My Epson printer doesn't have the option to print in colour since I made the change to Windows 11. When I enter to printer preferences I only get the option to print in Greyscale and Monochrome (see attached picture). If I remove the printer and add it back the colour option appears(see 2nd picture). But after a restart, the option disappears again. Any thoughts on what's causing this issue?
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Operating System
Windows 11 Pro
Computer type
Laptop
Manufacturer/Model
Microsoft Surface Pro 7
CPU
i5 1035G4
Memory
8 GB
Hard Drives
256GB SSD
Mouse
None
Internet Speed
960 Mbps Netgear Mesh + 2 Satellites
Browser
Microsoft Edge (Chromium) + Bing
Antivirus
Microsoft Windows Security (Defender)
Other Info
Microsoft 365 subscription (Office)
Microsoft OneDrive 1TB Cloud
Amazon Kindle for PC
Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation
Lightroom/Photoshop subscription
BitLocker
Copilot
Try to restart Print Spooler service and the printer itself (reset or power off/on). Sometimes it helps, not sure about your case, but you can try anyway. Also you can connect printer to another port.
The two different screenshots (the first with blue background, the second plain) suggest a different printer driver. Apparently there is a "newer" driver in Windows Update which doesn't support color and which replaces your official Epson driver after restart. To prevent that you must block (hide) this driver with Windows Update Show/Hide tool. I would also hide any other driver update just in case. See this Tenforums thread: Hide or Show Windows Updates in Windows 10 Yes, the tool works in all Windows 10 builds and also in Windows 11, I tested it myself.
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB SATA Device (250 GB, SATA-III)
Internet Speed
VDSL 50 Mbps
Browser
MICROSOFT EDGE
Antivirus
WINDOWS DEFENDER
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Legacy MBR installation, no TPM, no Secure Boot, no WDDM 2.0 graphics drivers, no SSE4.2, cannot get more unsupported ;) This is only my test laptop. I had installed Windows 11 here before upgrading my main PC. For my main PC I use everyday see my 2nd system specs.
I've no idea where this is coming from but not true.
And, I'm running two Epson Printers (Epson Stylus Pro 3880, and an Epson XP-960) under Windows 11 Pro RTM, and their drivers have never been "replaced" by Microsoft. Additionally, Microsoft doesn't own Epson so they wouldn't be providing driver updates.
@danistop, where'd you get that printer cause I can't find it on Epson's site - "XP-422 423 425 Series". It that the correct model number?
Windows Update provides either generic drivers provided by Microsoft or official drivers by the manufacturer. Official drivers usually have less or none incompatibilities than Microsoft drivers and provide more features. Unfortunately there is no guaranty the driver provided is official and that is the latest. That's why I always recommend to download the latest official driver directly from manufacturer's site and use Windows Update only as a last resort. Been there, done that. I would better install an official Windows 7 or even Vista driver (if Windows 8/10/11 driver is not available) than a generic feature-clipped Microsoft driver. I think you get the idea.
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB SATA Device (250 GB, SATA-III)
Internet Speed
VDSL 50 Mbps
Browser
MICROSOFT EDGE
Antivirus
WINDOWS DEFENDER
Other Info
Legacy MBR installation, no TPM, no Secure Boot, no WDDM 2.0 graphics drivers, no SSE4.2, cannot get more unsupported ;) This is only my test laptop. I had installed Windows 11 here before upgrading my main PC. For my main PC I use everyday see my 2nd system specs.
Windows Update provides either generic drivers provided by Microsoft or official drivers by the manufacturer. Official drivers usually have less or none incompatibilities than Microsoft drivers and provide more features.
Try to update the latest drivers from the official Epson website. If that doesn't help I would suggest you to run WIC Resetter or any other resetter for your specific printer model. I used to have similar problems in the past with my Epson printer on Windows 7 so updating the latest drivers and running the WIC Reset Utility fixed the problem.
