HP CP5225 print colour with Windows 7 64-bit drivers

Question

According to the HP website, the following operating systems are supported:

Compatible operating systems

• Microsoft® Windows® 2000
• XP Home
• XP Professional
• Server 2003
• XP Media Center
• XP Professional x64
• Windows Vista®
• Windows® 7 (HP UPD only)
• Mac OS X v10.3, v10.4 or higher

Our client purchased HP CP5225 printers less than a year ago and used it successfully with Windows XP 32-bit and Vista 32-bit clients. Note that this model only connects via USB and has no networking capability.

Following HP's instructions, we set up new Windows 7 64-bit clients using the HP UPD (Universal Printer Driver). This works, but does not allow for colour printing. Specifically the "Color" tab is not present under "Printing Prefrences" allowing monochrome printing only.

HP's support call centre only advises to reinstall the driver. I've tried cycling through the PCL and PostScript options, but to no avail.

We have also tested the following with negative results:

1. Running Printer Properties -> Device Settings -> Automatic Configuration -> Update Now detects the printer, but returns the following message "The device 'HP_PCL6_x64_UDP_Traditional' may not be able to print this document. Communication with the device could not be established to verify this is a supported device. Would you like to use this device anyway?" Selecting Yes and checking Printing Preferences before and after a reboot confirms no Color tab is present.

2. Enabling and disabling Duplexing makes no difference as some on the web suggested.

If you know of any solutions or workarounds specific to an HP colour printing issue with the HP UPD via USB on Windows 7 64-bit, please share your findings or suggested solution to the above problem.

Solution

1. Download the required Windows 7 32bit or 64bit HP Universal Printer Driver PCL6 (UPD) from the HP Website.

2. Install the driver using “Traditional mode”.

3. Go to “Printer Properties” -> “Device Settings” of the printer and scroll to the bottom.

4. Change “Device Type” setting from “Automatic” to “Color”

   

5. The "Color" tab will now be available under Printing Preferences of the printer.

Additional Information:
If you are sharing the USB printer over your network specifically for Windows 7 clients, you have to change the same “Device Type” setting as above for each client’s printer driver to enable colour printing to the shared printer.

Comments

[Albert van Zyl]

Our apologies for the late reply. Yes, the latest firmware as per the HP website has been applied.

[Andre]

i.stack.imgur.com/66Mkg.jpg