Viewing Ink Levels

B

Beau Bourne

New Member
How can I tell how much ink I have in the printer cartridges? When I had XP it automatically showed up whenever I printed. Now I don't know how to access that information. Thanks Beau.
 

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Hi Beau and welcome to Vista Forums :party:

Unfortunately, that function was included in the printer drivers and Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom, chose to remove that (and other functions) from the drivers that it integrated into the Vista OS. Either that, or the hardware vendors didn't include those options and instead provided Microsoft with basic drivers. As a result, the drivers included with the OS just provide basic operational capabilities. All printers should be able to report when they are out of paper, and I suspect that the same should be said as regards ink, even though the ink level itself isn't.
 

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    Dwarf Dwf/11/2012 r09/2013
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    Intel Core-i5-3570K 4-core @ 3.4GHz (Ivy Bridge) (OC 4.2GHz)
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    ASRock Z77 Extreme4-M
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    Optical Drive: HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH10LS30 SATA Bluray Lexmark S305 Printer/Scanner/Copier (USB) WEI Score: 8.1/8.1/8.5/8.5/8.25 Asus Eee PC 1011PX Netbook (Windows 7 x86 Starter)
Actually, that depends on your printer and the drivers. I have both an Epson 2200 and a R800 printer, and my ink levels show when printing, and will even show levels when not printing. I should point out that Epson provides Vista 64-bit drivers for my printers, even though the printers are 5-6 years old.

I would suggest you look to your printer manufacture for drivers.
 

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    Custom Built
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    Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
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    Intel D975XBX2
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    X-Fi Titanium - Fatality Pro Series
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    Zalman CNPS9500 AT
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    Logitech MX Revolution
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    "High" Speed DSL? Is that like low speed FIOS?
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    Q6600 B3 Revision OC to 3.0GHz
Agreed. I was talking about the integrated drivers. Vendors who choose to provide separate drivers on their websites may or may not choose to have this (and other) options included.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dwarf Dwf/11/2012 r09/2013
    CPU
    Intel Core-i5-3570K 4-core @ 3.4GHz (Ivy Bridge) (OC 4.2GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 Extreme4-M
    Memory
    4 x 4GB DDR3-1600 Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B (16GB)
    Graphics card(s)
    MSI GeForce GTX770 Gaming OC 2GB
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition on board solution (ALC 898)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic VA1912w Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    OCZ Agility 3 120GB SATA III x2 (RAID 0) Samsung HD501LJ 500GB SATA II x2 Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 1TB SATA II Iomega 1.5TB Ext USB 2.0 WD 2.0TB Ext USB 3.0
    PSU
    XFX Pro Series 850W Semi-Modular
    Case
    Gigabyte IF233
    Cooling
    1 x 120mm Front Inlet 1 x 120mm Rear Exhaust
    Mouse
    Microsoft Comfort Mouse 3000 for Business (USB)
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 3000 (USB)
    Internet Speed
    NetGear DG834Gv3 ADSL Modem/Router (Ethernet) ~4.0 Mb/s (O2)
    Other Info
    Optical Drive: HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH10LS30 SATA Bluray Lexmark S305 Printer/Scanner/Copier (USB) WEI Score: 8.1/8.1/8.5/8.5/8.25 Asus Eee PC 1011PX Netbook (Windows 7 x86 Starter)
Figured I'd throw in...

Dwarf said:
Unfortunately, that function was included in the printer drivers and Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom, chose to remove that (and other functions) from the drivers that it integrated into the Vista OS.
Click to expand...

I have never once seen a stock (ie. bundled on the Windows CD) print driver display ink drivers. In fact, I would be very surprised if Microsoft allowed that functionality in the drivers included along with the OS. And, for good reason, as listed below....

Either that, or the hardware vendors didn't include those options and instead provided Microsoft with basic drivers.
Click to expand...

You are correct. Almost all hardware drivers in just about every version of Windows are actually coded by the manufacturer. Microsoft hands them the specifications and tests the driver to ensure it works properly, but they do not actually write the driver.

As a result, the drivers included with the OS just provide basic operational capabilities.
Click to expand...

The drivers included with the OS are typically much trimmed down over what you can get off the manufacturer site. There are very good reasons for this, such as:
  • the larger and more complex the driver is, the larger the chance of an unnoticed bug slipping through and crashing someone's computer.
  • the more "feature packed" drivers that you get from the manufacturer take up a LOT more space on both the install media and your hard disk.
  • the more "feature packed" the driver is, the more time and resources Microsoft has to spend testing it - the cost of which would undoubtedly be passed on to the customer

As far as I've ever seen, if you want extra features such as a pop-up displaying ink-levels, you've always had to install drivers from the manufacturer. The stock drivers are there to provide the minimum level of functionality, only.
 

My Computer

System One

Beau Bourne said:
How can I tell how much ink I have in the printer cartridges? When I had XP it automatically showed up whenever I printed. Now I don't know how to access that information. Thanks Beau.
Click to expand...

sygnus21 said:
I would suggest you look to your printer manufacture for drivers.
Click to expand...

Dwarf said:
Agreed. I was talking about the integrated drivers. Vendors who choose to provide separate drivers on their websites may or may not choose to have this (and other) options included.
Click to expand...

ltwally said:
As far as I've ever seen, if you want extra features such as a pop-up displaying ink-levels, you've always had to install drivers from the manufacturer. The stock drivers are there to provide the minimum level of functionality, only.
Click to expand...

@ ltwally, we already said that :)

@ Beau Bourne, as you can see from the posts, in order to get your ink level feature, you'll have to go to the manufacture's website and download the drivers and or software for you printer. As stated by all, Windows just gives basic print functionality.

Good luck.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Built
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
    Motherboard
    Intel D975XBX2
    Memory
    Corsair TWIN2X4096-PC8500 (2x2GHz)
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 4890 (1GHz)
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium - Fatality Pro Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    hp w2207h (22" widescreen)
    Screen Resolution
    1680 x 1050
    Hard Drives
    One 750GB, 2x500GB Western Digital Caviar Black Hard Drives (32meg)
    PSU
    Antec Neo HE 550
    Case
    Antec P182
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9500 AT
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Revolution
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless Wave
    Internet Speed
    "High" Speed DSL? Is that like low speed FIOS?
    Other Info
    Q6600 B3 Revision OC to 3.0GHz
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