A bug in the Microsoft Store leads to HP's printer installation package being installed

[thewayne]

And all of your printers appearing to be HP lasers!

Doesn't that make you feel special?!

Theoretically your printer should continue working normally, unless you have third-party drivers. It's unknown if MS will be able to remove the driver and whether or not at that point what will happen to your printer configuration. Right now I'll bet IT staff are ready to go on a rampage at HP HQ! My home system is unaffected as I don't have printer drivers installed in it: I occasionally print to PDF files, that's it. If I need to actually print something, I mail the document to myself and print it from my laser attached to my Mac.

Microsoft claims it is a bug in the MS Store and has nothing to do with HP.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/12/hp-printer-app-is-installing-on-pcs-whether-they-have-hp-printers-or-not/

Comments

[acelightning73]

I have a Lexmark printer, and it was a huge struggle to get Win10 drivers for it. But the printer has always been a little flaky, so it's hard to tell whether this affected it. The problem is, I have a lot of ancient peripherals, and it was hard to get Win8 and Win10 drivers for the CD drive, the monitor, the scanner, or the printer (all separate devices back then) - and when I tried adding a video cam, I nearly had to reinstall Windows.

And the reason I have Win10 is because this machine came with WIn8 factory-installed. Windows kept begging me to give them a date when they could install Win10, and I kept moving the date into the future. But on one of the weekly updates, it just ignored that and installed 10, which too me a few months to untangle. Now they want me to buy a new computer and upgrade to win11. I can't afford a new computer now, but both my husband and I find our machines are very slow lately. (I think someone on my neighborhood's cable-TV loop is streaming a lot of stuff and using up everyone's cable-internet bandwidth.)

[disneydream06]

That sounds like a mess. :o
Hugs, Jon

[thewayne]

My dad's old PC had Win 7 Media edition IIRC, and it would not be upgraded baring a wipe!  Just wasn't worth the hassle.  I believe it was a Lexmark box, and it is a very clever design.  I have it and am debating whether or not I want to keep the chassis for a future build, but really, I should just chuck it.  I've pulled and copied the HD,  it's so old there's nothing in it worth anything.

[lovelyangel]

Sounds brilliant. I have gripes with Microsoft and HP, so news that makes one or the other look bad is, well, amusing.

I don’t run Windows at home, as I own Macs. Nonetheless, having HP’s Smart app on my computer is a self-inflicted wound. (It’s because I have an HP LaserJet printer.) The Smart app is lousy – plus it has hooks for the awful printer ink/toner supply subscription service that HP pushes (and I work hard to stay away from).

[acelightning73]

This computer is a Lenovo, and it came with Win10 installed. We got the printer later (before this we had a color printer, which I trashed because the ink got too expensive), and before that we had an industrial laser printer, which needed a new part (a weird little plastic gear in the paper transport) that we couldn't find for sale anywhere.

I just wish color printers weren't such a ripoff. You can make T-shirt transfers, and "stained glass" acrylic sheets. You can even print on edible paper and transfer it onto an iced cake.

I'd enjoy a newer/faster/snazzier computer, but I suspect it's out of reach for a while.

[thewayne]

I've had a tabloid-sized seven ink Canon inkjet printer for eight years or so.  It's intended for serious photographers: has three different black inks!  Hasn't been out of the box.  I bought it as part of a kit when I bought a digital camera 7-8 years ago.  I don't have space for it, and I don't really have need for it.  If I want a print made, I can do it at work or send it out to a professional printer.  Color ink is a tremendous rip-off, but for what you need, there's not a lot of alternatives sadly.

[acelightning73]

I have no horizontal surfaces left to put peripherals on. But thanks! I have occasionally saved color JPGs to a thumb drive and taken it to Staples to have it printed. It's hard to get them to understand what you're doing. The only camera I have is my flip phone. It has a weird flaw; the more ultraviolet end of the visible spectrum comes out looking BRIGHT BLUE, instead of purple. (Apparently that's a known problem with the camera chips.)

[silveradept]

That's certainly a big oops in the Store. Wonder how that came into existence and managed to sneak by everyone.

[thewayne]

Fortunately MS released a downloadable fix, I haven't seen anything today to indicate that it borks anything else.