HP printer errors with AutoCAD

Autodesk Support

Jul 3, 2024

Products and versions covered

Issue:

When plotting from AutoCAD to an HP (Hewlett-Packard) printer, the process does not work. Symptoms include:
  • The HP printer cannot be selected. It resets to None (or the default device). There could be no error, but often the following is displayed when selecting the printer: 

    AutoCAD Warning

    None: This plotter configuration cannot be used for one of these reasons: the driver cannot be found, the device cannot be found, or the driver has a problem. The None plot device has been substituted.
    None: This plotter configuration cannot be used for one of these reasons
    • A print job hangs, stops, or fails in some fashion.
    • AutoCAD may crash.
    • Sending the print to the printer returns an error on screen in AutoCAD. The Plot and Publish Details show:
      • MESSAGE: Error : The parameter is incorrect.
      • ERROR: The device has reported an unknown error.

    Causes:

    The printer driver installed on the computer is not working or is not recognized. Unsupported HP printers often cause this problem. To see if an HP printer is supported on Windows 10 or 11, see these articles:  

    Solution:

    Troubleshooting Guide "HP Printer Errors with AutoCAD"

    Alternatively follow these solutions:

    Find and install a new, legacy, or generic printer driver. If a driver cannot be found, try a work-around procedure.

    Important: Uninstall the current driver file and any additional HP files before attempting to install the replacement driver. Perform the steps described in How to manually uninstall a printer driver in Windows.

    Install an updated HP printer driver

    Install an updated HP printer driver that supports the Windows 8 or 10 operating system (see HP Software and Driver Download website). For some printers, the HP universal driver is needed (see the file attached to this article or refer to HP Universal Print Driver Series for Windows).  

    Install a legacy HP printer driver

    Certain legacy HP printers have usable drivers: 

    Setup a generic printer driver

    Use AutoCAD to create a PC3 printer with a compatible model for the affected HP printer:

    1. Type PLOTTERMANAGER on the AutoCAD command line.
    2. Double-click Add-A-Plotter Wizard.
    3. Select My Computer.
    4. Select Hewlet-Packard.
    5. Select a printer model. If the exact model is not available, choose one that is close. 
    6. If the selected driver does not work with the printer, continue trying with other models to find a match. 

    Alternative Solutions

    If no printer driver will work with AutoCAD, try one of the following: 

    • Plot a PDF of the drawing from AutoCAD and then print the PDF from Adobe Reader (or other PDF viewer). 

    Attachments:

    HP_Designjet_Drivers.zip;

    Products:

    AutoCAD Products; Inventor Products;

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