Microsoft Outlook 2010 won't print on HP LaserJet 400 M401dne PCL6 printer. It prints on others.

Hello!

As explained in my other post, we recently replaced our office printer for the HP LaserJet 400 M401dne. I have a weird compatibility issue with Microsoft Outlook 2010 on the host PC which runs Windows 7 32-bit. I know, I should probably post in Sevenforums, but I am not sure if anyone will see it. So I post here, just in case you can help.

I have downloaded and installed the full driver package for the specific model, not the generic HP PCL driver, and I have shared the printer on our network. Everyone can print from every application, but the host computer cannot preview or print when the HP printer is selected. It has no issue printing to any other printer. A little Googling said to close Outlook, delete a specific file and then open it again. It didn't work. It also suggested some driver incompatibility and trying another driver. Since no other applications on the host computer and no other computers have issues, I wouldn't like to replace the official model-specific driver with the generic HP PCL driver or whatever else just to make Outlook 2010 work. Of course I know I can print to PDF and then print the file, but this is not very convenient. Do you have any other workaround?

PS: Another computer also running Windows 7 32-bit with the same driver (pulled from the host) has no issue printing from Outlook 2010. So something is wrong with the host version of Outlook 2010. A missing update? Any weird security restriction? Any ideas?

I aplogise in advance for being so blunt and accept my comments are generic and may not apply to your business situation as you have not given any details about your business. I admit a major assumption is you connect to internet.

My comments are based on the general premise that security for business accounts is of paramount importance, and only intended to make you think if your current setup is truly tenable.

Comments below
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Office pc still running Windows 7 32 bit and Office 2010?

Hardly surprising you are getting issues using old (and frankly insecure) software.

The financial risk to a company's business using outdated and insecure (imo) far outweighs cost of upgrading to modern secure versions.

Note: If there is some software reason for using W7 32bit (and pc is comnected to internet), a safer solution is to run it in a virtual machine with a W11 host.

Of course, you are free to ignore my comments as I only have limited information, and I assure you my comments are only for reflection.

I am not our IT and the decision to switch to Windows 10 or Windows 11 23H2 is no mine to take. Of course I would have upgraded to Windows 10 32-bit, at least, if not clean install Windows 11 23H2 (the CPU lacks SSE4.2 instructions for anything newer), if it was my PC. From a little Google search it seems the local Administrator account is corrupt and I should create a new account, copy all data and remove the old. However, I cannot do that because I would risk many compatibility issues. If I could decide, I would backup all data, wipe the disk and clean install Windows 7, if not something newer. But again this would take a lot of time and risk of losing data. So I will just have to live with that. I also tried to create a second instance of the printer with the generic HP driver, just in case that would work, it didn't. It is not about the driver, something is wrong when trying to access this specific printer from Outlook 2010. All other applications print fine to any printer including this specific HP model. Microsoft Outlook 2010 prints fine to any other printer. It seems like it hates this specific model for some reason. Of course I cannot just uninstall and reinstall Microsoft Office just to make it work, IF I manage to make it work. That's why I am asking for some patch that I can apply to fix it as quick as possible. Yes, I know the obvious, just wipe the disk and install Windows 10/11, but this is not possible.

PS: For the time being, we can create a PDF file using Bullzip PDF Printer and then print the file from Adobe Reader using the HP, but as you can imagine this is not very convenient.

I'd bug the IT department to upgrade you to a supported version of Windows.

This is not the computer I use to work, it is one other colleague's, so I don't care much. I have upgraded my own from Windows XP to Vista 32-bit and then to Windows 7 32-bit. Sadly it cannot upgraded any further because it has a very old Intel Celeron socket 478 (worse than an old Pentium 4 Prescott socket 478) with 1.5GB RAM. If it was at least Intel Core 2 Duo, I would have upgraded it to Windows 10 32-bit, at least. I have also Microsoft Office 2016 which is the latest version supported on Windows 7 and much better than good old Microsoft Office 2010. I have done it as good as it gets without upgrading the hardware.

spapakons said:

Since no other applications on the host computer and no other computers have issues

Click to expand...

Can I take that to mean that no other Office 2010 applications (e.g. Word 2010) have a problem running on the "host" computer and printing to the new HP printer? Only Outlook? I ask because, as far as I know, all Office apps in a particular version use a common set of print routines.

Have you tried a Repair on the Office 2010 install?
How to Repair Your Microsoft Office Installation

spapakons said:

Any weird security restriction?

Click to expand...

If you have tried everything else - Run Outlook as Admin ONCE, and try to print. This is an old trick to fix Outlook Macro security blocks. I have no idea if it will do anything in your situation.

Yes, Word and Excel can print fine on the host computer, only Outlook has an issue. I suspect it tries to copy some data to the temp folder of the user to preview or print and fails because the profile is corrupt. No easy way to fix it unless I create a new user and copy all data. The computer shares many folders and creating a new user is not ideal. I haven't tried loading Outlook as Admin. It might make a difference. I will try it later that I go to work. Thanks.

Another Outlook debug technique is Safe Mode.
Open Outlook in safe mode - Microsoft Support

Running Outlook in Safe Mode didn't make any difference. Running Outlook as Administrator didn't make any difference either. It can print to any other printer or create a PDF file but not to this specific printer.