HP laserjet M102w USB problem?

HP laserjet M102w USB problem?

HP LaserJet Pro M102w (USB) on Windows 7 x64 — “Installs successfully” but shows yellow warning, no driver in printui.exe

Your symptoms (mapped)

From what you described, this is the key pattern:

  • HP installer runs, finishes “successfully” (USB, updates, etc.)

  • Printer appears in Devices and Printers but with a yellow warning triangle

  • Device Manager shows “loads of USB drivers” / printer enumerations

  • printui.exe /s shows no printer driver installed (while a working PC does)

  • HP diagnostic tool can see other printers but says M102w not installed

  • Deleting HP folders doesn’t help

This usually means Windows sees the USB device, but the HP installer fails to bind the correct driver package to the device instance (so the printer object exists, but it’s not using a real print driver).

Common reasons on Win7:

  1. USB 3.0 controller / USB 3 add-in card quirk causing the printer to enumerate as a “Null Print” device and not pick up the driver automatically (HP has a known fix for this). (HP Support Community)

  2. Incomplete/dirty prior installs (driver store + spooler leftovers).

  3. Windows 7 missing required servicing updates for modern driver signatures (can cause “cab invalid signature” / silent driver staging failures).

  4. Installer is OK but the final driver stage fails—so printui shows nothing.

Before you start: quick “don’t waste time” checks

These are fast checks that save hours.

1) Use a known-good USB setup

  • Use a direct USB cable (no hub/dock).

  • Prefer rear motherboard USB ports.

  • If the OptiPlex has both USB2 and USB3: try USB2 first.

  • Try a different USB cable if possible.

2) Confirm Windows 7 baseline

  • Confirm you are on Windows 7 SP1 (recommended).

  • If you ever saw errors like invalid digital signature / cab file signature, that’s often missing Win7 servicing/SHA-2 updates. HP community users hit exactly this on Win7 driver installs and resolve it by cleaning + reinstalling using the full package. (HP Support Community)

(You don’t have to solve every update issue first, but if Win7 is very unpatched, printer driver installs can be flaky.)

Phase A — Do a proper “clean removal” (not just deleting folders)

Deleting HP folders alone usually doesn’t remove:

  • the printer object

  • the driver package

  • the driver store entry

  • spooler cache

Do this in order.

Step A1) Disconnect and keep it disconnected

  1. Unplug the USB cable from the PC.

  2. Leave the printer powered on, but physically disconnected.

Step A2) Remove HP software (Programs and Features)

  1. Control Panel → Programs and Features

  2. Uninstall everything related to:

    • HP LaserJet M102 / M104 / M106

    • HP printer software / HP device software

HP’s own community guidance for Win7 specifically starts with complete uninstall + removal. (HP Support Community)

Step A3) Remove the printer device

  1. Control Panel → Devices and Printers

  2. If you see HP M102w (even with the yellow warning):

    • Right-click → Remove device

(HP’s Win7 cleanup steps explicitly include removing the device from Devices and Printers.) (HP Support Community)

Step A4) Clear the spooler queue (important)

  1. Press Win + R, type:

    services.msc

  2. Find Print Spooler → right-click → Stop

  3. Go to:

    C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS

    Delete any files inside (if any).

  4. Start Print Spooler again.

Step A5) Remove leftover driver packages (the part your printui check is pointing at)

Even though you said printui.exe /s shows no drivers, still do this to ensure nothing half-installed exists.

  1. Press Win + R

  2. Run:

    printui.exe /s /t2

  3. In the Drivers tab:

    • Remove anything that looks like HP LaserJet M101–M106 / M102 / PCLm-S if present.

    • If prompted, choose to remove driver + package (where possible).

If nothing is there, that confirms your original observation: the driver staging portion never completed.

Phase B — Reinstall using the “Full Feature” package (Win7-supported) the right way

HP support community guidance for Win7 recommends installing from the complete “Full Feature Software and Drivers” package for M102w/M104w/M106w and installing only when prompted to connect USB. (HP Support Community)

Step B1) Get the correct installer

From HP’s driver/support area, the package is commonly named like:

  • Full_Webpack-…-LJM101-M106_UWL_Full_Webpack.exe (M102w is in this family). (HP Support Community)

Step B2) Install with the “correct timing”

  1. Reboot the PC (yes, even if you already did—this resets spooler state).

  2. Do not connect USB yet.

  3. Run the installer as Administrator.

  4. When the installer says “Connect the printer now” → connect USB to a rear USB2 port if available.

If it works normally, you should now see:

  • Printer icon without warning

  • printui.exe /s /t2 shows the HP driver

  • HP tool recognizes the printer as installed

If you end up in the same broken state, go to Phase C (the “Null Print” manual bind fix).

Phase C — Fix the classic Win7 “Null Print” / USB driver binding issue (manual driver attach)

HP has an accepted solution for a very similar Win7 64-bit install issue: the printer shows under USB controllers as a Null Print instance and needs a manual “Have Disk” driver selection from the HP installer’s extracted temp folder. (HP Support Community)

This matches your symptoms extremely well: install “finishes”, but Windows never links the actual driver.

Step C1) Run the installer again just to extract drivers

  1. Start the HP installer again (same full package).

  2. Let it run until it’s unpacked / mid-install (you don’t have to finish).

Step C2) Find the HP extraction folder in TEMP

  1. Click Start and search/run:

    %temp%

  2. Look for the latest folder that starts with something like “7z…” (HP installers often extract there). (HP Support Community)

  3. Copy the full folder path from the address bar.

Step C3) In Device Manager, locate the “Null Print” device

  1. Open Device Manager

  2. Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers

  3. Look for an entry that starts with Null Print… related to the HP printer. (HP Support Community)

Step C4) Manually update driver using “Have Disk”

  1. Right-click that Null Print entry → Update Driver Software

  2. Choose:

    • Browse my computer

    • Let me pick from a list

    • Have Disk

  3. Paste the 7z… temp folder path from earlier, and complete the wizard. (HP Support Community)

Expected result: the warning triangle disappears and the printer software opens/works normally. HP’s accepted solution specifically states the troubleshoot icon should be gone after doing this. (HP Support Community)

Phase D — If it still fails: isolate hardware/USB stack issues on the Dell

If Phase C doesn’t stick, it’s usually the PC’s USB stack / chipset drivers rather than HP’s package.

Step D1) Test different USB ports and modes

  • Try rear USB2 vs rear USB3 ports

  • Avoid front-panel ports for testing

  • If you have a docking station/hub: remove it

Step D2) Update Dell chipset + USB controller drivers

For an OptiPlex 3020, install the latest available from Dell for:

  • Chipset driver

  • Intel USB controller (if separate)

USB enumeration issues can cause printers to land as “Unknown/Null” class devices.

Phase E — Workaround option: install as a “local USB printer” (printing only)

If your immediate goal is “get it printing” even without the full HP suite:

  1. Devices and Printers → Add a printer

  2. Add a local printer

  3. Choose port: USB001 (Virtual printer port for USB) (or the port that appears)

  4. When asked for driver:

    • If “HP LaserJet M101–M106 PCLm-S” (or similar family driver) exists, try that.

    • Otherwise use Have Disk and point to the extracted HP driver folder (from Phase C).

This won’t always give every HP utility feature, but it can restore basic printing.

Verification checklist (so you know it’s truly fixed)

After the fix, confirm all of the below:

1) Devices and Printers

  • HP LaserJet Pro M102w shows without yellow warning.

2) Print Management / printui driver list

Run:

printui.exe /s /t2

  • You should see an HP driver entry (your working PC does—this is the strongest indicator).

3) HP tool detects it

  • HP diagnostic tool should list the M102w as installed.

4) Test page prints

Printer Properties → Print Test Page

Why your “delete HP folders” attempt didn’t help

Because the real failure is almost certainly at one of these layers:

  • Windows did not bind the device instance to the correct driver (Null Print class symptom) (HP Support Community)

  • Driver store/spooler still has incomplete staging or stale references

  • Installer extracted and ran, but didn’t finalize driver registration (printui staying empty is the giveaway)

The “Have Disk from the 7z temp folder” approach is specifically meant to force Windows to attach the correct INF/driver to the enumerated USB device. (HP Support Community)

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"HP laserjet M102w USB problem?"

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