How to update the Printer driver

Are you facing printing issues, unable to print, or experiencing print errors? It usually happens with printer drivers due to several reasons. You need to update your driver to resolve the issue. You simply need to update your printer drivers. To update printer drivers, go to the device manager, right-click on it, and update, updating through Windows Update or updating through their manufacturer`s sites.

 To ensure seamless performance, printer drivers also need proper updates. In this blog, we will walk you through what printer drivers are, how to update printer drivers, and the steps and methods for updating your printer drivers to work efficiently.

What are Printer drivers?

Printer drivers are a software part that helps your computer communicate with your printer to convert the digital data or images into paper form. They bring our soft documents world into Hard form. Printer drivers act as a bridge between printers and computers to convert the soft documents into physical documents.

Printers are essential devices in our homes, schools, and offices. Whether you are printing important documents, invoices, school assignments, or photos. 

Types of printer drivers : 

There are different types of printing drivers; each has its own specifications. The types of printer drivers are:

• Manufacturer-specific drivers These drivers are official drivers from printer brands, i.e, HP, Canon, Epson, etc, that provide full functionality like scanning, duplex printing, and ink monitoring.
• Built-in drivers These are pre-installed by Windows or macOS.It allows basic printing, not on an advanced level.
• Universal print drivers (UPD) These drivers work with multiple printers of the same brand, commonly used in offices.
• Class drivers It is the default operating system driver for general printer support with limited functions.
• PostScript PS Drivers It offers high-quality graphics and text. Best for professional printing and design work.
• PCL Drivers It is a very fast and efficient driver, widely used for office and bulk printing.

Common issues with printer drivers and how to fix them 

Printer not detected 

This is usually caused when your printer drivers are missing, wrong, or outdated. If the printer is unable to recognise the printer drivers, then it causes an issue in the printing process.

Solution 

• Reinstall the drivers or update the drivers from the official site(HP, Intel, Canon).
• Use Windows Device Manager to update drivers
• Check the connection and restart both the printer and PC.
• Error code while printing: Sometimes your printer shows an error while printing. This happens due to incompatible or outdated drivers.
• Solution: Update or reinstall the drivers. If an error occurred, roll back your previous driver version 
• Crashes or freezes: This is caused by corrupted driver files or conflicts after system updates.
• Solution: Uninstall the current drivers and reinstall the fresh driver. Update your OS to ensure compatibility.
• Slow or poor quality printing: This also happens when your printing driver is wrong or the drivers are outdated. 
• Solution: Reinstall the correct driver, check printer preferences, i.e, paper type or print quality, and ensure for right driver.
• Hardware or connectivity changes: Switching from a USB connection to WI-FI or connecting your printer to a new computer often requires updated drivers. Old drivers may not support the new setup.
• Solution: Download the latest version that matches your connection type and OS.

Why should you update Printer drivers? 

Updating printer drivers directly impacts your productivity. Here`s why:

•  Fix compatibility issues
•  Improved performance
•  Solve bugs and errors
•  Enhance security
•  Support new features 

Fix compatibility issues 

 Outdated drivers become incompatible with the system and cause conflicts. Updated drivers ensure your printer works smoothly with the latest operating system.

Improved performance 

Printer manufacturers often release driver updates to improve speed, optimize printing, and reduce system resource usage. 

Solve Bugs and errors: 

Old or outdated drivers may contain errors that may result in blank pages, poor color quality, or slow down the printing process. Updation of printing drivers can help fix bugs and errors.

Enhance Security 

Older drivers have vulnerabilities that hackers can easily exploit to gain access to your PC. 

Updating drivers helps to prevent any unauthorized access to your printer drivers.

Support New features 

Some updates unlock advanced features like duplex printing, wireless setup improvement, or quality, and you are able to use these advanced features.                                                                                                                                        

How to update printer drivers in Windows 

There are several methods  to update printer drivers in Windows 7,10, or 11

• Update through the device manager 
• Update through Windows Update
• Update through the manufacturer`s site
• Update through a third-party tool

Update the Printer's drivers in Windows 07 through Device Manager

• Press Windows +R, Type devmgmt.msc, and press Enter. 
• Expand printers or print queues from the device manager
• Right-click on the printer, select Update driver software.
• Choose to search automatically for updated driver software. Windows will automatically download the updates when available.

Update printer drivers in Windows 07 through Windows Update 

• Steps to update printer drivers through Windows Update: 
• Click Start>Control Panel and click on System and Security 
• Select Windows Update.
• Click check for updates.

Update printer drivers in Windows 07 through the manufacturer`s site

• Steps to download printer drivers from the Manufacturer`s site are:
• Go to your printer brand`s official website(HP, Intel, Canon)
• Enter your printer model. 
• Select your Windows type, i.e, Windows 10, and versions of OS, i.e, 64 bits or 32 bits.
• Download the drivers and then install them.

Update Printer drivers in Windows 10/11 through the Device Manager

Steps to download printer drivers in Windows 10 and Windows 11 are the same. The steps are : 

• Step 01:Open Device Manager  by Windows +X

Press Windows+X to directly open Device Manager or click on Settings, search, and open Device Manager.

Step 02: Expand printers and click on update 

• The next step is to expand printers or print queues from the given options, right-click on them, and choose update drivers.

Step 03: Choose  Search automatically for drivers

• Choose  Search automatically for drivers, and it will install the updates for drivers automatically if available.                  

Update printer drivers in Windows 10/11 through Windows updates

You can also update the printer drivers from Windows updates. Simple open setting, go to Windows updates and click on check for updates. 

Steps to update Printer drivers from Windows Update:

• Press Windows key+I, Open settings
• In Windows 10, go to Update and Security, then click on Windows Update 
• In Windows 11, go to Windows updates 
• Then the last step is to click Check for updates
• If any updates are available for the chipset or USB drivers, then they will install automatically.

Update printer drivers through the manufacturer`s site

 The safest and recommended method is to download the updates manually. First, you need to open the website(HP, Dell, Canon), enter your printer Model, download the file, and install it.

Download the latest drivers, software, firmware, and diagnostic tools 

To keep your system smooth, it is important to regularly download and install the latest drivers, software, firmware, and diagnostics tools from your manufacturer`s official support page. Steps  are:

• Identify your device 
• Go to the official page of HP support, Dell support, etc
• Select drivers and download, and choose your operating system and versions
• Download and install. Download from your official site to help in diagnosing a problem in your system and fix it 
•  Scroll more to get the HP printer driver updates download steps.

HP Printer drivers 

• HP is one of the most popular brands known for its best quality and performance. HP printer drivers are specialized software that allow your computer and HP printer to communicate.

Steps to download printer drivers in Windows are given below:

Step 01: Open the  official page and identify your printer 

Visit the official page of the HP support>Software and drivers, and enter your printer model 

Step 02: Select the product and submit it 

Select your window type and operating system version, and click on submit.                                      

• HP printer drivers for Windows 10. Select your Windows type, i.e, Windows 10, and versions of OS, i.e, 64 bits, and then click on submit 

• HP printer drivers for Windows 11. If you want HP printer drivers for Windows 11, then select Windows 11

Step 03: Click on download 

Check if it is detected or correct for your operating system and recommended, then click on download, run the download file, and install it. Then restart your PC.

Dell Printer drivers 

Dell printer drivers are software programs that allow your Dell printer to communicate with your Windows or macOS computer. Steps to download Dell printer driver updates are: 

• Open the Dell website and go to Dell Drivers, and download 
• Enter your printer model number 
• Select your operating system (Windows 7/10/11, Mac, Linux )
• Download the latest driver updates and install them.

How to install printer drivers using pnputil 

Puputil is a built-in Windows tool for adding, installing, updating, and removing device drivers also including printer drivers. It works with . The INF driver files that you download from the manufacturer. It's faster when Windows fails to find drivers and installs multiple drivers at once.

• After downloading the printers from the official site (HP, Dell, Epson). Make sure that it contains an INF file, e.g, driver INF.
• Open the command prompt as an administrator. Press Windows +x > Command Prompt  (Admin ).
• Install the driver  using pnptil: 
•  pnputil/add-driver” C\Path\to\driver.inf/install 
• Verify the installation. Run this command 
• pnptil /enum-drivers 
• This lists all installed drivers. Check your printer drivers in the list.
• Plug in your printer. Windows should recognize it and automatically apply the installed driver. Try printing a test page.

Update through Third-party tools

You can also download updates using third-party tools. There are some trusted tools like Driver Booster or Snappy Driver Installer that can automatically updates all drivers, including drivers.

How to stay safe? Try downloading from official sites, i.e, IObit, DriverBooster, and Snappy Driver Installer, and to avoid downloading from any random link or unofficial website, which often come with hidden malware. That`s why it is always recommended to download from the manufacturer`s sites; they are safest for downloading drivers. 

Update printer drivers on macOS

To update printer drivers on macOS, here are the steps;

• Click on Apple menu >System settings 
• Select printers and scanners.
• Choose your printer from the options.
• You will see an option to update the driver if any updates are available.

Conclusions

 Printer drivers play an important role role daily routine tasks.. Printer drivers help to link the computer with a printing machine that helps in the printing process. Outdated printer drivers cause issues; then you need to update them to smooth the printing process. Regularly updating your printer drivers helps you in smooth printing, high-quality printing, enhancing performance, and improving security.

We provided different methods in our blog that can help you in updating your print drivers and make your printing process reliable, fast, and get the best quality of hard documents.