The Troubleshooting Guide to Printer Drivers: How to Fix the ‘Printer Driver is Unavailable’ Error

-The printer driver has been removed from the computer or it was corrupted
-The printer is offline
-The connection between the computer and the printer is broken
-The computer failed to recognize your printer.

Environment Settings & Problems of the host computer

In the modern world, the printer is one of the most used devices in any office. However, it can be tricky to set up a printer and make it work with your computer. There are different environmental settings that need to be adjusted for your printer to work properly.

The printer driver also needs to be installed correctly on your computer so that you can use the device without any problems.

The following are some of the common problems faced by users when setting up their printers:
-Printer not being recognized by computer
-The wrong environment settings
-Printer driver not installed correctly
-Software compatibility issue

Troubleshooting steps

It can be difficult to diagnose and fix printer issues, especially if you have never encountered them before. However, it is not impossible. Here are some tips on how to troubleshoot and repair printers on Windows (7, 8, 8.1, 10 or 11):

Method 1: Restart Your Computer and Printer

Restarting your computer can fix printer connection issues. This is because restarting your computer will reset the printer connection and might fix any issues that are causing the issue. You can also try to restarting your printer by simple turn it off and wait 10 seconds and turn it on again.

This is a simple solution to fixing a printer connection issue. If the problem still persisted and you still can’t printing something, you can try method number 2.

Method 2: Update your OS

The printer driver is unavailable error can be caused by a number of different things, but the most common cause is an outdated windows operating system. To solve this problem, you can try to update your windows operating system.

You can do this by following these steps:
1) Press Windows Logo on your keyboard or click the start button (windows logo) and select the “Settings Option”.
2) Search for “Update & Security” and click on it
3) Click on Check for updates
4) Let it search for updates
5) Install all available updates
6) Restart your computer
7 ) Try printing again

It may take around 20-30 minutes to update your OS and maybe even more if you haven’t updated it in a long time, please be patient and wait for it to finish. DON’T TURN OFF YOUR COMPUTER AS IT MAY CRASH IT.

Method 3: Updating or Reinstalling your Printer Driver

If both of the above methods still aren’t working and you still get “driver unavailable,” hopefully this last method can solve your problems. For one reason or another, you may have corrupted your printer driver or they need an update.

To do any changes to your printer driver, there are a few things you need to do first which is completing your admin account verification and configure your UAC (User Account Control) settings.

Requirement 1: Configure Your UAC Settings

You need to change your UAC settings first to make sure that Windows will not prevent you form installing the driver or software that your printer may require during printer driver installation. Here’s how to do it:

1) Login as administrator or make sure you already logged in as administrator.
2) Go to Control Panel → User Accounts → Change User Account Control Settings
3) set the slider level on the third level, a level below “Always Notify”. You’ll find a box on the right side detailing a summary of the setting. It should say, “Notify me only when apps try to make changes to my computer (default)” at the top. It should also state, “Recommended if you use familiar apps and visit familiar websites” at the bottom of the box.
4) Click OK.
5) Click Yes if a window appears, asking permission for the app to make changes on your device.

Requirement 2: Completing Your Admin Account Verification

If your can’t change your UAC settings or there are an error on the step above, it may happen because you haven’t verify your admin account. This usually happens on windows 10 and above because of an update which needed you to verify your admin account first before it gives you more control on what you can do on your computer.

Please complete the steps below to verify your admin account:

1) Login as Administrator or ensure you’re logged in as an administrator.
2) Go to Control Panel → User Accounts → Make changes to my account in PC settings
3) Click Verify under “Your Info”
4) enter your email address and click next when you are asked to “how to would you like to get this code”
5) Please check your email in 5-10 minutes and enter the code received
6) Congratulations, if you already at this step, it means your account already verified and you won’t get asked again to verify when installing the printer driver.

Reinstalling and Updating Your Printer Driver

If it’s your printer driver that has problems, it may be caused by corrupted files and you need to reinstall it. While reinstalling your printer driver, you can also take this chance to also update it.

1) Prepare your printer driver installer, it usually came with the CD when you are buying the printer. If you lose it and can’t find it, you can also search from it from the search box above. We provided almost all mainstream printer drivers.
2) Go to Control Panel → Hardware and Sound → Device and Printers → Device Manager.
3) Collapses the printer queues list, find the printer model on the list and click uninstall device.
4) Go to Control Panel → Hardware and Sound → Device and Printers.
5) Select your printer and click Remove Device.
6) Install your printer driver again using the installer that you already prepared on step 1.