Getassist
  • How to
  • Troubleshoot
  • Social
  • Internet
  • General
  • News
  • Top 10
  • Tools
  • Write for us

Troubleshooting » Printer » Easy Troubleshooting For ‘Printer Driver Is Unavailable’ on Windows 10

Easy Troubleshooting For ‘Printer Driver Is Unavailable’ on Windows 10

Posted on March 31, 2020 | by Khushboo Chhibber

At times, when you give print command and your printer doesn’t print, what could be the reason? This may happen for several reasons and one of them could be “Driver is unavailable”. Even most of the HP users have complained that their printer driver is unavailable. This error implies that your computer has failed to recognize your printer, thus you will not be able to print or scan until the issue gets resolved. 

Before looking into the solutions, let’s understand what it means when the driver is not available.

  • The printer driver is not updated
  • The driver installed is corrupt
  • You haven’t installed the Windows updates

4 Ways You Can Fix Printer Driver is Unavailable on Windows 10

So if you cannot find printer driver on Windows 10, you can try the troubleshooting tips provided further in this guide:

  1. Get the Updates for Windows 10

  2. If the system doesn’t have the required updates, you may keep getting the Driver is unavailable error over and over again. So if your Windows 10 is going outdated, make sure to get the updates to fix the issue as follows:

    • Click on the ‘Start’ menu; enter ‘Update’ in the search box and click on ‘Check for Updates’ from the results.
    • If the updates will be available, Windows will get them automatically.
    • Once Windows is done updating, restart the system.
    • Try printing a document and check if the error has been fixed.
  3. Uninstalling and Reinstalling the Printer

  4. If you are still looking for help, you may be required to uninstall your printer and then reinstall it. Here are the steps for the same: 

    • Press the ‘Windows key’ and ‘R’ at the same time to open the dialog box and press ‘enter’. 
    • In the control panel, out of the given options; look for ‘Devices and Printers’.
    • You will see the list of all the printers, right-click on the printer and click on ‘Remove Device’.
    • Press Windows + R, type ‘devmgmt.msc’ and go to the option ‘Print queues’. Right-click on your printing device and click on ‘Uninstall device’.
    • Again press Windows + R, type ‘appwiz.cpl’ in the box and press Enter. From the list of all the applications, right-click on your printer applications and hit ‘Uninstall’.
    • Once you are done with all the above steps, disconnect your printer from the computer if it is connected via USB or detach it from the router if it is connected wirelessly. Turn off the computer, printer, and router by plugging out their power supply.
    • After 10 minutes, reconnect everything and start all the modules. Connect the printer and the computer via a USB cable. Let it detect the printer and then start installing the required drivers.
    • Go back to the Control Panel, right-click on the printer and click ‘Set as default printer’. Try to print a test page and check if the issue with the driver got fixed.
  5. Reinstall the Printer Driver

  6. If the error is still there, the possibility is your device has a missing or corrupted driver. Getting the latest driver installed for your printer can be the way out of this problem. So here is how you can install the latest driver for your printer:

    • Press the ‘Windows key’ plus ‘R’ together to open the ‘Run’ dialog box.
    • In the dialog box, enter devmgmt.msc and click on ‘Ok’.
    • Look for the driver of your printer, right-click on it and select ‘Uninstall’.
    • Click on ‘Uninstall’ to confirm the action.
    • After the driver has been uninstalled, you can visit the manufacturer’s website to get the latest version for your printer.
    • Download and install the selected printer driver on your device.
    • Thereafter, check if the issue with the driver got resolved.
  7. Reinstalling The Printer Driver Manually

This may also happen that the printer was working fine but due to one of the Windows Updates, it got broken and started showing ‘Printer driver is unavailable’. The updates for drivers provided by Windows may not work for all devices. 

If this happens, try updating the printer drivers manually. For this, you need to manually update the selected driver and then disable the Windows from updating the printer driver. 

Before you begin, go to the manufacturer’s website and download the required drivers for your hardware to an available location and then proceed with the steps enumerated below: 

  • Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog box, type ‘devmgmt.msc’ and hit Enter. 
  • The device manager will open, go through the hardware and open the sub-menu ‘Print queues’. Right-click on the hardware of the printer and choose ‘Update driver’.
  • A dialogue box will appear asking you how you want to update your driver. Click on the option ‘Browse computer for driver software’.
  • Select the downloaded file and update it accordingly. For some, the printer may not be accessible in the device manager. In such cases, just run the installer and the driver will be automatically installed.
  • Check if the printer is working fine, if yes, go to the official website of Microsoft and download the package “wushowhide.diagcab”. After that, run the package and click ‘Next’. From
  • From the given options, select ‘Hide Updates’. Then select the printer update and thereafter, the Windows update will not update the drivers of the printer automatically until you ask it to. 

All the above troubleshooting methods can be applied for most of the printer drivers such as HP, Brother, Canon, and others, except for a slight difference.

Tweet
Share
Pin1
Share4
5 Shares
  • Type Your Question
  • Recent Post
    • The Benefits of Using Marketing Solutions to Increase Medical Appointments?
    • Searscard.com Login- Easy Steps to Login to Sears Credit Card Account
    • 2 Different Ways to Login to CompuServe Email Account
    • Struggling to Build a team? 7 Super Sales Training Ideas to Build a Strong Sales Team
    • Create Meaningful Connections Through Local SEO
    • How to Make Email Campaigns More
    • How Can Cloud-Based Payroll Software Benefit Your Business?
    • Choose Kraft Packaging from Best Listed Company
    • 3 Reasons Why Singaporean Businesses Should Hire an SEM Agency
Related Post
  • 5 Easy Troubleshooting Methods to an Error-Free Scanning with Printer
  • fix cant install printer operation could not be completed
    Simple Troubleshooting to Fix ‘Unable to Install Printer’ Error
  • how to fix wireless printer problems
    10 Troubleshooting Tips to Fix the Wireless Printer Problems
  • printer is offline
    Complete Troubleshooting Guide to Bring HP Printer Online from Offline
  • Subscribe to Our Newsletter

    Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

  • Important Links
    • Home
    • Blog
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms Of Use
  • Get in Touch

    Address: Wireless Revolution LLC., 7800 harwin dr houston texas 77036 United States

    Mail Id: info@getassist.net

Disclaimer: The information available on the site is only available for informational purposes at the user’s sole risk. We take no guarantee of the accurateness, value, or completeness of the information and shall not be held responsible or liable for any errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in the information or if any user is solely relied on the information. User is himself responsible for verifying the information as being appropriate for personal use. We don’t claim to be officially related to any brands, products or services mentioned on the website and have no right to them. We only offer support guides and the images, names, media or links used on the website are just for the reference and informational purpose only.
Copyright © 2021 Getassist.net All Rights Reserved.