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HP LaserJet, Color LaserJet, LaserJet AIO and LaserJet MFP Series Products - How to Select the Correct Printer Driver
This document describes the process for choosing the best printer driver for your LaserJet printer and operating system. More than one driver can be used with a single printer, although most users need to select just one printer driver -- normally the PCL 6 driver for Windows and the Mac PS driver for Macintosh.
HP PCL 6 driver
Recommended for most users (if it is available), for printing in all-Windows environments including general office
Provides the overall best speed, print quality, and printer feature support for most users
May not be fully compatible with 3rd party and custom solutions based on PCL 5
HP PCL 5 driver (or PCL 5c or PCL 5e)
HP postscript (PS) emulation driver
Recommended for printing with Adobe or other highly graphics-intensive applications
Use for PS level 3 needs and PS font support.
Slightly faster than PCL 6 when using Adobe applications.
Best print compatibility between Apple Macintosh and Windows applications.
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NOTE:
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The printer must have PS printing capabilities. This can be verified on the printer’s Configuration Page. |
HP Universal Print Driver
Provide a single PCL 5, PCL 6, or PostScript driver solution for use with multiple printer models
Designed for corporate or IT-managed Windows environments
Preferred when printing in an enterprise or managed print server environment to multiple printer models in a static or mobile print environment
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HP XML Paper Specification (XPS) Driver
When printing XPS documents, provides:
HP LaserJet printing system or HP LaserJet full printing solution
A collection of software which includes the complete set of drivers, installer software, and other administrative tools found on the printer's software CD.
HP PCL 5 (or PCL 5c or PCL 5e), or PCL 6 Point and Print bundle
Point and Print is a Microsoft term that describes a two-step driver installation process. The first step is to install a shared driver on a network print server. The second step is to "point" to the print server share from a network client so the client can use the print driver. These bundles allow for Point and Print interaction among the different Windows Operating Systems such as Windows XP and Windows Vista.
Plug and Play print driver
Driver software specifically designed to assist with device installation for devices connected via a USB or parallel port. This package does not assist with upgrading drivers or installing network connected devices. This is the simplest and quickest installation method for non-networked installations where only the printer driver is installed. No other printer software, such as HP Toolbox is installed when using this method.
Host-based driver – also known as: Graphic Display Interface (GDI), Raster, and Printing Performance Architecture (PPA) drivers
Host-based printer drivers use the computer's (host’s) resources to process print commands and convert the text and graphics into pixels or dots the printer can place on the page (called rasterizing), thereby taking advantage of the computer's memory and processing power. Host-based devices typically cannot use PCL or PS drivers.
Benefits of Host-Based printing
A host-based printer utilizes the host computer's memory and processing power to convert the software application's page information into a raster format to be printed by the printer. Since newer computers process at much faster speeds than many printers' processors, complex jobs could print faster when utilizing a host-based printer driver.
Benefits of PDL (Printer or Page Description Language) printing
PDL-based printers use the memory and processing resources of the printer. Common PDLs include PCL 6, PCL 5, and PS. Host-based printing requires a software print engine in the host computer, and unlike a PDL printer, cannot accept ASCII text directly from a computer. This means that the host-based printer will only work in the Windows and Macintosh operating systems that are specifically supported with the host-based driver written for that operating system. Users of unsupported Windows and Macintosh operating systems, as well as users of Linux, and UNIX, should consider a PDL printer. Due to sometimes larger print file sizes, PDL printers are often preferred on an organization’s network.
Windows Download and Installation Methods
There are 2 primary recommended methods for a Windows driver installation from the web:
A) Using a specific driver, printing system, or other driver bundle from the Web
Suggested download steps are as follows: Go to your product’s software download page (e.g. www.hp.com/go/clj4700_software), or
click here
to go to www.hp.com/. Select your country/language, and then select Software & Driver Downloads
. Select your computer’s Operating System.
Identify your driver (e.g. HP Color LaserJet 4700 PCL6).
Select the Download
button corresponding to your identified driver.
Select Run
(or optionally, Save
, and double-click the saved file) to download the file.
Select Run
to uncompress and begin the installation.
Follow the on-screen instructions.
B) Using the Windows Add-Printer Wizard with a specific driver downloaded from the Web
Go to your product’s software download page (e.g. www.hp.com/go/clj4700_software), or
click here
to go to www.hp.com/. Select your country/language, and then select Software & Driver Downloads
. Select your computer’s Operating System.
Identify your driver (e.g. HP Color LaserJet 4700 PCL6).
Select the Download
button corresponding to your identified driver.
Select Run
(or optionally, Save
, and double-click the saved file) to download the file.
Select Run
to uncompress and begin the installation.
Follow the on-screen instructions.
Uncheck the “Help me install this driver�? (check box). Figure 1: Installation utility screen
Add-Printer installation - general steps for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003
Click Start
, Settings
, Control Panel
, Printers
.
Click Add (a) printer
.
Answer the questions in the Add Printer Wizard until you reach the screen that shows the printer manufacturer list.
Click Have Disk
.
Browse to the printer driver folder location (e.g. c:\HP_CLJ_4700_32bit_2000_XP_S2003_PCL6_hpdiu\driver).
Select the appropriate INF file.
Click Open
, and then click OK
.
Select the appropriate printer.
Follow the remaining on-screen instructions to complete the printer installation.
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NOTE:
|
When using Add-Printer to update drivers for some products, the driver had to be installed from the CD once, then, when installing the update, at step 4 don’t click Have Disk, rather select HP
, and then the model number of the printer in the list of models. Select the existing Port when prompted in the Wizard. |
Add-Printer installation - general steps for Windows Vista
Click Start
, Control Panel
, Hardware and Sound
.
Under the Printers section, click Add a printer
.
Answer the questions in the Add Printer Wizard until you reach the screen that shows the printer manufacturer list.
Click Have Disk
.
Browse to the printer driver location.
Select the appropriate INF file.
Click Open
, and then click OK
.
Select the appropriate printer.
Follow the remaining on-screen instructions to complete the printer installation.
|
NOTE:
|
When using Add-Printer to update drivers for some products, the driver had to be installed from the CD once, then, when installing the update, at step 4 don’t click Have Disk, rather select HP
, and then the model number of the printer in the list of models. Select the existing Port when prompted in the Wizard. |
Macintosh Download and Install Methods
Suggested download steps are as follows: Go to your product’s software download page (e.g. www.hp.com/go/clj4700_software), or
click here
to go to www.hp.com/. Select your country/language, and then select Software & Driver Downloads
. Select your computer’s Operating System.
Identify your driver (e.g. HP LaserJet Mac OS X Universal Binary Generic Print Driver Installer).
Select the Download
button corresponding to your identified driver.
Click on the HP LaserJet package to start the installer.
Follow the installation instructions on the computer screen.
HP (Color) LaserJet Mac OSX v10.3.9 and newer, Installation notes
For Network installations, connect the network cable between the HP Jetdirect print server and a network port.
For USB connections, wait until installation is finished to attach the USB cable. USB printer queues are created automatically when the product is attached to the computer. However, the queue will use a generic PPD if the installer has not been run before the USB cable is connected.
From the Apple menu, click System Preferences
and then Print & Fax
.
If the product appears in the Printer list, click Printer Setup…
and from the Installable Options dialog, choose the options you are using. Installation is complete.
If the product name does not appear in the Printer list, click Add
or +
.
Select the connection type:
Default Browser
- Select the product from the list.
- From the Print Using drop-down list, select the printer model if one is not already selected.
IP Printer
- From the Protocol drop-down list, select HP Jetdirect Socket
.
- Enter the IP address for the product.
- From the Print Using drop-down list, select the printer model if one is not already selected.
- Click Add
and Apply Changes
.
- Click Printer Setup…
and from the Installable Options dialog, choose the options you are using.
- Print a test page from any software program to make sure that the software is correctly installed.
UNIX
HP provides model scripts for HP-UX and Solaris.
Linux
HP provides installer support for many Linux distros.
If you still have questions
If you still have questions on selecting, downloading, or installing a driver for your printer, consult the resources available through the links below:
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Printable version
