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Dell printer 942 after move to windows 8?
I have had to move from Win XP to Windows 8.1. I have a dell 942 multifunction printer. I can get the scanner side of it to work with Windows 8 but not the printing side. Anyone with any bright ideas as I cannot afford a new printer at the moment.?
PudgyOne
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May 17th, 2014 15:00
jes2014,
First run Delete Print Jobs to remove any stuck print job in the queue.
Disconnect the printer.
Download and run the patch(printer cleanup utility) until it prompts you to restart your computer.
Restart your computer. Make sure the printer is removed. Manual Printer Driver Removal
Download the Vista 32-bit drivers for Windows 8 32-bit or the Vista 64-bit drivers for Windows 8 64-bit. Install the Vista drivers in the Vista Compatibility mode You'll get a message, the printer is not connected. Connect the printer at this time(powered on).
Links to the patch/drivers can be found at...
Dell 942 Photo All-In-One Printer owners thread (W7)
Remember virus programs and firewalls will block communications. If you did not install any, then Windows Defender is the default. Try reading...
Allow Printer past Microsoft Essentials/Windows Defender
Rick
jes2014
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May 18th, 2014 03:00
Tx for the reply and for instructions which worked. I just never thought the Vista driver would work on Win 8 - dah!
PudgyOne
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May 18th, 2014 20:00
jes2014,
Glad you got it working! :emotion-21: Thanks for posting back.
Take care,
Rick
theparty
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July 17th, 2014 20:00
Bought a new Dell desktop with Win 8.1 to replace my HP Win XP desktop. My 942 printer works fine with the XP machine. I've tried all the steps numerous times. Problem is the menus look different on my PC. The names of the Control Panel items are different. I think I've found the drivers we're discussing, and I think I've installed them. The compatibility list is not there, the compatibility change functions differently than is described in any of these forums, so I've no idea if I've changed it. The steps in the forum answers seem to be for earlier Windows systems The scanner works OK, the fax may work but with no phone jack on this PC that function is useless anyhow. The printer shows, it is set as default, the jobs queue, but they fail to print. I've tried everything I can find to do, in every order I can imagine, the 8.1 PC is short on user friendliness. All the helpful items are missing, it's not self-explanatory at all, and it has left me frustrated. I have no idea if Dell will assist me, I find no info on phone support anywhere, I've called them but seems they want to charge a credit card to proceed. I've had the PC only a month. I just want to use my Dell printer with my new Dell PC.
At least the spell check in the Dell forums works well, so I've got that going for me... The PC may get returned to the store...
PudgyOne
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July 18th, 2014 03:00
theparty,
Operating system in English or another language?
First run Delete Print Jobs to remove any stuck print job in the queue.
Disconnect the printer.
Download and run the patch(printer cleanup utility) until it prompts you to restart your computer.
Restart your computer. Make sure the printer is removed. Manual Printer Driver Removal
Download the Vista 32-bit drivers for Windows 8.1 32-bit or the Vista 64-bit drivers for Windows 8.1 64-bit. Install the Vista drivers in the Vista Compatibility mode You'll get a message, the printer is not connected. Connect the printer at this time(powered on).
Links to the patch/drivers can be found at...
Dell 942 Photo All-In-One Printer owners thread (W7)
Remember virus programs and firewalls will block communications. If you did not install any, Windows Defender is the default. Try reading...
Allow Printer past Microsoft Essentials/Windows Defender
Rick
theparty
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July 19th, 2014 12:00
After several more run-throughs of the procedures I did get the printer working and also the All In One Center to appear (I'll assume that it works). You should know I tried your posts' procedures many time before...
The Delete Print Jobs worked I assume; the queue was and is no where to be found, but since I tried to print numerous times there may have been stuck print jobs...
I deleted all the drivers I had tried to use for the printer, Dell support online shows different drivers for this printer, listed differently that in the 942 Owner's Thread.
The printer cleanup utility patch you linked is nowhere to be found, I looked everywhere. I manually removed the printer. The Control Panel view did not show the Hardware and Sound category. Right clicking on Start > Control Panel shows an alien list. After rooting around in the PC I eventually found H & S. I did remove the printer by opening the desktop Control Panel icon and right clicking the picture.
I right clicked on the driver but the menu's 'properties' did not include a compatibility page. Another dead end. Somehow another menu appeared another time that included a "Troubleshoot Compatibility" link, it drew me in and I chose it but that was of unknown usefulness, as it's impossible to determine what it's doing. BUT, on that other menu the properties link DID show a compatibility page (go figure!). I chose Vista 64-bit, that failed eventually, when I chose Vista it proceeded and reset itself to Vista 64-bit. I swear!. I had to find and click "setup" to get the driver to proceed with install. I had been to this point a couple of times before, but stalled; no printing. I finally noticed a curious and spurious link in the lower task bar, and when i clicked it the program proceeded with more installation, THEN prompted reconnection of the printer, then it printed a test page and installed the All-In One Center. I printed a document and it's done.
:emotion-2:
Certainly NOT plug and play. We've made such "progress", haven't we? And I was so glad that I had a Dell printer to connect to my Dell PC. I thought it would welcome it. How foolish.
PudgyOne
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July 19th, 2014 16:00
theparty,
Glad you got it working! :emotion-21: Thanks for posting back.
Your Dell Printer was made for Dell by Lexmark and they got out of the printer business, so as long as Microsoft allows the drivers to install in the compatibility mode, it should not be a problem, until; Lexmark stops making ink
It should work properly, except scanning to a document or pdf. If you have the printer disk, the OCR Program can be installed from the printer disk.
As for scanning, if you have the disk that came with the printer, then insert the Printer disk and stop it from running. Go to My Computer and double click on it. Look for the drive with the Dell disk in it. Right click on it, left click explore. Look for the OCR Folder. In the OCR Folder, there is an Abbyy Folder. right click on setup.exe, that's in the Abbyy Folder and left click run as administrator. This will install the OCR program.
Rick