Problem installing Laserjet 4050 in Windows 7 x64, No driver in Universal Print Driver v5.0.3

Question

I have just installed Windows 7 64Bit operating system.  I have be successful in installing several other more recent HP printers in the office.  However, my main "workhorse" printer is a HP Laserjet 4050 and I have downloaded the Universal Printer Driver v5.0.3 for Windows x64 - PCL 5 and PCL 6, and in both cases it does not find a suitable driver. The HP download site states these Universal Drivers will work, but I cannot get it to install.
Is there a driver that will work on the 4050 in Windows 7 X64?  Thanks everyone.

Answer 1

You're probably getting the "Windows cannot locate a suitable printer driver" error if you're trying to add the driver while adding a printer that is shared over the network. You see, HP's Universal Printer Driver (UPD) doesn't contain the PnpIDs of every printers it supports, so when you specify HP's UPD as the drivers for the network printer, if Windows can't find a match for the printer's PnpID it spits out the driver isn't compatible.
The way to overcome this is to install a "generic" printer locally, using HP's UP driver, and change the port afterwards to point to the shared printer. So, first, add a local printer (that will be using the LPT1 port - make sure no printer is attached!), and click on "Have disk(s)" to browse to and select HP's UPD. Going through the remaining steps should install a locally-attached printer named something like "HP Universal Printing PCL 5" (or "[..] PCL 6"). You'll then go in the new printer's properties, on the "Ports" tab, and click on "Add Port...". If you're installing a shared printer, you'll select "Local Port", click on "New Port..." and specify the path to the printer (e.g. \\myserver\hplaserj) as the port name. Those steps should do the trick.
Last thing: beware, though, as HP's UPD PCL 6 might not be compatible (anymore) with your LaserJet 4050, as they use a PCL XL class number/revision (class 2.1; sort of a version number of the protocol) that is higher than what your printer's firmware might support for PCL6 (should be class 2.0) I know the latest versions of HP's UPD PCL 6 doesn't work with our LJ 4000 & 4050 printers, so you might have to use the PCL5e driver for those 64-bit workstations.
Background info:
PCL XL error on Laserjet 4550n with PCL 6 driver [IT Resource Center Forums]
Universal Print Driver PCL6 broken on LaserJet 4000 [IT Resource Center Forums]
Printer Command Language [Wikipedia]
Let us know if it works.