Have you lately been facing issues with your Brother printer? Perhaps you have seen the error message ‘Brother printer driver is unavailable’ flashing on your screen. This issue often results from an incompatible or outdated printer driver. An obsolete operating system can also cause Brother printer driver unavailable issues.
But there’s no need to fret over it. In this post, you will find the most efficient troubleshooting techniques to resolve it. Fix the causes mentioned above with the following techniques.
Fix 1. Restart your Brother printer
One of the simplest measures consists of rebooting or restarting your Brother printer.
- Turn on the printing device.
- Remove its power cable. It is on the back part of the printer.
- Also, take away the cable from the electrical wall outlet.
- Let your printer remain in this state for 15 seconds.
- Put the power cable into the rear of the printer.
- Plug the printer into its outlet.
- Switch on the printer.
- Give a command to print.
- The printer will surely respond to it.
Fix 2. Get the latest printer driver
A corrupt driver can cause the Brother Printer driver unavailable Windows 10 error.
- Open the ‘Run’ box with the aid of the Windows and R keys.
- Now, input ‘devmgmt.msc’ in this box, and hit the enter key.
- From the ‘Device Manager’ window, access the ‘Print Queue’ option and tap it.
- Look for your printer’s driver.
- After you find it, right-tap it to uninstall it.
- Post the printer driver uninstallation, and reboot your system.
- Now, reinstall the printer driver by going to the Brother website.
- Get the most current release of your driver.
- After the driver downloads, install it on your Windows 10 device.
- Now, start your computer again post the installation.
- Check whether you still find this error.
Fix 3. Use the in-built Windows Troubleshooter
Windows 10 comes with a pre-installed troubleshooter. Use it to fix the Brother printer driver is unavailable error message.
- Open the ‘Settings’ window of your system.
- Do this by tapping the Windows and I keys.
- Once you find the Settings window, double-tap the option ‘Update and Security.’
- After that, hit ‘Troubleshoot.’
- Find and click the ‘Printers and drivers’ option.
- Now click ‘Run the troubleshooter.’
- The Windows troubleshooter will start the scan and find the problem.
- To allow it to fix the issue, tap ‘Apply fix.’
- Once the troubleshooter completes its job, start your device again.
Fix 4. Get the latest Windows updates
Using the latest Windows updates is essential to prevent yourself from encountering driver-related issues.
- Get the latest Windows updates.
- Use the ‘Start’ functionality in your Windows 10 system.
- When the search field shows, enter ‘updates.’
- Now, click ‘Check for updates.’
- In its tab, you will find the available updates.
- It is essential for you to install the recent updates.
- After that, click ‘Check for updates’ another time.
- It will let you know if there are pending updates.
- Allow the Windows system to install the updates.
Fix 5. Remove and install the printer driver
If you still haven’t received an answer as to why is my Brother printer driver unavailable, you may need to uninstall the current driver.
- Trigger the Run dialog box in your Windows 10 system.
- Use this box to get to Device Manager. You’ll need to type ‘devmgmt.msc’ in the Run box.
- Now, find the ‘Print Queue’ option.
- Expand this option.
- Look for your printer driver.
- Right-click it and tap ‘Uninstall.’
- Let your printer driver get eliminated.
- Then head to Brotherusa.com.
- Get the correct printer driver and install it in your system using the on-screen instructions.
- Restart the device. The error won’t be there anymore.
Fix 6. Brother printer is set as the default
To avoid facing the Brother printer driver is unavailable Windows 10 error, you must ensure that your Brother printer is set as default.
- Reboot your Windows 10 system.
- Navigate to the area of ‘Devices and Printers.’
- Once here, click on ‘Add a printer.’
- After that, choose the option ‘The printer I want is not listed.’
- In the ‘Add printer’ window, select ‘My printer is a little older. Help me find it.’
- Now, your system will start to find the Brother printer.
- You should hit the ‘Next’ button.
- Place a tick on the option that makes you set your Brother printer as the default printer.
Fix 7. Configure the antivirus software to default
Sometimes, your firewall can be the cause of this driver issue. So, you must reconfigure it.
- Use the Windows search feature to locate Windows Defender Firewall.
- Tap on ‘Restore defaults’, which is on the left menu.
- When you tap this option, it will restore the antivirus to default.
- See if the driver unavailable issue persists after applying this fix.
Fix 8. Employ the generic printer driver
If nothing seems to resolve the Brother printer driver is an unavailable error, you must resort to using the generic printer driver.
- To start using the generic driver of Microsoft, click the ‘Search’ button in Windows.
- Input ‘device manager’ on the taskbar.
- Choose the first option in the result.
- Next, expand the ‘Print queues’ section.
- Look for your Brother printing device. Right-click on it.
- Select to update your driver.
- After that, choose the ‘Browse my computer for drivers’ option.
- Choose the ‘Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer’
- Pick ‘Generic software device.’
- Tap ‘Next.’
- Restart the system.
Concluding Words
The Brother printer driver plays a crucial role in its working. So if it appears to be unavailable, you cannot use your printer device. These measures will make you overcome this issue effectively. If you need more assistance to fix printer errors, contact a printer technical service expert.
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