloaded to take without crashing with errors.

I connected the printer directly to my PC with a USB cable and Windows instantly recognized it and installed a driver for it. But still can't connect with it's hooked up on another workstation. Yes, it's set up for sharing on the other network PC. Any ideas?

 

[kegobeer]

Which 1200 do you have - the 1200, 1200n, or 1200se?

 

[McPC]

Which 1200 do you have - the 1200, 1200n, or 1200se?

I have the Laserjet 1200

 

[kegobeer]

And the printer is connected to another workstation and shared out? What operating system does the other workstation use?

Have you tried creating a local printer port, like this:

Start the Add a printer wizard.
Choose Add a local printer.
Click on Create a new port. Use Local Port.
In the Enter a Port Name box, type the path to the printer:
\\(computer name)\(printer name)

I'm away from my Windows 7 computer, so I posted the Vista instructions for adding a local printer port. See if that works.

 

[McPC]

Kegobeer I owe you a beer! Your instructions worked like a charm.

Not sure why Win7 wouldn't connect to the printer normally as it did with with Vista. The machine I am connecting to the printer through is a XP pro machine.

Thanks, problem solved!

 

[troels]

But it will not last. You have a host printer - no good on a network.

 

[kegobeer]

Kegobeer I owe you a beer! Your instructions worked like a charm.

Not sure why Win7 wouldn't connect to the printer normally as it did with with Vista. The machine I am connecting to the printer through is a XP pro machine.

Thanks, problem solved!

Glad I could help.

 

[KubesChaos]

kegobeer, Your the Man!! This thread helped me out greatly!! Thanks.

 

[Goshenville5]

Networking Win7 HP Laserjet 1200 to WinXP computers

I have a new computer running Win7 64-bit and just installed my HP Laserjet 1200 on it. In the Devices and Printers window, it is identified as "HP LaserJet 1200 Series PCL 5". I need to share the printer with several computers running Win XP 32-bit on our family network, but couldn't do it because of the driver mismatch (just got an error message). So I downloaded the HP Laserjet 1200/1220 PCL 5e driver for Win XP from the HP website and extracted all the files to a new folder on the Win7 computer, including the hpbf311i.inf file. However, when I clicked on the "Additional Drivers..." button in the Sharing tab of the printer property box and tried to add the hpbf311i.inf file, I got an error message (something about the architecture being wrong).

SOLUTION (for me at least): The printer name in the .inf file must be EXACTLY the same as printer name in the Win7 Devices and Printers window or the driver will not install. I edited the following lines in the .inf file

; Localizable Strings
[Strings]
Printer1="HP LaserJet 1200 Series PCL 5e"
Printer2="HP LaserJet 1200 Series PCL 5e"
DiskID1="HP LaserJet 1200 Series Drivers Disk"

to

; Localizable Strings
[Strings]
Printer1="HP LaserJet 1200 Series PCL 5"
Printer2="HP LaserJet 1200 Series PCL 5"
DiskID1="HP LaserJet 1200 Series Drivers Disk"

and resaved the file. I could then successfully install the driver on the Win7 system using the modified hpbf311i.inf file. Adding the Laserjet 1200 to the other networked computers running Win XP then went off without a hitch.

 

[shaft311]

And the printer is connected to another workstation and shared out? What operating system does the other workstation use?

Have you tried creating a local printer port, like this:

Start the Add a printer wizard.
Choose Add a local printer.
Click on Create a new port. Use Local Port.
In the Enter a Port Name box, type the path to the printer:
\\(computer name)\(printer name)

I'm away from my Windows 7 computer, so I posted the Vista instructions for adding a local printer port. See if that works.

Same here.. that worked great for this same printer. I was connecting my 32 bit XP Laptop to my new W7 64 bit machine with this same Laserjet printer shared.

thanks a lot!

 

[pegfor]

HP Laserjet 1200 Win 7, driver & sharing problem

I have an HP Laserjet 1200 connected to my computer. My O/S is Windows 7 home premium, 64-bit O/S. I could only found a "universal driver" for my HP Laserjet 1200. Problem 1 - Does anyone have an HP driver. Problem 2 - is sharing this printer with someone running XP Pro. I must be doing something wrong because once I installed the extra driver my PC no longer printed, nor did the person I am sharing it with on XP. Hope someone can help!

Here is what I did so far. I ignored the printer that windows found and added the printer. I then used the "universal driver" for windows 7, and it printed a test page for my pc. Next I went to - printer properties - advanced - and installed the x84 extra driver. As it was the only one I could find. I was hoping it would work so the person on the XP 32-bit system could print. When it didn't work and I got error pages, I tried to remove the x84 driver and it would not let me. Now neither my PC nor the person I am sharing it with using XP can print. I am looking for a solution. Thanks.

 

[cindybrown]

How do you edit the inf files?

 

[SammyJ]

@Goshenville5 - Thank you! I had the exact same situation... Win 7 Premium x64 attempting to share HP LaserJet 1200 to various XP machines. Win 7 would not let me install "alternate drivers" for the HP without your fix. It's 2011 and it's difficult to share a printer in Win 7? Win 7 has been highly touted and I've waited a long time to upgrade, so I expected a fresh install to go smoothly. A month of trouble later, I'm still trying to do basic functions that you could do effortlessly in Unix in the 1980s. I still have not been able to mount an XP shared disk on Win 7 despite repeated help searches. This all worked so well with XP everywhere... why did I change? What have I gained?

 

[kegobeer]

What basic functions could you do with XP (as effortlessly as you could with Unix) that you can't do with 7? Why did you have so much trouble upgrading to 7? Did you seek assistance anywhere with those issues? Were you trying to use hardware that had no Windows 7 drivers or Windows 7 support? Was this a laptop or a desktop? Do you have experience with any other Windows OS besides XP (2K, Vista, any of the Server flavors)?

 

[richardspurr]

kegobeer - many thanks. Your "create local post" fix also works for me. I was trying to get my new work win7x64 based laptop to share my HP1200 connected to my home PC (running XPpro). I'd got as far as getting it working direct with the laptop by connecting the printer to laptop directly via usb, but could not work out how to get it to print via the home PC.

On a releated note, HP's web site is very bad - all it gives you as a "fix" to your driver request is a download that turns out to be commercial software to check your PC/laptop for missing drivers (of any kind) and then charge you money to get the missing drivers (with no guarantee) it will fix the issue! It took a while before I found the general PCL drivers (even then it doesn't say not to use the PCL6 one). In the end, connecting the printer direct and letting Windows sort it out got the correct driver working. HP's support for what should be a simple task is just not there!

 

[apmseptimus]

thanks!

same here again. Your advise worked great with canon i9100 printer and windows vista!

Regards, Sep

 

[davidnorthcraft]

I have a new computer running Win7 64-bit and just installed my HP Laserjet 1200 on it. In the Devices and Printers window, it is identified as "HP LaserJet 1200 Series PCL 5". I need to share the printer with several computers running Win XP 32-bit on our family network, but couldn't do it because of the driver mismatch (just got an error message). So I downloaded the HP Laserjet 1200/1220 PCL 5e driver for Win XP from the HP website and extracted all the files to a new folder on the Win7 computer, including the hpbf311i.inf file. However, when I clicked on the "Additional Drivers..." button in the Sharing tab of the printer property box and tried to add the hpbf311i.inf file, I got an error message (something about the architecture being wrong).

SOLUTION (for me at least): The printer name in the .inf file must be EXACTLY the same as printer name in the Win7 Devices and Printers window or the driver will not install. I edited the following lines in the .inf file

; Localizable Strings
[Strings]
Printer1="HP LaserJet 1200 Series PCL 5e"
Printer2="HP LaserJet 1200 Series PCL 5e"
DiskID1="HP LaserJet 1200 Series Drivers Disk"

to

; Localizable Strings
[Strings]
Printer1="HP LaserJet 1200 Series PCL 5"
Printer2="HP LaserJet 1200 Series PCL 5"
DiskID1="HP LaserJet 1200 Series Drivers Disk"

and resaved the file. I could then successfully install the driver on the Win7 system using the modified hpbf311i.inf file. Adding the Laserjet 1200 to the other networked computers running Win XP then went off without a hitch.

Thank you SO MUCH! I was having the EXACT same problem as you and your fix worked perfectly for me too! Great Job!! Thanks for Sharing your success!

 

[PhoenixDev]

Thanks!!!

kegobeer u'v helped a lot of people with this post! me included! thanks!