Surface laptop 7 printer issues

Microsoft has a huge problem with the Snapdragon X series of ARM processors with printer compatibility. I just tried helping a friend install her HP LaserJet P1006 printer on her brand new Surface Laptop 7th Edition and if fails. It's not a Windows 11 issue either because there is a YouTube video on how to do it.

My friend is very stressed out over this. She spent hours setting up her Surface only to find the printer won't work. Worse, even if she were to trash it for a new one, as people are pointing out here HP, Canon, Brother and Epson are all saying they don't support Windows 11 ARM either. HP is slowly - and I mean slowly - working on a Universal Driver for it but the list of supported printers is small and focused on the enterprise, not the consumer.

Microsoft throwing out a poorly tested system for hardware compatibility and blaming the printer makers for not following is not their fault, it's yours. Maybe Microsoft should have been responsible and, at a minimum, worked with them at release to have a couple of certified Snapdragon compatible printers available or put out their own like they do mice and pens.

My friend is returning her Surface back to Best Buy. Microsoft has lost a loyal customer who is upgrading from an older Surface Pro.

Thats all very well but WHAT printer will work with the Surface 7 Edition? I need a printer fast I am furious that I might have to buy another printer when my old one is in good condition. this is really not good enough . Christine G

Hello, Robert Foster2.

Welcome to Microsoft Community!

I noticed that you are trying to install some printer or scanner drivers on your Surface Laptop 7, but you are encountering a prompt related to “Drivers are not supported on this system”.

Please allow me to share the following information with you, the Surface Laptop 7 utilizes the new ARM system architecture, which is a departure from the X64 or X86 system architecture of the past. You can rest assured that your Surface Laptop 7 is not faulty or abnormal. This is mainly a case of a driver that is incompatible with the system architecture.

You can check the download link in the device driver website to see if a driver version compatible with the ARM architecture is available. Alternatively, you can check directly with the device manufacturer's support staff to see if they have plans to release a driver version for ARM systems.

Meanwhile, other users have recently experienced compatibility-related issues with third-party drivers when using Surface Laptop 7. We are continuously collecting cases related to the compatibility of devices or apps with the ARM architecture. Thank you for sharing this incident, we will record your incident and keep statistics.

Thank you for your support and understanding of Surface products.

Finally, please allow me to express my sincere wishes.

Best Regards.

Leo.L - Microsoft Community Support Specialist

I attempted to connect a new Suface laptop 7 to a canon printer. No luck. Canon advised they do not have drivers available to allow the connection. The suggestion is to use Canon's printer app - which does not seem to download to the Surface.

I am having same issues with HP laser printers. Returned one thinking it was a printer issue but the one I exchanged it for is having the same problem. Not cheap printers and frustrating. Any suggestions for fixing this? I really do not want to switch to a different brand laptop as I love my new Surface laptop 7.