Windows 10 Nov Update Wipes Out Printers

[WB627]

So a few weeks ago Microsoft installed the November update for Window 10 and it took out all my printers, 2x Epson Ink Jet, 1 x HP Laser Jet & 2x Dymo Label printers. This was not the first time a windows update has done this, but on previous occasions I have been able to get them working again, uninstalling, reinstalling new drivers etc.

But not this time.

In desperation I resorted to going back to the previous version of Windows 10 and that got my printers back without having got do anything else.

Then it installed the November update again taking out my printers again, I thought I had stopped it doing that, but evidently I failed. So I uninstalled it again and I got my printers back.

Tonight it has installed it again, despite my efforts to block updates and has taken out all my printers again. I am about to hit the uninstall button and leave it running overnight, so I wake up in the morning with my printers working again.

Does anyone know how to get the printers working with the November update or how to permanently disable the November update from installing itself.

I have left Microsoft a message on the feedback hub, but I'm not sure why I bothered.

[Asturias56]

Its a common issue - see below which directs to a possible fix - or Google "Windows 10 Nov Update wipes out printers" for more

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2019/10/03/microsoft-windows-10-warning-printer-updates-upgrade-windows-10/#1e2ee3654353

[WB627]

Thanks for that.

I lost my ethernet network adapter a few days before I noticed the printers had gone and I had not connected the two events. Fixed that by switching to the usb wireless adapter. I have a Gigabyte motherboard which may be part of the problem.

Might just go back to Windows 7, my brother did not switch to 10 and laughs at me every time I have a problem with it.

[Asturias56]

W10 is actually quite good - one of the better releases TBH

[WB627]

W10 is actually quite good - one of the better releases TBH

Compared to Vista definitely & W8 probably. But IMHO not compared to W7 or XP.

This latest problem seems to pick victims randomly, one of my sons has a partner who works in an office, out of seven PC's only hers will work the printers following the update. Not exactly useful.

When it installs again, I will have another go at getting the printers to work with it. Failing that I will go back to W7 which will solve all my problems forever LOL.

I keep hearing a little voice behind me saying apple, apple ...…. take the apple

[Cornish Jack]

WB627 - ignore the little 'voice behind you' until you have done a search for 'Apple problems', on line! Your thoughts on W7 are good - just be aware that MS won't be supporting it much longer (devastating news (not!) and the constant nagging to 'update' may not necessarily be in your best interests! I use W7 64 Pro and will continue to do so until it no longer works (ignoring further updates!) and then convert to one of the Linux varieties.

[India Four Two]

WB627, don’t listen to Cornish Jack. ;)

I’ve been using Macs for personal computing since the 90s. At the same time I’ve used Unix/Linux boxes and Windows PCs at work, so I have extensive experience in all three environments. On the Windows front, I started with Windows 3.1 and moved through the various versions until I stopped at Windows 7, with a diversion to the diabolically bad Vista.

I’m lucky in that because I use a Mac, my occasional need to use a Windows program is covered by running W7 on a Parallels emulator, without connecting to the Internet.

With regards to Macs, I would like to point out what I’ve noticed over the years. When I first started traveling with a Mac laptop in the late 90s, I was very much in the minority. Windows laptops were everywhere. Nowadays the tables have turned. Everywhere I go these days, MacBooks are the majority of laptops that I see, in spite of the fact that they are significantly more expensive than a Windows laptop. There is a message there.

Find a friend or colleague who has one and have a good look! If you don’t have any friends, send me a PM! :E

[Bidule]

Everywhere I go these days, MacBooks are the majority of laptops that I see, in spite of the fact that they are significantly more expensive than a Windows laptop. There is a message there.

It seems that you are going only where the Apple users are, or you only see the Apple laptops!

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/659x400/2019_12_11_081515_31640ce48d91762744e4a8c1a1c33c6366c06904.p ng
6.6% of market share in first quarter 2019 (I have no more recent data) do not make a "majority of laptops" and it is not only a question of price!

.

[Ancient Observer]

I think the fact that one sees Apple/Mac s everywhere is caused by meeja and travelling biz users, and the obscenely large logos. Plus, in the UK, the retailers get huge margins for flogging Apples, so their displays are far too big for the relative sales.

[WB627]

Someone's ears must have been burning in Seattle last night, when I booted up my PC this morning, there was a page on the November update , open and waiting for me in Edge. It took me to this page.....

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4020089/windows-10-in-s-mode-faq (https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4020089/windows-10-in-s-mode-faq)

W10 S which cold be where my problem lies.....

Next time it installs, I don't hold out any hope of stopping it, I will turn off the S mode and see what happens.

Wish me luck LOL

[WB627]

Done it again tonight. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! :mad:

So followed the links to switch out of S Mode only to discover I am not running S mode :mad::mad::mad:

So I will uninstall it for the fourth time :mad:

If any one has an answer, please let me know

[jimjim1]

https://www.howtogeek.com/354057/what-is-windows-10-in-s-mode/

How to Check If You’re Using S ModeYou can check whether you’re using S Mode by heading to Settings > System > About. On the About page, scroll down to the “Windows Specifications” section.If you see the words “in S mode” to the right the Edition entry, you’re using an S Mode PC. If you don’t, you’re not using S Mode.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/650x273/ximg_5b0dc6636f33d_png_pagespeed_gp_jp_jw_pj_ws_js_rj_rp_rw_ ri_cp_md_ic_elkpmswurp_f4026e53d5821fe21b4d0a614a2fe03248eb6 233.png

[jimjim1]

Have you seen this?

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-fix-printing-issues-after-latest-update-windows-10

[WB627]

Thanks for that. I think I am one of those that will have to wait until Microsoft fixes the problem. In the meantime, I will put off the updating for as long as I can each time and then just uninstall it. Driving me up the wall :} .

When I have my nervous breakdown, I've told my wife to sue Microsoft for $5 billion :E

[stevef]

My Brother printer disappeared after upgrading to W10 from W7. The solution was to go into the x86 programme files (I'm running 64 bit) and send the Brother control centre .exe to the desktop as a shortcut. Instant fix.

[WB627]

Yet another round (4 hours) of Bill Gates installing the Nov. 2019 on my PC and me uninstalling it again because it had taken out all my printers again. They obviously have not fixed the problem and there are still no answers from searching in Microsoft or on Google that will fix the problem!!

Am I the only person in the world that has this issue?

[Loose rivets]

Have you tried one printer at a time?

[WB627]

I started using PC's at work in 1982, long before we had IT departments to "fix" your problems and you had to sort it yourself. The first of them used UCSDP as the operating system, it was the system Bill Gates wrote whilst he was at university (left before he graduated), it was FREE which is why the cheapskate company I was working for used it instead of paying Bill Gates a Kings ransom to use DOS and was why we never got any updates for the project management software we were using, like the people that were using DOS did. Before that I had a Sinclair ZX81 and taught my self to write Sinclair Basic, which was very useful later on. So I've tried everything I know and searched Microsoft and Google for an answer but to no avail.

I've stopped and started the spooler, I've tried reinstalling the printers several different ways but it won't let me do that. It also messes up my ethernet card and takes out Cute PDF writer. I've been to the websites of the printer manufacturers Epsom, HP and Dymo (it looks like a driver problem) and there are no answers there either. The only way to fix the problem is to go back to the previous version, which Microsoft, bless them, suggests you do if you have these sort of problems. :mad:

So I am now on an unsupported version of Windows 10 and not only can I not get a supported version to work with my printers, but I cannot stop Microsoft invading my cyberspace and installing this accursed November 2018 version on my PC, every 30 days! :ugh:

[WB627]

Got me again today :ugh::mad::{

[Capn Bloggs]

Am I the only person in the world that has this issue?
Must be! Just kidding. No probs here, but I only just installed W10 (Mixture would be happy) using the media creator thingee ie clean slate (used my Win 7 key, no probs ;)). I assume that includes the November changes, but I am wondering if your problem might "go away" if you did a clean install using your current W10 key? A "brand new", clean copy of Win 10 already incorporating that Nov update.

W10 is actually quite good - one of the better releases TBH
The Quick Access arrangement (can't rename links) sucks! :{

[Asturias56]

"Am I the only person in the world that has this issue?"

sounds like your having as much trouble as everyone else I know combined

Just how many printers do you have hooked up WB?

[WB627]

Good evening to one and all, I am back up and running having had this up date reinstall itself and uninstalled it.

I have 2 Epsons, although one is currently in pieces, an HP LaserJet 2300 DTN and 2 flavours of Dymo label writer, connected when required. On top of that I use Cute PDF writer, that thinks it's a printer and also gets taken out by the update which also causes IP errors on my network.

The Dymo's, Epson R3000, and Cute PDF disappear completely. The HP and Epson BX525 appear to be still there but, they are captioned "No Driver Available" and wont work. I have today tried reinstalling the latest drivers again, without success. It is not a Mode S PC so that is not the issue.

With what I have on this PC, a clean install fills me with dread and I'm not convinced that would solve the problem anyway and could make matters worse.

I have a couple of laptops, one is a Dell workstation which was bought to render 3D animations, which it does rather well, I never migrated this one to Windows 10 just in case, good decision. The other is a small Acer running W10 but unlike my PC it does not log into the Microsoft Collective every time I boot it up and does not get updates unless I ask for them. I don't use this very much anymore, so today I started the process of updating that to the Nov 19 W10 update, to see if that has the same problems. If it does than I shall download all the updates since Nov 19 to see if there is a fix amongst them for my problems. I am not optimistic.

[cavuman1]

WB627 - Microsoft released updates KB4535996 and KB45375572 for Windows 10 64-bit on February 27. The former mentions a fix for printer recognition failure and may offer you some hope. Fingers crossed! :ok:

- Ed

[WB627]

cavuman1 - thanks for that I saw it today. The problem that I think I have, is that I think I have older faulty Version 1909 files stuck in my system that it is trying to use to update the PC and I think I need to get rid of these files and start again, I believe this is possible.

My laptop is on V 1903 and the printers work ok but for some reason when I undo the latest update on the PC, not sure which version it is, I finish up with V 1803 or V 1809 depending on where you look in Settings!!!

I suspect it is trying to install a faulty 1909 but it may need 1903 first for everything to work, I'm not sure it will let me install KB4535996 and KB45375572 directly at the moment. I am not sure how I can install V1903 as I would like to go there first ,as this works on the laptop.

[cavuman1]

You are more than welcome, WB627. Several links might be of assistance to you: Windows 1903 Status and Microsoft Update Catalogue. You'll find a downloadable v.1903 about halfway down the second link's page.
Windows 1903 Status (https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=windows%20v.%201903)

Windows Update Catalog (https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=windows%20v.%201903)

- Ed

[WB627]

cavuman1 - thanks again.

I have been doing some forensic investigations! I am definitely rolling back to 1803, it has been trying to install the latest version (at the time) of 1809 since 11th November 2019 and it is this 1809 version that is causing me the problems.

I have created a restore point so hopefully I can recover to 1803 if I have problems and I am going to go forward with 1809 again and then try to install whatever comes next. I can't quite understand why it won't install 1903 or 1909 at this moment in time, unless you need the preceding updates first. As a last resort ,I will install 1903 directly form the link you sent me, not that I have any idea what I am doing LOL :uhoh:

This is somewhat outside my sphere of expertise with PC's, hardware issues being my forte.

I'll post again in due course

[WB627]

Well that was all rather interesting....

My PC under the direction of the Microsoft Collective, has been downloading and installing 1809 in various versions since Version 1809 x64 2019-11B installed on ‎08/‎05/‎2018 and because of the problems was uninstalled; it had two goes at installing Windows 10, version 1809 x64 2020-02B (the latest Feb 20120 one) in the last week and on both occasions it took out the printers and was uninstalled to get them back.

As stated above, I had another go tonight and although at one point, I thought I might be a candidate for the Darwin Award, after it rebooted, the printers were all still there. EUREEKA :) . I have no idea why this time, with the same version as last time 1809 x64 2020-02B, it worked, other than this time I moved all the update files in C \Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download into a new folder called Backup Downloads, so the folder was empty and it could not use a previously downloaded file and had to download a fresh copy.

So did all the printers work, well not exactly... The Epson BX525 worked no problems, I am sure the R3000 would have worked if it wasn't in pieces on the kitchen table :uhoh:, the Dymo 450 worked, the Dymo PnP worked, but only with the inbuilt software (I can live with that), but my most important printer the HP LaserJet, didn't :{

First the spooler kept stopping, not helpful, this seemed to sort itself out when I uninstalled a few of the "redundant" iterations of the installed printers, but I still could not get the HP to print. The PC kept telling me it was ready go, but clearly something was stopping it. I uninstalled all iterations of it but one kept coming back with a "no driver caption". Eventually I got it deleted (disconnected the printer) and manged to reinstall the drivers but it still wouldn't go. The HP trouble shooter was of no help, so in desperation I ran the Windows trouble shooter and that finally got it sorted out.

And just in case you are wondering, these are all things I have tried in the past without success, except for removing the update files to another folder.

So at least I am now on a version of Windows that is supported and gets security updates. Tomorrow, if I am feeling brave, I will have ago at getting the next update.

The input from everyone who has posed on here has been instrumental in getting me to this point and I am grateful to all of you for the help.

WB627

[WB627]

So just before I posted this it installed a couple more updates, I did an install and shut down & went to bed, so I could not check it until this morning when found the HP LaserJet was not working again; it was still there just not printing.

So I have spent all day installing and uninstalling the LaserJet umpteen times and trying different things. I can plug it into the laptop and it works. I have shared it on the network via the laptop and it works from the PC over the network, but it will not work directly from a USB connection to the PC. It is definitely installed and connected, it just won't print :{

Makes no sense at all to me.

On advice from Google I ran an scf /scannow from the command prompt as this apparently can fix errors in files. I t did find errors and pointed me to a log file for answers LOL. Page after page of utter gobbledegook.

So I now have choices go back to before those two "critical" updates installed last night, go back to 1803 (do not pass Go, do not collect £50), go forward to 1903 with fingers crossed, or persevere to try and get the printer to work from the PC.

I have had enough for one day, so another fun day in store tomorrow.

A clean install is looking more and more like a good idea :eek:

[Asturias56]

look on the bright side - it keeps you out of the pub................

[WB627]

I tried again today to get the printer to install a driver, I tried safe mode but without success. :{

So I invoked a restore point and I went back to last night and the successful installation of 1809 and hey presto, I have my LaserJet back on line. :ok:

Thought at one point I was in for a Darwin award again, as the reconstruction of the registry took about 50 minutes, not the two or three that Goggle said it should, but I stuck with it, experience told me I should, LOL. :ok:

So the question now is try the updates again, or try and install 1903 or 1909 directly. :confused:

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread … conversely who dares wins. I think I will be boldly going.....Well I've got this far. :D

[WB627]

So having gone back to the 1809 installation that had the printer working ie before the compulsory "critical" updates from the Microsoft Collective that appeared to stop the printer from working, the Collective last night decided that resistance was futile and installed three of them again l, despite my best efforts to stop them. The good news is that when I booted it up this morning I still had a working printer :).

But, it still had one update to go, Realtek - Net which I believe is to do with the Ethernet adapter. So this afternoon, I summonsed the courage to install it (resistance is futile and only delays the inevitable :( who dares wins and all that) and to my utter surprise the printer still worked :).

I have no idea why after the "critical" updates installed, this time it worked and last time it installed them it didn't :confused:.

But at least I am all set to go forward to 1903, or more likely directly to 1909 from what I've read. So I can look forward to many more days and nights doing battle with the Microsoft Collective and not up the pub getting another sort of virus :}.

Live long and prosper WB627

[Asturias56]

Well done that man!!!

[cavuman1]

Genius is nothing. Persistence is all. Well done, WB627!

- Ed :D

[Headstone]

Afternoon All.
As a computer numpty I am visiting this area with trepidation but hope I may get simple assistance. My problem may be to do with what you are all talking about.
I have a CanonMG5750 connected wirelessly and it has worked well for a couple of years now. Then about a couple of weeks ago I found I could not print documents. I can copy documents and they print very nicely, I can scan documents and save them to the computer but when I ask it to print a document on my computer as soon as I hit OK a message appears on the bottom right of my screen saying printer error and printer not responding. when I look in the print queue.
Any suggestions?

[WB627]

Headstone

Can your PC "see" the printer and communicate with it? Start - settings - devices - printers, then if it is there, select it and then Manage, try printing a test page. Any error messages? If not try Manager - preferences, left hand column and see if your printer like my Epson's, has a status page which will show how much ink you have left.

What version of windows are you on? Start - settings - system - about (last one down on the left) info at the bottom of the page

Have you installed any Windows updates recently, either knowingly or unknowingly? Start - settings - updates & security - update history

[Headstone]

Thanks for prompt reply - will get on with that lot.

[WB627]

If you have a USB cable try using that instead of wireless.

And just in case, try restarting your wireless router if you have not already done that.

[Headstone]

Thanks for the info and instructions which even I could follow. Things have altered slightly so will start from Scratch.
MG5750 Connected wirelessly and all was working well.Then I could not print documents.
Using the printer hard controls I can copy and the print is good. I can scan and send documents/photos to my computer and both see and save them. I can print test pages using the printer controls. However when I ask it to print anything I used to get the messages Printer Error and Printer Not Responding. This also applies to test pages.
The printer is shown on my laptop I am using WIN 10 and the last update I can see is 1903.
I have restarted laptop and modem.
I can print when I connect the USB cable. However took and awful long time to organise itself. The "please wait momentarily processing" seemed to go on for ages with lots more clicks and whirls than normal.
I disconnected the cable and tried printing and this time I had the message - Printer Off Line. The WIFI symbol on the printer is lit up. I can see the printer when I view devices but it says it is off line. As soon as I plug in the USB cable it prints the document waiting in the queue.

[Ancient Observer]

My Canon (5250) is about 20 inches from the house's source of wifi. It has often been temperamental with wifi, so if the house has a printing job, it goes to the desktop which is linked to the printer with a cable. Life is too short to fight temperamental bits of IT.
(Win 10 fully updated)

[WB627]

I presume the laptop is the one you are/were having problems with and not another one? I have a bit of a collection :8.

I have a laptop running 1903 and I am not having any problems that. It connects and prints to my Epsom wirelessly and it connects and prints to the HP LaserJet (connected to the PC) wirelessly via the network.

Did you check the Update History and if so can you tell me the dates of the last updates not just 1903. You are looking for files starting KBxxxxxxx.

I am hoping that uninstalling and reinstalling the printer on the wireless connection, will solve the problem, but I would never take the Microsoft Collective for granted :E.

[Headstone]

WB - Thanks for all the advice and instructions. All well now. I was on update 1903 but have gone to 1909. Evidently 2003 is released soon - April? - but have been advised to leave it until late summer as there will probably be problems with it that will need ironing out. So let everyone else have the problems and upgrade when - hopefully - it has all been sorted
Although I could see the picture of my printer when I went to devices/printers it appeared that the drivers had gone. I tried uninstall, loaded drivers and reinstalled the printer and after upgrading to 1909 all now seems OK. My laptop was the one I noticed the problem on but it also affected in a slightly different way my desk top computer.
Thanks again
H

[WB627]

Good to hear you have it sorted :)
WB