My googlefu is failing me on this one, so I thought I'd pose this to you friendly lot 🙂
Background
We've got a Server 2003 box running as our print server, to which is connected all of our network printers. These include HP laserjets and a couple Ricoh Aficio bigboys, if that matters. Drivers are set up on the print server as normal.
Windows XP clients can print just fine, they've been going strong for years without any problems.
Problem
However, as I'm replacing computers these days we're using Win7 Pro, and that's when the trouble began. Seemingly at random (though nothing ever really is, I understand that), my Win7 clients will "lose" some of their print drivers (in Devices and Printers, it will throw a caution flag that says "Printer: Needs new driver"). This has happened on several different computers, both 32- and 64-bit versions of Win7. It happens repeatedly, too — I'll do the reinstall and a week later the driver(s) are lost again.
Any ideas?
Best Answer
I've had this problem as well. I've solved the problem, but unfortunately, I don't have a very specific fix.
How I solved this issue is by using the troubleshooter built into Windows 7. Go to control panel > troubleshooting and then in the left hand pane click, "View all"
You should now see "Printer" show up in the list. When you click on printer, click advanced and make sure you run as administrator and "Apply repairs automatically" should be checked. And then start the process.
Again, I wish I could tell you how/what/why this problem happened. All I know is that triggering this mechanism within Windows 7 actually helped. Normally, the wizard type apps in Windows have never worked for me, but I took a shot in the dark and it solved it for me.
I hope it helps you as well.