I set up an Hp printer for mate which works fine , however every morning he boots up & gets message when trying to print ( no printer ) he follows instruction to add printer which reinstalls the drivers & he is ok again , it also lost it port settings from Usb to LPT1. The pc is brand new so have advised him to return it , cant see it being the printer at fault , more like a memory issue , has anyone had this before or any input to give .

While he's trying to figure out a more permanent fix...
He could "Hibernate" the PC rather than shutting down.
That way, when he "Resumes" Windows, all will be EXACTLY as it was before hibernation.

I assume the problem is introduced at reboot.
Perhaps Windows is detecting that it cannot boot using the latest configuration files [with the new settings], and is automatically restoring the previous set of backed up configuration files, which don't include the printer settings.

If he installed a FREE copy of PrevX (http://www.prevx.com/), and had it running in the background, that would report that an attempt was being made to save new settings in the registry [I think it also reports that something has been set to run at next Windows boot, which would be useful to know], and ask him to OK or deny permission.
It would be nice to know for sure that the necessary changes have indeed been saved in the registry.

Is the printer being installed through the admin account?

Stand alone printer set up

Fruss here, on another pc ;)

Do you mean to say this is a network printer on a print server? I'm not quite seeing the broad picture. Someone I know calls an All-in-one printer-scanner-copy-fax his stand alone so is this what you refer to?

Model of printer and os on pc if you know them please. Sometimes drivers are to be installed prior to even connecting the printer rther than letting Windows find the drivers on a discovery boot up.

All in one printer Hp dekjet c4180 on win xp pro , should be an easy set up but as I said 1st boot after shutdown the pc does not recognise it has a printer , once installed again it works perfectly . Have tried reinstall several times now , drivers are the latest .

Alright, back to my usual self :p

Going out on a limb here and going to suggest removing everything to do with that printer in Safe Mode or logged in as admin. Uninstall it with HP uninstaller if one, use Add/Remove if not and then look for folders in Program Files and delete if found.

Reboot into an account with admin privileges or Safe Mode again. Install Software. Reboot again and connect usb cable to the printer with printer on. Install it by the prompts, then try a reboot to see if it is still there.

Oh yeah, while rubbing a rabbit's foot the whole time... :rolleyes:

All now solved , here goes , Acer pc the guy bought it at Comet so I gave them a call & was told they had several calls with the same problem & the fix was beleive it or not the regional options were set to US so it looks like the driver package was reading it wrong , when I first visited the guy he said pc keyboard was in US so I changed his keyboard & applied settings I also changed regional settings to UK but must have forgoten to press apply , but must admit did not think that would have been the problem , however all is well now . many thanks to all who contributed to this thread .

"changed regional settings to UK but must have forgoten to press apply"
With PrevX running in the background, if/when you applied the settings, PrevX would have warned you that a setting was being written to the registry.
When you failed to apply the setting, PrevX would have been conspicuous by its lack of a warning, and you would have been immediately alerted to the fact you'd forgotten to apply.
It's good to get such instant and positive feedback.