I've recently upgraded a machine to Windows 7 x64. This machine has a 1012 printer attached. According to HP's site, the printer is no going to be supported in Windows 7. Are there generic drivers that may suffice?
Is there even such a thing as a generic printer driver?
Low-end HP printers (ie: Home-use ones) are 'host-based'-only printers. Meaning they use the computer's CPU to do the printing processing, and require a specific driver to do it. This keeps the price low, but the major trade-off is (as you've discovered) when the printer gets end-of-life'd by the manufacturer they stop making drivers, and the printers aren't compatible with any other drivers.
You can try the HP "universal" printer driver, but the 1012 isn't on the supported printer list, and from trying to get 1012's working with Vista in the past personally, it's not going to happen (even with a hacked apart XP driver), especially when you throw 64-bit into the mix.
Bascially, if you buy a sub-$200 laser printer, expect to replace it whenever you replace your OS with something a couple years newer than the printer. :)
If you want to keep the same printer for years and years, and have the most compatibility regardless of system, then aim for a printer that uses the PCL and/or Postscript printer languages.
Sorry I don't have better news.
Unfortunately, the HP LJ 1012 is a "host-based" printer meaning that the print processing is done mostly on the PC. It doesn't use Postscript or PCL5/6 as the printing language but uses a propietary printing language. That makes it hard to use another driver to talk to it.
As techie007 just said, HP's Universal Print Driver (UPD) does not support host-based printers like this.
I had similar issues with HP 1012, the driver was simply never made for Win7 64bit. I used the driver for another HP LaserJet
Anyway, the solution was to use the "HP Universal printing PCL 5" driver for windows 7, found on: HP driver site - universal driver
simple as could be: pick your OS page 1) HP Universal Print Driver for Windows 64-bit PCL 5 page 2) Microsoft Windows 7 (64-bit) page 3) 3 - HP Universal Print Driver for Windows PCL5 Download, install make it default printer and it works!
The LaserJet 1015 drivers seem to work just fine.
I just posted on similar subject here: HP 3015, Win 7, I resolved the same issue with my HP1010 with universal PCL driver and Windows 7, 64bit. Also it's shared to 32bit Windows 7 machines in LAN.
