How to update Printer Drivers on your Windows device

A printer is an output device that outputs paper documents. This includes text documents, images. Most printers require a driver to work. If you recently upgraded from one version of Windows to another, it’s possible that the current printer driver is for the previous version of Windows. See the following guides below for some related articles. How to delete obsolete drivers from the Driver Store in Windows 10, how to rename a Printer in Windows 10, how to determine the version and type of a Printer Driver (Printer Driver Information), how to specify a persistent default printer via the Windows Registry, and how to fix Print Spooler Service not running.

If you currently do not use GPO or any software deployment for this, kindly follow the steps below. Use the following steps find and install a driver. You may want to see this guide on how to add Print Drivers with PowerShell, RUNDLL32, and VBScript in Windows 10

Windows Printer Driver Update Check

1: Windows Update. Windows Update might have an updated version of your printer driver.
– Check for available updates.

2: Install software from the Printer Manufacturer. If your printer came with a disc, that disc might contain software that installs a driver for the printer.

- Insert the CD that came with the printer. If the CD does not automatically start, 
- Navigate and open My Computer, 
- Double-click on the CD drive, and then 
- Click the Setup or Install file. 

If you have downloaded the drivers, run the downloaded setup file and follow the installation wizard, and once completed, your software is installed.

3: Download and install the latest driver yourself. You can search for a driver on the manufacturer’s website. For HP, kindly use this link to have your Drivers downloaded.

4: Device Manager: Alternatively, you can follow these steps to have your Printer.
– Right-click on the Start menu for the “Win-X” and select Device Manager or
– From the search bar, enter “Device Manager”.

This will open up the Device Manager window as shown below. There are other entries we aren’t interested in.

– Navigate to the Printer option and expand it as
– Scroll to the one for Printers then expand this to see the name of your own printer underneath.

This will open up the following window below, suggesting you either search automatically on your device for an update or will locate and install the Driver manually.
– Right-click on the name for your printer and select Update Driver from the menu that appears.
– Select the option to “Browse my computer for drivers“.
– Click on Next and follow the prompts.

You will be required to browse for a driver in a specific location as shown below.

If you decide on the following option “Search automatically for updated driver software.” The system will search for a driver from the list of available drivers on your device. In my case, the system has determined that I have the best driver running.

I hope you found this blog post helpful. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comment session.