HP Printer Smart Install Problem

Printer installation is usually a trivial job that only takes about five to ten minutes. It took me two hours to finally get one installed today! This printer is called a HP Color LaserJet M451dn. The printer is equipped with Smart Install, which is supposed to simplify printer installation. However, it ended up causing major problems for me.

Traditionally, you connect the printer to the computer and then you specify a driver during printer installation. That’s it. It’s very straightforward. The Smart Install is different. When you connect a printer with Smart Install, the printer connects as a CD drive with the installation software. I tried this route and ran the installation software. It did not work. I then followed the second method in the installation guide that came with the printer. The second method requires you to put the driver CD in the CD drive, run the installation software first, and then connect the printer. Not only did it not work, it also took about 20 minutes each time I tried it.

I found out that I was not alone. A lot of people online reported the same problem.

HP LaserJet Pro 400 Color M451dn : problem installing driver

I tried some of the suggestions, but they did not work either. I finally managed to get it working. Here are the steps.

  1. Make sure the printer is not connected to the computer.
  2. Disable Smart Install on the printer. This is done by using the panel on the printer. It’s under Setup Menu -> Service -> Smart Install
  3. Download the latest universal print driver from HP and install it. Enter your model number in this site to find the driver.
    http://www8.hp.com/us/en/drivers.html
  4. Reboot the computer after you install the latest universal print driver.
  5. Connect the printer to your computer using a USB cable.

This should fix it. Otherwise, the other method to try is to connect the printer to the network and install it as a network printer.


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