HP Office Jet Pro 8600 Driver Install Failure 2

[brickhead1]

Hello All,

A user at my company received a new HP Office Jet Pro 8600, I went to install the driver from the HP driver page that I downloaded onto Windows Server 2008 32 bit. I took a screen shot which I attached to this thread. I honestly have no idea why it will not work. I even tried installing the full feature driver which still produced the same error. The initial driver I selected was from here:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...dlc=en&lc=en&os=4022&product=4323652&sw_lang=

Installing to my local Windows 7 machine makes it work so I know this is the correct driver, but I am truly stumped why it will not work on Win Server 08 32 Bit. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[FredWagner]

The Printer you have is only to be installed on Workstations, not servers. The server driver you've chosen is a generic/basic driver, not specific to the printer you're trying to install. Two possible solutions - 1 connect the printer to a PC running an OS the printer supports. amd share it from there, 2 - use an HP Jetdirect unit to connect to the printer and allow network sharing. I haven't used the Jetdirect solution in years, but it used to be a useful option.

Fred Wagner

 

[goombawaho]

FredWagner - Where do you get this:

The Printer you have is only to be installed on Workstations, not servers.

HP says for that driver: "Compatibility: Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 W32" It specifically lists support for both 2008 32 & 64 bit.

Are we 100% sure the server is not 64bit?

Can you try removing everything (except for the un-extracted installation files), rebooting and doing an ADD PRINTER, browse to driver file and pointing to an INF file in the extracted installation files?

 

[FredWagner]

The driver that quote is from is not specifically for the printer he's using - it's a generic driver for a family of printers. The error message he's getting indicates that the specific Printer he's trying to install is not compatible with direct connection to a Server. I've run into the same thing with Scanners before - Servers are prevented from being directly connected to some workstation type peripherals.
If he puts the printer on the network with a Jetdirect card, or connects it to a PC which shares it, the server will probably cooperate with Sharing the printer with the rest of the network. We have a couple of network servers that manage the sharing for a several dozen printers and MFD's each - but none of those units are directly connected to the servers - they're all network devices.

Fred Wagner

 

[FredWagner]

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF06a/18972-18972-238444-12019-3328086-4322914.html?dnr=1

The specs in the link indicate it's for connection to workstation OS's only - NO MENTION of server OS's. It has an Ethernet connection built in, as well as wireless, and the specs mention a whole bunch of HP Jetdirect units it will work with. Network sharing is done over a network connection, not by direct connection to a server.

Fred Wagner

 

[FredWagner]

Some background may be useful - many of the fancier printers for home and small office use put much of their functionality on the driver in the PC they're connected to - which is no big deal on a workstation - if you're printing, that's the most important task at the time. If these printers were allowed direct connection to a server, one or two of them would totally saturate the server CPU,and it wouldn't be able to do any of its server functions.

Fred Wagner

 

[goombawaho]

If he puts the printer on the network with a Jetdirect card, or connects it to a PC which shares it, the server will probably cooperate with Sharing the printer with the rest of the network. We have a couple of network servers that manage the sharing for a several dozen printers and MFD's each - but none of those units are directly connected to the servers - they're all network devices.

I knew all that. If you go to that product on the HP support page and choose drivers, you get a pull down menu for operating system. It CLEARLY lists Server 2008. I'm not trying to be argumentative (as good as I am at that game), but HP is stating it will work.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareCategory?product=4323652&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&lang=en&cc=us

So wazzup?

 

[FredWagner]

It appears that the logic in the selection menus on HP's site lets you choose a combination that does not work in every case. It might work if the printer was seen by the server across a network. The specs for the printer iself do not list any Windows Server OS as a compatible operating system.
Brickhead1 can solve his user's problem by either connecting the new printer directly to the user's workstation, or by giving the printer a network connection and letting the user print to it across the network. That's what I gather from looking at the info on HP's site.
I note that when you go to HP's site, you get a pop-up that invites you to chat with an HP Support tech. Suggest that brickhead1 let HP support solve this for him - since the unit is new, it should be under warranty.

Fred Wagner

 

[goombawaho]

I often use that pull down list to verify that a printer is compatible with an operating system - extremely rarely is it a server OS, but nonetheless, it SHOULD be correct. What if you make purchasing decisions based on that?

Yeah, OP is going to have to talk to tech support and maybe request a refund or swap for a different unit if your listed setup options are not acceptable.

For me, as long as there weren't too many users, I'd just plug it into the network, give it a static ip address and install on each workstation. If you're talking 100 workstations, more problematic.

 

[brickhead1]

Thank you all for the responses. I have looked at your options that you have provided, and I just got off the phone with HP tech support. They essentially told me what I already new, even if the printer is not compatible with Server 08 they shouldn't have listed a driver that says it is. So I walked them through my install error, and they seemed stumped with the printer issue because they couldn't answer why that specific driver for 08 would not work. They told me to try install the software with my "Firewall" off which it was already off,so they are supposed to call me back in 2 hours to see if it worked. Which it won't, so in the end I think HP maybe messed up a little.

I will update you on the progress in the next few hours.

 

[FredWagner]

You probably could print to the problem printer from a Server, but the printer would have to be on the network, and not USB connected to the server. If you tried that configuration, the driver you selected would probably work. I downloaded the driver you are talking about, to my Win7 workstation, and explored the options and the Help screens. There was even a note in the table about the three ways to connect to it - USB, Ethernet, and WiFi, that mentioned that if you used the USB connection, you drastically limited the way you could share it. They didn't go quite far enough, to specify that the USB connection only works with a workstation OS - but that was already in the published specs for the printer.

Fred Wagner

 

[brickhead1]

I already have the printer connected via Ethernet to the network, and I downloaded the drivers to the user's local OS which is Windows XP which work just fine because the DHCP gave it an IP address with no problem. However in our organization users use terminal services, by basically remote desktop into one of the terminal servers which are in a cluster. So for this specific user though, she needs to be able to access her applications through the terminal services so she can print. She will be only the user using this printer even though it will be on the network. As a side note I am an intern, I did not buy this printer but I have the fix problems for it...go figure... Anyways so I will probably contact HP tech support again and try to get a different person to see if they would provide me with a different answer.

 

[FredWagner]

Suggest to the IT organization that they might want to consider Virtual Desktops so the users could be running a Desktop OS instead of a Server OS, while still under central configuration control.

Fred Wagner

 

[brickhead1]

Alright got it finished all. I ended up talking to another HP support individual who helped much more and pointed to use the proper driver for the printer which was a deskjet990c driver. It worked and now the user has full functionality of the printer. Thank you for all the help because y'all helped me narrow it done.

 

[FredWagner]

Thanks for letting us know how it turned out. It took HP's own expertise to give you a solution. Next time start with them, but be sure to give the full situation - terminal services is a specialized user setup, and many, if not most, of us here are not using it the way your organization is. I've used it for years, but only for remote administration of servers.

Fred Wagner