[German]A small addendum from last week: Microsoft has published a support article and a Printer Metadata Troubleshooter Tool under KB5034510, which is intended to help resolve a problem that occurred at the end of November 2023. At that time, incorrect metadata caused the HP Smart app for HP printers to be installed under Windows and the printer entries to be changed to HP devices.
The printer incident
I had reported on the problem in the blog postWindows 10/11: "HP Smart" printer app is installed without permission. Since the end of November 2023, users have been confronted with the problem of an "HP Smart" printer app suddenly being installed on their Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems. This also applied to systems to which no HP printer was connected at all, let alone set up.
On December 4, 2023, Microsoft confirmed the problem and began analyzing the issue (see my article Microsoft investigates HP Smart App installation and other related issues on Windows). According to Microsoft, not only was an "HP Smart" printer app suddenly installed on affected Windows systems. In addition, the entries for printers (icon, name) may have been changed under Windows.
The screenshot above shows, for example, that the Microsoft XPS Document Writer is supposedly an HP LaserJet. Microsoft states the following about the observed symptoms:
- The HP Smart App is installed on some Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices. I described this in my blog post.
- Printers are renamed as HP printers, regardless of their manufacturer. Most will be labeled as the HP LaserJet M101-M106 model (see screenshot above). The printer icons may also be changed.
- When users double-click on a printer, the error "There are no tasks available for this page" is displayed on the screen.
These symptoms are related to the automatic installation of the "HP Smart" app. The Microsoft Printer Metadata Troubleshooter Tool should now help administrators to resolve the problem (thanks to the readers for their comments). The support article KB5034510 states the following:
- This tool checks the printer information, restores all previously downloaded model information and icons, and removes HP LaserJet M101-M106 model information, icons, and application mappings from printers that do not match this name and model.
- This tool will also uninstall the HP Smart application if incorrect metadata is found, no HP printers or HP printer drivers are installed, and the application was installed after November 25, 2023.
The tool can be found in the Microsoft download area (December 16, 2023 release) and supports Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server 2022. The tool must be started in a command prompt opened via Run as administrator according to KB5034510.
On devices on which incorrect printer information was found/fixed, the tool returns the message Troubleshooter completed successfully. Or it returns the message Troubleshooter not applicable because no metadata package was found on unaffected devices. Changing icons and metadata may take a few hours after the program has finished.
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