Win 7 / 64 bit. Safe source of downloadable HP Printer Drivers?

[TheLurker]

HP are foisting Windoze Update, on those of us unfortunate enough to be lumbered with Windoze,  as the approved way of installing printer drivers.  I have no intention of hooking the machine in question to "teh internets" so that's a non-starter which means I need a way of downloading the driver.  There are a number of sites offering such a download, but one is not convinced that they are a good place to visit. 

Anyone know of a reliable/safe source?  I suspect the answer is, "no such creature exists" however....

[plum]

You're so paranoid about the internet that you're prepared to go to third party download sites just to avoid having to connect the the actual HP driver download pages?

[Feanor]

Start here:

http://www8.hp.com/uk/en/support-drivers.html

Enter your model ( I entered 'Laserjet 4050N' ), takes you here:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DriverDownload.jsp?lang=en&cc=uk&prodNameId=18322&taskId=135&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=25475&lang=en&cc=uk

Select win7 drivers there.
The 'Universal driver' has 3 download options: PCL5, PCL6, PostScript.
Personally, I use the PCL6 driver.

When installing the driver, you'll have the option of some 'dynamic' printer installation or a 'traditional' driver install.   I'd go with 'Traditional'.

ETA: We'd be able to give more specific help if you told us the exact printer model.

[plum]

How can he if he has "no intention of hooking the machine in question to "teh internets""?

[Feanor]

He may wish to download a stand-alone installer on another machine, and sneaker-net it across to the machine in question.

[rusky]

He may wish to download a stand-alone installer on another machine, and sneaker-net it across to the machine in question.

This!

[plum]

why?

[Feanor]

It's really none of our business why!

Off the top of my head I can think of several possible reasons.
The machine may be in a location where Internet access is either impossible, or prohibited.

Also, plenty people have an aversion to driver updates from WindowsUpdate, because there is a history of it screwing up, and also the drivers available on Windows Update are often not fully-featured.   They often contain only the most basic functionality.   They prefer to get driver updates direct from the mfr, if possible.

[plum]

He didn't say he couldn't connect, but that he has no intention of doing so.

As for the second part once connected he could just as easily download direct from HP.

[TheLurker]

Plum, I have my reasons, they make sense to me and I'm damned if I'm going to bother listing them.

Feanor.  Thanks. It's an HP990 and I do intend to sneakernet (now there's a term I'd forgotten) to the target machine.

ETA.  Nah, those links just run me back into HP's pointless fucking "Use Windows Update" stone wall - will download the universal drivers, see how I get on with those.

[Feanor]

OK, well, according to the HP website, there are no downloadable drivers for that product, and that basic drivers are already included in win7.
So it should 'just work' when you plug it in, but with a reduced level of functionality: the various one-touchbuttons won't work, for example.

Whether Windows Update carries better drivers that were released in-box with win7, I can't say.
You could try moving the printer to an on-line box and seeing whether the updated drivers are substantially different to the existing in-box ones.

I've had mixed results with the various driver download sites.
Mostly back in the dial-up days, trying to get the connexiant chip-du-jour do work with the driver-variant-du-jour.
I've never had anything mallicious, but a lot of crud to wade through.

HP support for 'consumer' level stuff ( like this inkjet ) and 'business' level stuff ( like the laserjets ) is rather different.

With consumer-level stuff, they put very little effort into supporting it in newer versions of Windows.   They'd rather you just chucked it and bought a new one.   They realise that won't wash with corporates with an existing fleet of laserjets, so they carry OS support for these products much better.

I'm going to say that you're probably stuck with the in-box driver functionality.

[TheLurker]

OK, well, according to the HP website, there are no downloadable drivers for that product, and that basic drivers are already included in win7.

They lie.  They're not, you try and run a manual install and it doesn't show up in the list of available drivers.

I'll see what mileage I get out of the PCL5 or, failing that, the Postscript universal driver.

If it comes to it I may buy another printer.  If I do it certainly won't be an HP printer.