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I have an HP LaserJet 1300 printer connected to my network via a JetDirect 250m LIO Internal Print Server. The printer works from any Windows 8.1 computer on my network, but I have been unable to find an appropriate driver for Windows 10. The printer only understands PCL5 and PS.

The driver I use on Windows 8.1 is "hp LaserJet 1300 PCL 5".

When I browse for drivers on Windows 10 via Windows Update, I do not see any drivers for the HP LaserJet 1300 listed:

Windows Update HP Drivers

From what I can tell, the HP Support site doesn't have a specific driver available, but rather a Universal Print Driver Resource Kit.

I have tried a few options from the Microsoft Catalog, but haven't found one that will install on Windows 10. In some driver packages (e.g., 20568741_9f7ed152438e555403cc0ba21cf7518b82d77c24.cab) Windows failed to find a compatible driver. However, in drivers_1643fcb8538e3ab20a0f7ca3ff570a530d16ef37.cab (UpdateID: 0e74c751-425f-4841-bf35-9840568b9cfb0e74c751-425f-4841-bf35-9840568b9cfb) Windows 10 finds a compatible hp LaserJet 1300 PCL 5 driver but I get a driver failed to install message a moment after applying the change.

With UpdateID: f2550b86-0b07-47f4-9f95-888c1e6769c7 (drivers_af41d239df5205c515b59d342f910a4a916e54b9.cab), I repeatedly was prompted to install the driver every time I attempted to print.

Failed driver install

On the HP Community Support forum, I found a June 2017 reference to an HP document (no longer available) that states that HP removed PCL5 support from its Universal Print Driver (UPD). The document further stated that HP UPD 6.1.0 was the last release to include support for PCL5. That version of UPD used to be available via the HP FTP site, but were removed from the site at some point between 2017 and 2023.

I still had a copy of UPD 5.9.0 x64 that I used on Windows 8.1. Windows 10 allowed me to go through the motions of installing the driver, but later tells me that the driver is not installed (as above, when I tested the drivers from the Microsoft Catalog).

I am very attached to this printer, which, aside from some maintenance, has been working reliably for 20 years.

Is there any way to get a working LaserJet 1300 PCL5 driver installed on Windows 10?

Autumn Skye
  • 943

3 Answers3

38

I found a solution. The Wayback Machine has an archive of the last version of UPD that contained a PCL5 driver (version 6.1.0):

I installed UPD 6.1.0 and went through the wizard to create the printer. I used the IP Address option to create a Standard TCP/IP Port (IP Address, Generic Network Card - NOT JetDirect), port 9100, raw).

UPD 6.1.0 PCL5

The test page worked, which was great, but it also had all of the HP Universal Driver nag windows popping up during the print job.

So, I deleted the printer but left the port, and created a new network printer using the manual option. This time, "hp LaserJet 1300 PCL 5" was a driver option! This came from the "failed" attempt at installing this driver:

With UpdateID: f2550b86-0b07-47f4-9f95-888c1e6769c7 (drivers_af41d239df5205c515b59d342f910a4a916e54b9.cab), I repeatedly was prompted to install the driver every time I attempted to print. Ultimately, this driver version (6.1.7233.1) was the one that ended up working. However, if this is done when creating a new printer, it will work fine.

hp LaserJet 1300 PCL 5 driver

I selected the "hp LaserJet 1300 PCL 5" driver, and this printer is working perfectly with Windows 10 now (without the HP pop-ups).

hp LaserJet 1300 PCL 5 device

Port Settings

Autumn Skye
  • 943
9

PCL6 is backward compatible with PCL5.

Just add the printer in Windows 10 as a TCP/IP device, then select the built-in Microsoft PCL6 driver and cross your fingers: enter image description here

Source from HP's website: https://developers.hp.com/hp-printer-command-languages-pcl/doc/hp-pcl6-pcl-xl#:~:text=PCL6%20Standard%3A%20Equivalent%20to%20PCL5e%20or%20PCL5c%2C%20intended%20to%20provide%20backward%20compatibility.

Netan
  • 983
6

If Universal Print Driver Resource Kit does not meet your needs, just create a virtual machine running Windows 8.1, put on the 8.1 HP driver, and print from there. For example, here is Oracle's VirtualBox, and there are other VM's, as well.

Yes, this is a nuisance of a workaround, and might take 40 GB on the drive to save the VM, but it allows use of deprecated drivers: HP, of course, would rather you buy a new printer ;-)

DrMoishe Pippik
  • 37,887