How to Fix ‘Printer Driver is Unavailable’ on Windows

Quick Fix

Most of the time this clears up with a quick reset:

1. Restart the print spooler. Press Windows key, type Services, find Print Spooler, right-click it and choose Restart.
2. Remove and re-add the printer. Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners (Windows 11) or Settings > Devices > Printers & scanners (Windows 10), select the problem printer, click Remove device, then click Add device to let Windows reinstall it.
3. Unplug and reconnect the printer (USB cable, or power-cycle a network/wireless printer) and try printing again.

Step-by-Step Guide

What this error means

The "Driver is unavailable" printer error means Windows can't locate the right driver it needs to communicate with the printer, which can be due to having outdated, corrupted, faulty, or incorrectly installed drivers, or other software issues. It can also happen if the printer itself is faulty and unable to communicate with the computer, or if the printer isn't compatible with Windows or is malfunctioning due to a hardware issue. Newly installed software that conflicts with the printer, or an overly vigilant antivirus/firewall blocking the driver, can also trigger it. The good news: most of the time, the error boils down to a software issue tied to an outdated or incompatible driver.

Fix 1: Restart the print spooler and reconnect the printer

1. Restart the Print Spooler service. Restarting your print spooler, the program responsible for managing the printing queue, may fix your driver issue. Open the Windows start menu and type Services, scroll to and right-click Print Spooler, and choose Restart.
2. Reconnect the printer. Sometimes all you need to do is reconnect your printer entirely - remove the device from your system, unplug it, then reconnect it again, which can fix potential driver issues and allow you to print again.
3. Remove and re-add the printer in Settings. Go to Settings > Devices > Printers & scanners, click the relevant printer, select Remove device and confirm, then click Add a printer or scanner and Add device when your printer reappears.

Fix 2: Update the printer driver via Device Manager

1. Open Device Manager. Open the Windows search bar and type Device Manager, then click the Device Manager app from the search results.
2. Update the driver. Inside Device Manager, go to Print queues or Printers and expand the category, right click your printer name, select Update driver, and choose Search automatically for drivers so Windows searches online for the latest compatible driver and installs it.
3. Restart your computer after the update finishes and try printing again.

Fix 3: Uninstall the driver completely and reinstall it

1. Open Device Manager (press Windows + X and choose it).
2. Uninstall the device. Expand the Printers section, right-click your device, select Uninstall device from the menu, and when the confirmation window appears, check the Delete the driver software for this device option and click Uninstall.
3. Unplug and restart. Unplug the printer, restart the PC, plug the printer back in, then follow the prompts to reinstall the printer driver.
4. Windows should reinstall the correct driver during the startup process (Windows 11/10).

Fix 4: Install the driver manually from the manufacturer, or use a generic driver

1. Find your printer's exact model from a label on the device or via Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers.
2. Download the correct driver directly from the manufacturer's site (HP, Epson, Canon, Brother, etc.) rather than relying on Windows Update — users can face the error due to an incompatible driver, especially for older printers, which gets resolved by downloading the correct one directly from the manufacturer's website.
3. Try the Windows generic driver as a temporary fix: in Device Manager, right-click the printer, choose Update driver > Browse my computer for drivers > Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer, then select Generic software device and click Next — Windows will install the generic driver, which may solve the issue if the driver is unavailable.
4. For HP printers specifically, HP's Print and Scan Doctor can potentially diagnose the printer driver issue and offer a solution.

Fix 5: Run the built-in printer troubleshooter

1. Open the troubleshooter. Both Windows 11 and Windows 10 have a built-in printer troubleshooter — open Settings > System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters (Additional troubleshooters on Windows 10) > Printer > Run.
2. Note: on newer builds this may be missing — this only works on early versions of Windows, since Microsoft has deprecated the troubleshooter on new modern versions of Windows 11. If it's not available, skip to the other fixes.

Fix 6: Update Windows and repair system files

1. Check for Windows updates. Open the Start menu and go to Settings (Update & Security on Windows 10), click Windows Update > Check for Updates, and follow the instructions to complete the update if one is available.
2. Install optional/driver updates too — check the "optional updates" section for additional printer driver packages.
3. Repair corrupted system files. Open Command Prompt as administrator and run sfc /scannow — this lets the tool find and fix faulty system files that may be interfering with the driver.
4. Restart and try printing again.

Fix 7: Full clean install (stubborn cases)

1. Uninstall all printer software. Power up the printer, unplug its USB cable from the PC if wired, then go to Settings > Apps > Apps and Features to find and uninstall any printer software.
2. Clear leftover driver entries. Open the Run dialog and type printui.exe /s, then under print server properties, go to drivers and remove any leftover driver entries there.
3. Delete leftover manufacturer files. In Run, type %programdata%, open the manufacturer's folder (e.g. Hewlett Packard), and remove any printer-related folders and files.
4. Restart the computer, then reinstall using the manufacturer's official installer or driver package.
5. If the automatic installer keeps failing, try adding the printer manually: go to Control Panel > Devices and Printers, click Add printer, and when prompted for drivers select Windows update so the driver list updates, then click the manufacturer name and select your printer model.

Fix 8: Check permissions, antivirus, and hardware

1. Use an administrator account. Certain printers sometimes lock out any account that's not an administrator for security reasons, so switch to an administrative account to see if this solves the issue.
2. Temporarily disable antivirus/firewall to rule out software blocking the driver, since an overly vigilant antivirus or firewall may be blocking the printer driver, recognizing it as malware.
3. Rule out hardware failure. If none of the above works and the printer still won't communicate, the printer itself may be faulty — if the printer itself is faulty, it may not be able to communicate with your computer, and the "Driver is unavailable" error message can pop up.

When to get more help

1. If you've tried a clean uninstall/reinstall, manual manufacturer drivers, SFC scan, and Windows updates with no luck, contact the printer manufacturer's official support (HP, Epson, Canon, Brother support pages/chat) — they can check for model-specific compatibility issues.
2. If the printer is very old, it may simply lack backward compatibility with your current Windows version, in which case your options are limited to downgrading your OS or getting a new printer.
3. If this is a work/network printer, involve your IT administrator — you should be logged in as a local administrator or a user with sufficient rights to change printers, and if not, your network administrator will need to assist.