In this guide, I will walk you through exactly why your printer stopped working and how I personally fixed my hardware drivers in just a few minutes using Driver Booster 13.
Why Do Printers Stop Working Suddenly?
Printers rely on device drivers to communicate with your Windows operating system. When these drivers become outdated, corrupted, or incompatible after a Windows update, the printer simply stops responding. Here are the most common reasons:
- A Windows Update overwrote or damaged the printer driver.
- The printer driver became corrupted after a sudden shutdown or power failure.
- Connecting the printer to a different USB port caused Windows to treat it as a new device.
- An outdated or incompatible printer driver is conflicting with your current version of Windows.
- Invalid or outdated device data accumulated over time, preventing Windows from recognising the driver correctly.
All of these issues point to one solution: updating and fixing your hardware drivers. This is exactly where Driver Booster 13 comes in.
What Is Driver Booster 13?
Driver Booster 13 is a powerful, easy-to-use driver updater developed by IObit. It automatically scans your entire system, detects outdated or missing drivers, and updates them with a single click. Whether you have a printer, scanner, graphics card, audio device, or network adapter, Driver Booster 13 handles them all.
It supports over 12 million device drivers and game components, making it one of the most comprehensive driver management tools available for Windows. The free version alone is capable enough to handle most common driver issues, including printer failures.
The main screen is clean and welcoming. You simply hit the big red SCAN button and let Driver Booster 13 do the work.
Step by Step: How I Fix My Hardware Drivers with Driver Booster
Step 1: Scan Your System for Outdated Drivers
The first thing I did when my printer stopped working was open Driver Booster 13 and run a full system scan. This takes only a minute or two and is completely automated.
During the scan, Driver Booster 13 goes through every device connected to your computer including your printer and checks each driver against its massive online database. You can see it scanning component by component, including HID devices, display adapters, audio controllers, and of course, printer drivers.
Step 2: Review the Scan Results
Once the scan is complete, Driver Booster 13 presents you with a clear, organized list of all outdated drivers on your system.
In my case, it found 4 outdated device drivers and 11 outdated game drivers. Most importantly, it identified the printer-related driver issues immediately. The results show you the current driver version installed on your PC versus the latest version available, so you can see exactly how out-of-date your drivers are.
Some drivers are marked PRO, meaning they require the paid version to update automatically. However, many essential device drivers including printer drivers are available in the free version. You can also manually update specific drivers using the Update button next to each entry.
Step 3: Update Your Drivers with One Click
This is the easiest part. Simply click the Update Now button at the top of the results page. Driver Booster 13 will download and install the latest, verified driver versions for all your outdated devices including your printer.
After the update completes, Driver Booster 13 shows a satisfying confirmation: all updatable drivers have been updated. In my session, it updated 8 drivers in total. The entire process took less than 5 minutes.
Step 4: Clean Up Invalid Device Data
Here is a step that most people skip, but it made a huge difference for my printer. After updating the drivers, Driver Booster 13 also detected 29 invalid devices with leftover data that could still interfere with hardware recognition.
I clicked the Clean button and let it scan through all the invalid device data entries. This process removes ghost device entries — old, disconnected, or misconfigured hardware entries in the Windows registry that can confuse the system when you reconnect a device like a printer.
The cleanup completed successfully, removing entries for devices like DiskDrive - WDC WDS480G2G0B, Display - Intel UHD Graphics 630, various HIDClass devices, and USB Input Devices. After this step, Windows had a much cleaner view of which hardware was actually connected.
Using the Fix Device Error Tool
Driver Booster 13 also has a dedicated Tools section with a Fix Device Error feature. This is specifically designed for hardware that Windows cannot recognize properly — which often includes printers that show up with a yellow exclamation mark in Device Manager.
From the Tools menu, you can access several powerful Hot Fix Tools including Backup and Restore, Fix No Sound, Fix Device Error, Clean Invalid Device Data, Fix Network Failure, and Fix Bad Resolution. For printer issues, the Fix Device Error and Clean Invalid Device Data tools are your best friends.
Back Up Your Drivers Before Updating
One of the best features in Driver Booster 13 that I strongly recommend using is the Backup and Restore tool. Before updating any drivers, it is always wise to create a backup so you can roll back if anything goes wrong.
The Driver Backup screen shows all 36 devices on my system, all ready to be backed up. Simply check all devices and click Back Up. Note that the backup feature requires the PRO edition, but it is worth the investment for peace of mind. With a backup in place, you can update drivers confidently knowing you can restore everything to its previous state with a single click.
Why Driver Booster 13 Is Better Than Manual Updates
You might be wondering: why not just download the printer driver from the manufacturer's website manually? Here is why Driver Booster 13 is a smarter choice:
- Automatically identifies the correct driver version for your specific hardware.
- Installs only drivers that have passed WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Labs) certification by default.
- Updates dozens of drivers simultaneously instead of requiring one-at-a-time installations.
- Cleans up invalid or outdated device data that manual driver installations cannot resolve.
- Maintains a complete update history and provides an easy rollback option if needed.
- Supports a library of more than 12 million device drivers and game components.
The WHQL filter is especially important. As seen in the Scan Priority settings, Driver Booster 13 defaults to showing only drivers that have passed Microsoft's official testing process, ensuring stability and security.
Pair It with IObit Uninstaller for a Cleaner System
While Driver Booster 13 takes care of driver updates, sometimes printer problems are also caused by old, leftover printer software that did not uninstall cleanly. For that, I recommend pairing Driver Booster 13 with the For comprehensive system maintenance, pair Driver Booster 13 with the IObit Uninstaller a powerful uninstaller for Windows that removes every trace of old printer software, leftover registry entries, and bundled programs that standard Windows uninstall misses. A clean uninstall of old printer drivers followed by a fresh Driver Booster 13 update is often the most reliable fix for stubborn printer issues.
Final Thoughts
When my printer stopped working, I spent two hours trying to diagnose the problem manually before discovering Driver Booster 13. Within 5 minutes of running the scan and update, my printer was back online. The combination of driver updates and invalid device data cleanup made a night-and-day difference.
If your printer has suddenly stopped working, do not waste time guessing. Download Driver Booster 13, run a scan, update your drivers, and clean up invalid device data. It is the easiest, most reliable way to fix hardware driver problems on Windows and it is free to start.
