Unable to add printer that works on other PC

My local network has 2 Win11 PC's and a shared network attached Dell color printer. The printer works fine on the other POC, but I cannot get it attached to my PC - even though it used to be attached and run fine. (I have no idea why it disappeared.)

This is the message I get when I try to connect to the printer:

Needless to say I have no idea what that means. I ran sfc /scannow and there were no errors. The printer does not show up on Device Manager, but my router sees it and shows it's local TCP/IP address. The printer works fine on the other PC.

Is there some sort of "wizard refresh" option in Win11? I'd really like to get my printer back, but the Dell install software for the printer fails with the above message. So does the standard Win11 process of adding a new printer.

Hi

This is an old fix. The shortcut still works. Not sure of the end result as I have no printer to add.
Forget adding a printer via Windows Settings at present if it isn't adding the printer.

• Create a new shortcut on your desktop
• In the "Type location of the item" paste the following:
• rundll32.exe SHELL32.DLL,SHHelpShortcuts_RunDLL AddPrinter
• Click "Next"

• Name it something of your choice
• Click "Finish"

• IMPORTANT! Right click on the Shortcut and "Run As Administrator"
• Go through the add printer process

Nice try - thanks for your suggestion. Unfortunately it failed by ending up with the same error message I posted above.

It did take me through the steps of adding a printer. Step 1 showed the Add Device dialog, bit it had a printer type different from my printer and one I had never seen before. So I clicked on the "The printer that I want is not listed." That brought up another dialog "Find printer by other options". The only option that did anything was "My printer is a little older. Help me find it."

That brought up a dialog that listed the correct printer - which made me think I was home free. But noooooooooo - when I selected the printer and clicked Next I got the same Wizard dialog I posted initially.

So your suggestion, though it seems to work, seems to indicate there is something fundamental that is missing from my Windows configuration - even though sfc says everything is OK.

I'm thinking now that I need to do a repair install - which I have done before and that required only an hour or so to tweak the final results. My other option is to restore one of my Macrium backups - but my suspicion is those will have the same problem.
====================================
Update: I did restore my boot drive from a few weeks ago - same problem. I don't want to go back any further than that, so it looks like a Repair Install is what I'll have to do.

Sorry to read that, Birk.

I will keep looking

Birk said:

Nice try - thanks for your suggestion. Unfortunately it failed by ending up with the same error message I posted above.

It did take me through the steps of adding a printer. Step 1 showed the Add Device dialog, bit it had a printer type different from my printer and one I had never seen before. So I clicked on the "The printer that I want is not listed." That brought up another dialog "Find printer by other options". The only option that did anything was "My printer is a little older. Help me find it."

That brought up a dialog that listed the correct printer - which made me think I was home free. But noooooooooo - when I selected the printer and clicked Next I got the same Wizard dialog I posted initially.

So your suggestion, though it seems to work, seems to indicate there is something fundamental that is missing from my Windows configuration - even though sfc says everything is OK.

I'm thinking now that I need to do a repair install - which I have done before and that required only an hour or so to tweak the final results. My other option is to restore one of my Macrium backups - but my suspicion is those will have the same problem.
====================================
Update: I did restore my boot drive from a few weeks ago - same problem. I don't want to go back any further than that, so it looks like a Repair Install is what I'll have to do.

Click to expand...

Birk, It may help to know the exact model of the Dell printer.
And a brief rundown of what you tried?

Birk said:

Nice try - thanks for your suggestion. Unfortunately it failed..

Click to expand...

Check your Network Settings​

• Search for & open Settings
• Click on Network and Internet (On Left) > Advanced Network Settings (on right) > Advanced sharing settings (On right)
• Check that Network Discovery option is checked,
• Check that Setup Network Devices Automatically is on
• Check that File and Printer Sharing is on

You could also try removing it from Device manager​

(If it’s in there)

• Search for & open Device Manager
• In Device Manager see if the printer is listed. If so, uninstall it (Right click)

• Reboot, check for Windows Updates
• If not showing, go to Windows Update> Advanced Settings> Optional Updates and check if there is a printer driver for your printer
• If not, reinstall the latest printer driver from Dell for the printer

The printer is a Dell C1760nw which is aa very old color laser that works extremely well and has cheap toner refills.

Device Manager does not show a printer on my system.

All those network settings are OK

Installing the Dell driver for the printer (actually reinstalling it) works, but does not fix anything.

My system was fully up to date with all updates installed and "get latest updates as soon as possible" enabled. That's not the case now since I've gone back a few weeks, but I will update everything in the morning.

Just for grins here's what me Device Manager shows:

Make sure to check the Optional Updates. Probably more importantly the the actual “Windows Update”

In device manger somewhere in the menu bar. (Not currently at my PC) there is an option to see other or hidden devices. Can you check that?
You don’t even have a printer section in Device Manager, which considering the drivers installed OK, is ODD.
Something deeper could be afoot.

I am wondering if creating a temporary new user account might be able to access the printer?

Let's install the network print with the "old school" method, like we have a Windows XP computer:
Open Settings -> Bluetooth & Devices -> Printers & Scanners. Now click "Printer Server Properties" at the bottom and then go to the Ports tab. Click Add Port and create a new Standard TCP/IP port. Put the printer's IP address in both fields and proceed to create the port. Back to Printers & Scanners click to Add device and wait a few seconds. Click "Add a new device manually" when you see the blue text. Select "Add a printer using an IP address or host name" and click Next. Change device type to TCP/IP device and type the IP address of the printer at the second field. Click next. I cannot proceed to see the next step, since I don't have any network printer, but you get the idea... If asked which port to use, select the one you created.

No joy

I finished updating Windows to the current version OK. Still no printer, even though Settings/Printerss & scanners shows 1760nw has 2 documents in queue. (This really surprised me.) Printer status really does show 2 queued items for the printer - but is unable to give any info about them. Needless to say there aren't any real queued print jobs.

I liked the idea of creating a new port - but all attempts to do that failed. I got to the point of making a new port (thanks spapakons for pointing out how to do that) and the Add port option displayed a menu for Available port types, and this had 2 options: New Port Type and New Port.

New Port responded with "Specified port cannot be added/The parameter is incorrect" and New Port Type asked for a "printer INF file that contains the port monitor installation information". I have the Dell driver for the printer and it does have an INF file in it, but when I pointed to that the dialog just closes and nothing happens. I tried that 3 times with the same useless result.

I also tried pointing to drivers in the Windows directory, but nothing there worked.

Since I had the Dell driver I reinstalled the INF file, and that said it completed OK. But when I went through the steps to print a simple text document everything seemed to work - including specifying the C1760 printer (that was a surprise) - but (of course) nothing actually printed.

It looks like I'm going to have to do a repair install. To quote the infamous Ralph Cramden: "Whaat a revolting development this is."

Try this:

Click Start > Type Print Management > Right Click and Run As Administrator > Expand "Printer Servers" > Expand PC_NAME (Local) > Right Click "Printers" > Click "Add Printer..." > Select "Add IPP, TCP/IP..." and go through that wizard.

Thanks dacrone, but "Print Management" returns "No results found"

open the run box:

Looks like you try to do something with insufficient access rights. If your account is administrator, not standard user, try creating another administrator account and do it from there. Or enable the built-in Administrator account and do it from there. After successfully adding the printer, you should be able to print from your original account.

So not going to try a different user account?

If he is administrator but doesn't have sufficient access rights, something is wrong, his current account is corrupt. He should try doing it from another administrator account.

My original/only account is an Admin account. It's the ohnly account on the system. I created a new Admin account and got it working. Entering printmanagement.msc in the Run box results in "Windows cannot find 'printmanagement.msc'. Make sure you typed the name correctly and try again."

Services does not show a printmanagement.msc item anywhere.

Printers & Scanners shows the printer, now with 3 queued print jobs. Printer properties shows it has no port. Print test page says it sent a test page to the printer, but nothing prints.

In the Ports dialog for the printer all the options for a new port are greyed out. I deleted the printer and tried to add a new one. The search dialog never found anything to add. Clicking on "Not finding what you're looking for>" brought up a web page about adding a BlueTooth device. I closed that Page.

I repeated the steps for manually adding a printer, but that simply repeated the same error message I showed in my first post.

I'm about convinced that the problem is my Windows has somehow lost the code that deals with TCP/IP connected devices. Since I'm doing this I know the TCP/IP protocol is working ok, but that's because my PC is connected to a router. Apparently that is not the same as having it connected to a printer - or other type of TCP/IP device. This tells me a Repair install is the only way to fix things.

may i ask have you tried adding the printer manually with static addressing.
you can get the printers IP from the router then you could try adding the printer manually using that IP addressing.

settings > bluetooth & devices > printer and scanners > add device.
it will search for a device but will also show a small menu 'add a new device manually'

see if the printer is detected this way, best of luck, Steve ..

Have you run the troubleshooter for Printers?

What if you create the Standard TCP/IP port and then open Printer Properties and assign it to the printer? This should work. Otherwise remove the printer entirely and uninstall its software, then try again. Have a look at Device Manager and delete the printer from there. Select to show hidden devices and also remove the printer queue. To do that you must first remove all jobs from the queue.