How To Find Printer Drivers for Windows 8

Where Do I Find Printer Drivers for Windows 8?

When Windows 8 is installed either in home environments or in offices, it is expected that the computer will be used to take printouts as well. In order to take printouts of the documents, a printing device a.k.a. printer is required to be connected either anywhere in the network, or directly to the computer from where the print commands are to be given.

To make a printer function flawlessly with Windows 8, administrators must install appropriate drivers for the device. Generally when a new printer is purchased, its driver and application installation disc is also shipped along with the device. However in some cases administrators may lose the disc, or because of any other reason, the driver of the printer becomes unavailable. To overcome such situations, administrators can either search the appropriate driver for the installed printer within the Windows 8 printer driver database, or they can download the driver from the official website of the printer manufacturer.

In order to search for printer driver, administrators must know the correct vendor and model of the printer. Almost all printers that are manufactured nowadays have their vendor’s name and model number printed in front or at the top of the device. Once the vendor and the model of the printer are known, a few simple steps are then followed to locate or download the correct driver for the connected printing device.

How to Find a Printer Driver for Windows 8?

As discussed above, printer drivers can be searched and installed from within Windows 8 printer driver database, or can be downloaded from the Internet. Since the issue can be resolved using any one of the two available methods, both are described in step-by-step instructions below:

Installing Printer Driver from Windows 8 Printer Driver Database

■Log on to Windows 8 computer with the administrator account.
■Click Desktop tile from the Start screen to go to the desktop screen.
■Once on the desktop screen, hover mouse to the bottom right corner of the window.
■From the displayed options, click Settings.
■On the Settings pane, click Control Panel.
■On the opened Control Panel window, click Hardware and Sound.
■On Hardware and Sound window, click Advanced printer setup under Devices and Printers category in the right pane.
■On Add Printer box, click The printer that I want isn’t listed.
■On Find printer by other options page, click to select Add a local printer or network printer with manual settings radio button.
■Click Next to continue.
■On Choose a printer port page, make sure that Use an existing port radio button is selected.
■Click Next to continue.
■On Install the printer driver page, from the Manufacturer column in the left, click to select the vendor’s name of printing device.
■From Printers column in the right, click to select the printer driver that is to be installed on Windows 8 computer.
■Once selected, click Next to proceed.
■On Type of printer name page, specified the appropriate name for the printer in the Printer name field.
■Click Next to continue.
■On Printer Sharing page, click to select Do not share this printer radio button, and click Next.
■On the next page, click Finish to successfully complete the installation of printer driver.

Installing Printer Driver from the Internet

■Log on to Windows 8 computer with the administrator account.
■Click Desktop tile from the Start screen to go to the desktop window.
■On the desktop screen, click Internet Explorer icon from the taskbar.
■On the opened Internet Explorer window, type the URL of the vendor’s website in the address bar. (For example www.canon.com)
■On the opened website, go to the Support tab.
■From the displayed map, click the location to which the user belongs.
■From displayed list, click the name of the country where the user resides.
■On the Support and downloads page, click Select your product category button.
■From the displayed categories of products, click Laser Printers. (In this demonstration)
■Back on the Support and downloads page, from Product series drop-down list, select LASERSHOT. (In this demonstration)
■From Model drop-down list, select the model of the printing device. (Canon LBP2000 in this demonstration)
■From the Document type drop-down list, select Drivers & Softwares.
■Click Find to search for the driver of selected printing device.
■On the next page, make sure that DOWNLOADS tab is selected.
■On the selected tab, click Windows 8 (x64) from the left pane. Alternatively Windows 8 can also be clicked if the edition of installed Windows 8 is 32-bit or x86.
■From the displayed result in the right pane, click [Windows 64bit] PCl5e/5c/6 Printer Driver Version 14.00.
■On the next page, click Download Now button to initiate the download process.