Question Win11 slow to open printer options

[Skyzoomer]

I posted this on a different forum but have not received a solution to date. So trying here.

I bought a Beelink mini PC that came with Win11 Pro. Win11 and installed programs are on a SSD.
I have a self built tower PC thats running Win10 home. Win10 and installed programs are on a SSD.
I have a HP MFP M225dn laser printer that is connected to my router via ethernet cable. So printing is done via the network,

When I initiate a print from my wired Win10 PC or my wifi Win10 laptop, the printer options pops up in about 1 second. This is the options to select portrait/landscape, nbr of copies, pages to print, etc.

But when I initiate a print to the same M225dn laser printer from the Win11 mini PC, it takes 9 seconds for the printer options window to pop up.

Is it normal for Win11 Pro to be that slow to pop up the printer options?

For folks running Win11 and printing to a printer that is wired to the router via ethernet cable, how many seconds does it take for the printer options pop up?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Those little "mini PCs", unless you pay as much for them as a full desktop PC, then they're generally under-powered for the task, using "J" or "N" class Atom-based Celeron/Pentium chips. Plus, they're often run without a fan and much of a heatsink, basically passive cooling with a metal plate embedded like a cheapo laptop. Which means, running desktop tasks, it is often throttling, within a hair's breath of actually freezing/crashing. As I have often seen those little PCs do, especially during a "challenging" round of Windows Updates.

 

[OlyAR15]

Mine is nearly instantaneous. Certainly no different than Win10. Did you install the correct printer driver?

 

[mikeymikec]

I would check the network response times between the laptop and printer (e.g. fire up the command prompt, get the IP address of the printer, do ping ip.address.of.printer on laptop), because that, a non-ideal printer driver, or perhaps a malfunction in how Windows has set up the connection between the driver and printer could be going on.

If you let Windows auto-install the printer then I would remove the printer and reinstall using the HP driver:

HP LaserJet Pro MFP M225dn Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Customer Support

Download the latest drivers, firmware, and software for your HP LaserJet Pro MFP M225dn.This is HP’s official website that will help automatically detect and download the correct drivers free of cost for your HP Computing and Printing products for Windows and Mac operating system.

support.hp.com

Hopefully HP's software in this instance will do less of a half-assed job than the standard HP consumer-oriented printer software does. When the software installation is complete and you've checked that it can print, I would check in the printer properties to see which communication technique is being used to talk to the printer. If it's WSD, I would consider add a port, TCP/IP, and feed it the host name of the printer. Alternatively, you could try that if you have any further issues with the printer.

One thing to double-check before you start is to verify that Devices & Printers *always* takes a long time to start, because that will be useful for testing later.

 

[Skyzoomer]

Those little "mini PCs", unless you pay as much for them as a full desktop PC, then they're generally under-powered for the task, using "J" or "N" class Atom-based Celeron/Pentium chips. Plus, they're often run without a fan and much of a heatsink, basically passive cooling with a metal plate embedded like a cheapo laptop. Which means, running desktop tasks, it is often throttling, within a hair's breath of actually freezing/crashing. As I have often seen those little PCs do, especially during a "challenging" round of Windows Updates.

I don't think the mini PC itself is causing the 9 second delay for the printer options to pop up. There is no processing to be done when a print is initiated except to pop up the printer options. Thanks.

 

[Skyzoomer]

Mine is nearly instantaneous. Certainly no different than Win10. Did you install the correct printer driver?

Thanks for sharing your Win11 experience. I installed the HP Smart printer driver on the 3 PCs I mentioned (Win10 tower, Win10 laptop, Win11 mini PC). I'll double check the version numbers to see if the Win11 one is different. Thanks.

 

[Skyzoomer]

I would check the network response times between the laptop and printer (e.g. fire up the command prompt, get the IP address of the printer, do ping ip.address.of.printer on laptop), because that, a non-ideal printer driver, or perhaps a malfunction in how Windows has set up the connection between the driver and printer could be going on.

If you let Windows auto-install the printer then I would remove the printer and reinstall using the HP driver:

HP LaserJet Pro MFP M225dn Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Customer Support

Download the latest drivers, firmware, and software for your HP LaserJet Pro MFP M225dn.This is HP’s official website that will help automatically detect and download the correct drivers free of cost for your HP Computing and Printing products for Windows and Mac operating system.

support.hp.com

Hopefully HP's software in this instance will do less of a half-assed job than the standard HP consumer-oriented printer software does. When the software installation is complete and you've checked that it can print, I would check in the printer properties to see which communication technique is being used to talk to the printer. If it's WSD, I would consider add a port, TCP/IP, and feed it the host name of the printer. Alternatively, you could try that if you have any further issues with the printer.

One thing to double-check before you start is to verify that Devices & Printers *always* takes a long time to start, because that will be useful for testing later.

I previously did a ping test from the Win11 mini PC to the printer and the responses were immediate.

I did install HP's "HP Smart" driver in the Win11 mini PC. Not using the Win11 default. But I'll check out the m225 series driver you listed. I'll also check out the other stuff you mentioned. Thanks!

 

[Skyzoomer]

If you let Windows auto-install the printer then I would remove the printer and reinstall using the HP driver:

HP LaserJet Pro MFP M225dn Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Customer Support

Download the latest drivers, firmware, and software for your HP LaserJet Pro MFP M225dn.This is HP’s official website that will help automatically detect and download the correct drivers free of cost for your HP Computing and Printing products for Windows and Mac operating system.

support.hp.com

Mikey,

Using the link you provided, I downloaded and installed the "install version of the printer driver only" in the Win11 mini PC. (Not the full featured software for the printer)

Now the printer options for my HP laser printer pops up within 1 second and printing works fine. It did not affect my already installed HP inkjet printer so all is good.

Thanks for the push in the right direction.
Skyzoomer