Worked for my system as well. Thank you.

thanks so so so much for this. you are all so helpful. it has just made my day. thank you all agin. AT

Originally Posted by NadaWTB

Thank you for the tip about the Photosmart 7200 drivers, it worked great. Here is a step by step description of how to install. 1.) Go to device manager and make sure you remove any reference to the Photosmart 1215. 2.) Go to printers and manually install, right click in the open printers window and choose Run As Administrator>add printer. 3.) Add a local printer using the existing port: USB001(virtual printer port for USB) 4.) In the next window choose Manufacturer: HP, Printers: HP Photosmart 7200 series. 5.) Then hit next and away you go, you should have the little window asking if you want to print a test page, click yes and if all went as well as it did for me it should be printing a test page. PS Make sure the printer USB is plugged in and printer is turned on. w00t thanks guys

WOW.....i tried everything and i finally googled photosmart 12 drivers and found your instructions. I followed the steps and IT WORKS !!!!!!!!!! I really didnt want to be forced to buy another printer when this one works just fine. Thanks again !!!! Wendy

I don't seem to have the virtual printer port - what am I missing??

Forget that! Its called dot something on mine. You've just saved me lots of money and I thank you kindly!!

Thanks to all of you. That was a great fix kept me in business with my hp 1215.
I was wondering if anyone has similar fix for a hp scanjet 4470c??
Thanks again.

AWWWWW MAN!!!!!!! Thanks Gatman for the awesome tip.....you not only saved me ehh bout 70 bucks (for a cheap printer to just be able to work with this OS) but also about an hours worth of work setting an older puter as a print server and joining to my network Anyway this fix with the 7200 driver worked for me. Now the wife is happy and as all od us married men know we can be spared for another day.

Thanks again for sharing the info.

I was wondering how to get my Windows Vista computer to print off of the photosmart 1215 sucker from and XP client when I stumbled upon this thread from google.
Here is how for those who are wondering:
Go to
Start>Control Panel
Under the Hardware and Sound Tab Click printers
Click "Add a Printer" from the "file bar"
Click "Add a Network,Wireless or Bluetooth Printer"
Locate your printer, follow the instructions and add it normally
Click back to the "Printers" window
Find the network printer you added
Right click on it> Click properties
Click "Advanced"
Next to driver click "New Driver"
Click next, wait until the list of possible printer drivers appear
Go to HP on the right, click on "HP Photosmart 7200 Series" on the right
Click next, click finish
Delete the printer you just added from the network
Add it again (it should now list as hp 7200 series on...)
There you are.

Originally Posted by trinity12185

Instead of removing any reference to Photosmart 1215 in device manager, simply right click on Photosmart 1215 in device manager, go to update drivers, and browse for the driver for hp photosmart 7200. Windows will alert you that that driver may not be compatible, click ok, and there you go. Doing it the other way didnt work for me....

This fix also worked with the photosmart 1218 for me thx

Worked on my 1218 too. Great, thanks