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I'm Using Windows 7 and have a HP Deskjet 6122. HP doesn't offer a native driver for Windows 7, but tells me to use the driver for a printer called 990c instead. I did that and the printer works with that driver.

In the past with the native for Windows XP, the printer could print without using any ink from the color cartridge. Now it uses colors from the color cartridge to 'enhance' the black - even if I set the printer to print in black and white only. Thus the new driver is wasting a lot of expensive colored ink instead of using the cheaper black ink. I'm printing a lot of text and so the this really matters.

Is there a way to use the old Windows XP driver for printing? Perhaps by using the Windows XP mode which is integrated in Windows 7? Or any other way to stop the printer from wasting colored ink?

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  • See superuser.com/questions/45013/printer-doesnt-print-pictures/… for some more background info on using those colour cartridges for greyscale prints. It might even matter if you're printing duplex or not, or if you're using borderless printing. And for some printers using best quality avoids using the colour cartridge, while selecting some economy mode would actually use colour...
    – Arjan
    Oct 26, 2009 at 17:08
  • Thanks Arjan and pjemmert! I have successfully combined your answers. I installed the 6980 driver, turned off duplex printing and was able to select "Black print cartridge only" in the Printing Preferences dialog. My HP 6122 now prints with the black ink only.
    – Sandra
    Oct 27, 2009 at 13:52
  • Your welcome. I'm glad that I was able to help. Have a great day!
    – pjemmert
    Oct 27, 2009 at 15:01

2 Answers 2

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You can download and utilize the HP Deskjet 6940 or 6980 driver. The 990c has issues but many users have been happy with the drivers I just mentioned.


I hope this helps.

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Try HP 930C/932C/935C driver, it has option to print greyscale (uses black ink only) or color. I tried also 990C, but it did not allow printing in black and white, it printed greyscales using tricolour cartridge. These all use same HP45/HP78 ink cartridges. I tried also Deskjet 600 monochrome driver; worked fine, but I was unable to use automatic two-sided printing. 930C driver supports automatic two-sided printing; it needs only to be enabled from printer settings.

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