Many users using the combination of Windows Vista and a HP printer that is connected to a network have been plagued with the problem of printer disappearance. Other printers connected to the same machine display no such issues though.

This disappearance is observed to happen on those systems that have been idle for longer times, the printer disappears from the printer folder and the driver follows suit from the Server Properties as well. Reinstalling the printer will resolve the issue, but temporarily. The next time the system sits idle, whoosh goes the printer again! No related entries in the event viewer on Vista can be found as well. Maybe Harry Potter is at work!!!

The culprit in this disappearance is surprisingly not Microsoft but HP’s HP CUE DeviceDescovery Service that malfunctions with Vista. So far, HP hasn’t acknowledged the problem surrounding the disappearance and a result, a patch to overcome the problem does not exist. As a workaround, many IT admins have found that disabling the service seems fix the problem.

To disable HP CUE DeviceDescovery Service:

1) Click on the “Start Menu” icon on the bottom left corner of the screen, type “services.msc” in the “Start Search” edit box, and hit enter. This will trigger Vista to pop-up a “User Account Control” dialog to prompt for permission to continue. Click “Continue” to allow Vista to open the Services management console application.

2) The Services management console application is made up of 2 panels. The right panel contains a list of all services available on the system. Scroll thru this list and look for a service called “HP CUE DeviceDiscovery Service”.

3) Right-click on “HP CUE DeviceDiscovery Service” and select “Properties” to open the “HP CUE DeviceDiscovery Service Properties” dialog.

4) From the “HP CUE DeviceDiscovery Service Properties” dialog, click on the “General” tab. If the “Service status” shows that the service has started, click on the “Stop” button to force the service to stop.

5) Change the “Start type” to “Disabled” and click on the “OK” button on the bottom of the dialog to apply the changes.