Draft tutorial - how to install legacy printer-scanner HP PSC 1200/1300 on Windows 11

Hey,

This is thread not with problem, but with a solution.

Case device is: HP PSC 1300 series (manufactured in 2004),
I assume this solution will work for all HP PSC 1100, HP PSC 1200, HP PSC 1400 and many similar HP Deskjet F-Series (e.g. F2180)

There's various of devices that looks similar to this:

View attachment 129087


Windows 7, 8, 8.1 automatically installs printer and scanner drivers, but I has problem with install it on Windows 10 22H2.

This post is for Windows 11 (tested on 23H2, 24H2).

This device is old, but was popular in XP era and now many people still may want to use it for scanning.

Windows 11 detects it and adds new printer, but with warning "cannot find drivers". Besides of that - printer prints.

Drivers are in Windows Update Catalog (so it's strange that Windows can't download it at its own).

Scanner drivers: 0156e900-6c6a-4b55-b798-ca8b854500f5 (hposcu01.inf)
Printer drivers: dfe8d6b9-1e54-498c-ae97-840d85913c34 (dot4prt.inf)

Download them and extract archives somewhere on the disk (for example in Desktop).

To install scanner and printing drivers there's a tutorial (it's draft version because I'd have to test it on another machine):

1. Connect printer to computer
2. Windows will automatically install this printer, but there will be warning that Windows cannot find driver.
3. Open device manager (the old one). On the top of app there's a ribbon with icons. Click "add drivers" icon and select the directory where you extracted files downloaded earlier.
4. Windows should add all drivers and automatically detect scanner (you will have information that driver has been added and installed number of devices).
5. Reboot
6. Now, the scanner should appear in device manager. Also, the printer won't cause warning that driver is not found.
7. Scanning can be done with standard WFS.exe application (On Windows 11 you have to install it with DISM). Optionally you could use "Scanner" application from Microsoft Store.

I see 2 problems.

1. Printer will use the HP PCL drivers which are basic and indeed can downloaded by Windows, however full features not available. e.g. On my old HP printer there was no ink volume control which resulted in too much ink on the page which basically meant poor quality prints.

2. Scanner part has two drivers WIA and TWAIN. The WIA drivers are basic with almost no options. TWAIN drivers plus an associated App are fully featured which is rather important in using a Scanner.

"Optionally you could use "Scanner" application from Microsoft Store."

You can, but this is just the WIA method with very limited options. e.g. on my new one (which is Windows 11 compatible) cannot even scan at max optical resolution.

"This device is old, but was popular in XP era and now many people still may want to use it for scanning."

True, but you have to bear in mind the reality is that a newer AIO printer/scanner compatible with windows 11 will result in much superior quality both of Prints and Scans, and these are pretty cheap.

It is wasteful to send stuff for re-cycling, sure, but what can you do.

It's true that printer has no dedicated drivers, but even Windows 7 didn't have them. HP quickly dropped support for many of printers. I remember, that this one had various of options on Windows XP. This printer is over 20 years old, now it's better to buy used laser than this. It's only applicable for people like me - I had it in my closet and tried to use that to scan some documents.

I wrote this post because I spent couple of hours to install it properly on new Windows and no english language sources has described how to do it on newer OSes.