Need Old HP Laserjet Driver for windows 10

[mickth]

Hoping someone can help. At work we finally upgraded to Windows 10, from Windows XP. We have a custom process written to plot AutoCAD files to Plot Files (file.plt) We needed to use a generic HP Laserjet Driver that prints to file. This was fine in XP. Now the drivers to choose from in Windows 10 are all specific to individual Laserjet models. I've tried a few dozen of them, and it messes up our custom plot routine which combines the .plt file, along with barcodes from our ERP software. So, how would I go about finding a way to get the .inf file that is associated with the plain HP Laserjet driver, out of XP and into windows 10?

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

If HP haven't released any Windows 10 drivers for a discontinued model then you'll need to replace the printer.

I'm pretty certain that drivers/INF. files written for XP will not install on Windows 10.

 

[mickth]

If HP haven't released any Windows 10 drivers for a discontinued model then you'll need to replace the printer.

I'm pretty certain that drivers/INF. files written for XP will not install on Windows 10.

 

[mickth]

Thanks but we’re not using it to print to a printer. We use it to print to a file (filename.plt). we all use different printers and drivers for printing. This is just installed to print to a file.

 

[mickth]

How do I post a picture? I would show you the printer driver I'm trying to install. Again, we're not printing to a physical printer. It's just a printer driver that gets installed, to print to a file.

 

[The Paladin]

the basic HP Laser Jet Printer driver is HP5 or HP6, Have you tried using LJ1100 , or Hp4050 Drivers

 

[mickth]

the basic HP Laser Jet Printer driver is HP5 or HP6, Have you tried using LJ1100 , or Hp4050 Drivers

Hi,
Thanks. I'll try that tomorrow. I'm trying to remember back (25 years ago when we wrote this) and I'm wondering if maybe I'm looking for an HPGL or HPGL/2 driver? I See that no current HP Printers are compatible.

 

[mickth]

the basic HP Laser Jet Printer driver is HP5 or HP6, Have you tried using LJ1100 , or Hp4050 Drivers

Hi,
Thanks. I'll try that tomorrow. I'm trying to remember back (25 years ago when we wrote this) and I'm wondering if maybe I'm looking for an HPGL or HPGL/2 driver? I See that no current HP Printers are compatible.

 

[The Paladin]

oh dear. HPGL or /2 drivers... that's getting really old.. you sure that is the driver you are looking for ?

 

[The Paladin]

have you tried looking for a Windows 8 driver for Designjet 100, 500, 800, or 1000 series model (HPGL printers) windows 10 wooudl accept those drivers as valid if they exist for windows 8

 

[mickth]

oh dear. HPGL or /2 drivers... that's getting really old.. you sure that is the driver you are looking for ?

No, I'm not 100%. When I edit the .PLT file with Vedit, I don't see anything in the header of the file that says what kind of file it is. But in windows XP, we use the plain vanilla HP Laserjet driver, and instead of it printing to a real port, it's print to file.

 

[The Paladin]

yes I understand your printing to prn . no problem, I Get that, so if you use a plain jane HP Laser jet Driver, which one was it ? HPCL4, 5 or 6 ?

 

[mickth]

yes I understand your printing to prn . no problem, I Get that, so if you use a plain jane HP Laser jet Driver, which one was it ? HPCL4, 5 or 6 ?

I guess I don't know how to find that out.

 

[The Paladin]

okay. you told me you where using on your xp box an old LaserJet driver to print to file.
do you still have access to that computer /os ? if so which driver is configured in your printer section name?

 

[mickth]

okay. you told me you where using on your xp box an old LaserJet driver to print to file.
do you still have access to that computer /os ? if so which driver is configured in your printer section name?

I do have access yes. I just can't figure out how to trace down which .inf file is being used. Because this isn't a physical printer, it doesn't list the actual driver being used under properties. Other printers have a tab called "About" that will list the .dll files being used. This one (the HP Laserjet) does not.

 

[The Paladin]

ok so in your " start -> "printers" under windows xp you have a " HP LaserJet" printer showing correct ?
if you look under "device manager", you may find it again under "printers queues", there and be able to see what driver and version it is.

 

[mickth]

ok so in your " start -> "printers" under windows xp you have a " HP LaserJet" printer showing correct ?
if you look under "device manager", you may find it again under "printers queues", there and be able to see what driver and version it is.

Thanks for your help. I have been looking, and still haven't found a way to see which drivers are being used. I'm almost better using trial and error. I think I have eliminated HP-GL/2, PCL3 and PCL6. I haven't found a PCL4 or PCL5 driver to test yet. Any thoughts? I wish I could post a screen shot on here so I could show you want the raw file headers look like.

 

[mickth]

ok so in your " start -> "printers" under windows xp you have a " HP LaserJet" printer showing correct ?
if you look under "device manager", you may find it again under "printers queues", there and be able to see what driver and version it is.

I got the drivers for the Laserjet 1000 from CNET, and installed it on Win10. The problem is, I don't know what it did with them, or where it put them to try to choose them.

 

[mickth]

So, I'm thinking I'm going to try to change the way we're doing things. Currently we create a plot file, then in our ERP software it creates a txt file that goes out to the HP printer, has barcodes that reside in the printer, and then the operation steps (Operation 101 drilling, operation 305 router etc) each have a barcode that prints next to them, then the plot file merges with the print job, and all of the components print together on one page out of the printer. What I'm thinking is, make the ERP software create a file, then something in dos like copy erp_file.txt + drawing.plt complete_file.jpg then print that as a binary file. or something. What I don't know how to do, is merge or copy a txt file into (over) a drawing or binary file.

 

[mickth]

I've found the .inf file I think that my HP laserjet choice was using. There is a file called nprint.inf and in it, there are a big list of printer choices. One of them shows this:

"HP LaserJet" = HPLJ.GPD ,HPHP_LaserJet2AC0,HP_LaserJet


How could I get these to work on Windows 10? Possible?

 

[The Paladin]

best bet : https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04675396

 

[mickth]

best bet : https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04675396

Thanks. In researching this, I found that hplj.gpd was actually made by Microsoft. I think I will start a new thread, simply asking about installing this driver and it's associated files on Win10. I think I Have found all the needed components to copy. Since this driver is only needed to print to file, and not to a physical printer, there should be a way to install these on Win10.