My HUAWEI computer cannot connect to a printer of another brand or cannot print after connecting to a printer of another brand

Problem

The HUAWEI computer cannot connect to a printer of another brand or cannot print after connecting to a printer of another brand.

Cause

• The printer driver was not correctly installed.
• The Windows OS is faulty.

Solution

1. Clear printer connection history. To do so, perform the following operations:
   1. Press Win+I to open Windows Settings, go to Devices > Printers & scanners or Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners, and remove the corresponding printer from the list.
   2. Press Win+R to open the Run window, enter regedit, and press Enter to open Registry Editor. Delete the printer registry file from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Print\Printers.
      

      Please refer to Backing up and restoring the registry data to back up the registry in advance and exercise caution during registry modification, so as to avoid risks caused by incorrect operations.

2. Check the running status of the print service. To do so, perform the following operations:

   Press Win+R, enter services.msc, and click OK to open Services. Check whether the running status of printer-related services is Running and Automatic.

   The services include print spooler, Printer Extensions and Notifications, printWorkflowUserSvc, and Server. If the running status of one of them is not Running and Automatic, double-click the service, set Startup type to Automatic, and click Start.

3. Reconnect the printer (through USB wired connection, wireless local area network connection, or connection in sharing mode). The procedure is as follows:
   • USB wired connection:
     1. Visit the official website of the corresponding printer brand and download the driver for the corresponding printer model. Use the HP LaserJet Pro P1106 as an example, visit the official HP website, go to Support > Software & Drivers > Printer, enter the printer model, and download the 64-bit full-function driver suite for the corresponding OS. (However, if your computer uses an ARM architecture, such as HUAWEI MateBook E 2019 or HUAWEI MateBook E Go, you'd better download the 32-bit driver or the driver for ARM architectures.)

        

        

        

     2. Create a folder on the desktop and decompress the downloaded printer driver to the folder.

     3. After the driver is decompressed, return to the desktop, find the printer setup installation program in the decompressed driver, and double-click the program to install it.

        

     4. Select the recommended installation mode and click Next.

        

     5. Select the printer model and click Next.

        

     6. Connect the printer to the computer through a USB cable as required and power on the printer.

        

     7. After detecting the printer, the system automatically completes the installation. Click Next, restart the computer, and try again.

        If the driver cannot be installed or the printer cannot be detected through the USB cable, see Step 1 in The computer cannot detect a USB device or portable hard disk to uninstall and then reinstall the serial port driver or use another USB port and USB cable.

        

        

        

     Note: After the computer is restarted, either of the following cases may occur:

     Case 1: The driver is successfully installed, but the computer does not automatically identify the printer.

     Case 2: The driver fails to be installed or the driver cannot be installed properly.

     • In case 1, you need to manually add the printer. The procedure is as follows (here Windows 10 is used as an example, and the procedures in Windows 10 and Windows 11 are similar):
       1. Click the Windows icon and go to Settings > Devices.

          

       2. Select Printers & scanners and click Add a printer or scanner.

          

       3. If the printer cannot be detected, click The printer that I want isn't listed.

          

       4. Select Add a local printer or network printer with manual settings, and click Next. Then select Use an existing port or Create a new port, select the corresponding port, and click Next.

          

          

       5. Click Have Disk....

          

       6. Find the decompressed driver folder generated after the driver was downloaded from the printer's official website, select the corresponding .inf file (generally named after the printer model or series), and click Open.

          

       7. Click OK.

          

       8. Select Do not share this printer. (If you want to share this printer, enter the correct LAN address.)

          

       9. Click Print Test Page and then click Finish.

          

     • In case 2, you need to manually add the driver.

       Press Win+X, open Device Manager, and find the printer. If the printer icon is marked with a yellow exclamation, right-click the printer name and select Update driver.

       

       

       

       

       

       

       If the installation takes a long time or the user repeats the installation multiple times, a message will display indicating that the installation has failed. In this case, disconnect the USB cable, find the decompressed driver folder, and run uninstall.exe in the folder. After the driver has been uninstalled, restart the computer and reinstall the driver. Then use the USB cable to connect the printer to the computer as prompted.

   • Wireless local area network connection: Add a printer on the same wireless local area network through the printer's IP address, and connect the printer. You can also download the printer driver from the printer official website, use WinRAR to decompress the driver, click the setup installation program, and add the wireless or network printer.
   • Connection in sharing mode: Share a printer on a local area network using another computer.

If the issue persists

If the issue persists, back up your data, activate your Office account, and use F10 to restore your device to its factory settings or contact the printer provider for assistance.