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After upgrading to Windows 11, the HP 4650 lost its ability to print in color and perform automatic duplex printing. The duplex unit was not recognized, and only black-and-white printing was possible.

Complete model name is: HP OfficeJet 4650 All-in-One Printer (7781689). It supports Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz only), scanning, faxing, and of course, should support automatic duplex and color printing. One color cartridge and one black cartridge; the accurate ink level is reported.

Reason

Clearly, this is a driver-related issue in Windows 11—it all worked fine before. HP must be well aware of the problem due to the many posts in their so-called "customer forum", yet they refuse to fix it.

Print jobs from other operating systems or mobile devices work fine, so this is not the result of a botched firmware update.

Installing an older driver version might restore functionality temporarily (test page prints successfully in the printer settings, duplex unit is briefly recognized). But soon after, it seems the driver is overwritten with a faulty version or the printer’s device data gets misinterpreted.

Disabling Windows Update driver updates through "System > Info > Advanced settings > Hardware" did nothing. Microsoft, too, increasingly shows signs that customer satisfaction and quality are no longer priorities - if ever.

The HP Smart apps don’t solve the issue either—not that you’d expect them to.

Solution

  • Install the driver package for the HP Envy 7640, or extract it using a tool like 7-Zip.
  • Download the base driver installer from HP's product page:
    https://support.hp.com/drivers/hp-envy-7640-e-all-in-one-printer/model/6617268 (40.15.1230, 54.3 MB, 24. Nov. 2021)
    The downloaded file is called "Basic_Webpack_x64-40.15.1230-EN7640_Basicx64_Webpack.exe"
  • Extract the executable archive (.exe) with 7-Zip or a similar decompressor to a folder (right click, extract to folder)
  • Go to Windows Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Printers & Scanners, select the previously installed HP 4650 (not the fax driver entry)
  • Open Printer Properties and go to the Advanced tab
  • Click the button "New Driver…" (the button is at the end of the Driver pulldown menu in the dialog)
  • If the driver "HP ENVY 7640 series" is not listed in the HP node in the shown vendor list, then proceed and use “Have Disk / Datenträger” (bottom right) to manually select the driver location (our extraction folder from step 3)
  • Look for the file hpygid20.inf (maybe in a subfolder), select it, and confirm. Now the installation should proceed. Allow installation if requested.

Printer Driver Assistant to select alternative driver

Once installed, the HP 4650 uses the Envy 7640 driver—and voilà, color and duplex printing are restored. In essence, you're substituting the not working driver with a driver of a compatible (possibly identical?) device.

Normally its HP's task to maintain their bloody drivers. Replacing both cartridges with genuine HP ink costs nearly €100 each time, making HP’s lack of product maintenance and practically non-existent support all the more baffling. It feels like customers are the enemy. Even firmware updates usually seem designed to deactivate/ obstruct functions after sale, or block third-party consumables by computer sabotage: HP's new company values?

My next purchase certainly won't be HP.

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HP delivered the HP455 G5 in different variants: with different CPU and RAM configurations, different audio and WiFi chipsets (also applies to the HP Pavilion Laptop 17-ar0xx series).

My HP455 G5 model came with an AMD A10-9620P CPU with Radeon R5 graphics, 8 GB RAM, Conexant Smart Audio, Realtek BT 4.2, Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller, Realtek RTL8822BE 802.11ac PCIe Adapter, Synaptics FP Sensor (WBF, PID 003f), and a build-in HP backlit keyboard with german layout. The bottleneck of the system is the slow PCIe bus integration of HP and the slow performance of the installed SSD. Driving with handbrake...

"Officially", the AMD A10-9620P with build-in Radion R5 graphics is not compatible with Windows 11, even if the system supports Secure Boot, has an Infinion IFX TMP 2.0 Chip (7.63.2253.0; TCG PPI 1.3, TMP Spec 1.16), and enough RAM.

Upgrade to Windows 11 24H2 respective Windows 11 25H2
  1. Update the BIOS with the latest firmware (in my case 01.26.00 R; HP Q84 System Firmware; July 24, 2024). This can be done via Windows Update, the HP Support Assistant, or by downloading sp155228.exe manually.
    Since the HP 455 G5 (with the latest firmware) supports both, Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 (and has more than 4 GB of RAM), only the CPU check must be bypassed. Anyway, the installed AMD CPU supports both SSE4.2 and the CNT instruction, which makes it compatible with Windows 11 24H2 / Windows 11 25H2.
  2. Cleanup: Before upgrading Windows, it is a good time to delete unused software and apps (Settings > Apps and Settings > System > Storage). Also get rid of old drivers (i.e. via rapr tool) and old setup programs in the Downloads folder.
  3. Disable harddisk encryption (i.e. Bitlocker) and virus scanners. In best case, an upgrade is also possible with enabled encryption and security software, but that can lead to problems. Disabling drive encryption software like Bitlocker takes some time, because the volume must be decrypted first. After the upgrade it can be re-enabled.
  4. As with all OS upgrades, it is advised to backup personal data. Some software or hardware may be not compatible with Windows 11 or later builds (i.e. 24H2, 25H2). Creating a bootable recovery medium is advised. There are free tools like Macrium Reflect Free for that purpose, also supporting full backups of the system drive or selected partitions. Windows 11 offers a rollback to Windows 10, but its always better to have a plan B.
  5. Download the latest multi-edition ISO image of Windows 11 directly from Microsoft. The image can be mounted as virtual drive simply by double click the ISO file after the download has finished.
  6. Press Win + R on your keyboard and enter cmd. Now press Ctrl-Shift-Enter to run it elevated with administrator privileges (alternativly click right on the start menu icon and select Terminal (Administrator), if available.
  7. In the command prompt (or Terminal window) change the working directoy to your previous mounted virtual drive by entering the drive letter. You can find the drive via Explorer under "This PC".
  8. Assumed that the drive is E, enter the following: 
    E:
cd \sources
setupprep /product server
  9. Answer and accept the questions and start the installation. Choose to keep apps, settings, and personal documents. The process requires multiple restarts and takes a while.
Fix Radion R5 graphics card driver

Unfortunately, Windows 11 comes with an incompatible driver by default. Also AMD offers no fixed drivers for Windows 11 and the mobile R5 GPU. And HP? No words...

It can happen that the GPU is marked with a yellow exclamation mark in the device manager. Result: The CPU/GPU runs with high power consumption, the laptop heats up and the fan runs with high speed. Also, features like VariBright are not working: the brightness cannot be changed and is always on 100 percent, which leads to additional battery drainage. Sometimes the driver is even replaced by the Basic Display Driver offered by Microsoft.

To fix that issue, download and install the Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.7.3 (radeon-crimson-16.7.3-win10-64bit.exe) targetting Windows 10, 64bit (354 MB). It is compatible with Windows 11 24H2 and Windows 11 25H2. In best case install the driver before upgrading to Windows 11.

  1. Download the driver: just search for amd-radeon-software-crimson-16-7-3-whql-driver. On the AMD site, the Crimson Edition is no longer available, but you can find it on several software and driver archives, i.e. on Guru3D.
  2. Decompress the executable archive (running the .exe directly can lead to errors, like "wrong platform"). Maybe you need a software like 7zip, PeaZip, WinRar, etc. that supports decompression of .exe files.
  3. Open the device manager, select the graphcis card, right click on it, and select "Update driver".
  4. Select "Search on my computer" and select the folder with the contents of the decompressed .exe. Click update and accept the optional upcoming dialogs.
  5. After the installation the exclamation mark should disappear and all features should work as expected.
  6. Go to the extracted driver folder "radeon-crimson-16.7.3-win10-64bit" and there into the sub folder "Packages\Drivers\Display\WT6A_INF\B304863". Run ccc2_install.exe inside the directory to install the "Radion Settings" panel. That can take a while.
  7. After installation, adjust your individual settings, power saving, brightness, enable VariBright, etc.
  8. Reboot. It can happen that Windows Update now offers a more up-to-date driver by HP that is also compatible (27.20.20904.1004; July 19, 2021 or 31.0.21923.11000; July 1, 2025).
  9. Re-enable Bitlocker if necessary. On any problems with other hardware or software, Windows 11 offers to rollback to the prior version.

Enable Windows 25H2 with installed Windows 24H2

Even if you install Windows 25H2 via ISO, as described above, it can happen, that under System > Info you can read 24H2 as installed version. 25H2 is based on the same codebase as 24H2, but the features and changes must be enabled via an update: the "enablement package" KB5054156. That will happen via Windows Update, or manually, by downloading the installer from Microsoft: Windows11.0-KB5054156-x64.msu.

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If booting into the factory reset menu with <Volume up> and <Power on> fails, an alternative way is to switch partition slots via fastboot command.

First boot into the fastboot menu with <Volume down> and <Power on>: press first <Power down> and hold the key, the power on the device and hold the key, until the menu appears. Release both keys. The first screen should have the title fastboot.

In fast boot mode (even if the device is locked), you are able to use fastboot commands via USB (Android Command Line Tools or the Android SDK must be installed and the platform-tools folder must be in the path).

First you have to identify the active slot:

fastboot getvar current-slot

After the slot (a orb) is known, just switch to the opposite slot (if a is active, switch to b and vice-versa).

fastboot --set-active=a or b

Then reboot the system using:

fastboot reboot

After the reboot, you should be in the factory reset menu. Select the option to erase the data/cache partition. After approval and and a reboot, you should be able to setup the device from scratch.

Note: after a factory reset via boot menu, it is necessary to enter the last used Google account information (FRP protection). If the account information is lost, only the device vendor can reset the account information (separate partition) - a network connection is required - maybe this is a paid service or it is not possible at all (i.e. after the expiration of the warranty.

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With ImapSync from Gilles Lamiral it is easy to migrate or backup IMAP accounts between to servers; the command-line tool uses the Internet Mail Protocol 4 (IMAP 4). It is perfect to migrate from one mail or hosting provider to another or to use two IMAP based mailboxes as backup solution.

ImapSync supports incremental, duplicate free transfers. It also supports recursion to transfer complete mail folder trees.

Note: The tool transfers data beween two servers, but neither supports local backups (or restoration) nor bidirectional synchronisation, like offlineimap or mbsync. It also does not support groupware features, i.e. backing up calendars, contacts, or tasks.

Install dependencies:

sudo apt update && apt upgrade && apt install  \
libauthen-ntlm-perl     \
libclass-load-perl      \
libcrypt-openssl-rsa-perl \
libcrypt-ssleay-perl    \
libdata-uniqid-perl     \
libdigest-hmac-perl     \
libdist-checkconflicts-perl \
libencode-imaputf7-perl     \
libfile-copy-recursive-perl \
libfile-tail-perl       \
libio-compress-perl     \
libio-socket-inet6-perl \
libio-socket-ssl-perl   \
libio-tee-perl          \
libjson-webtoken-perl   \
libmail-imapclient-perl \
libmodule-scandeps-perl \
libnet-dbus-perl        \
libnet-ssleay-perl      \
libpar-packer-perl      \
libproc-processtable-perl \
libreadonly-perl        \
libregexp-common-perl   \
libsys-meminfo-perl     \
libterm-readkey-perl    \
libtest-fatal-perl      \
libtest-mock-guard-perl \
libtest-mockobject-perl \
libtest-pod-perl        \
libtest-requires-perl   \
libtest-simple-perl     \
libunicode-string-perl  \
liburi-perl             \
libtest-nowarnings-perl \
libtest-deep-perl       \
libtest-warn-perl       \
make                    \
time                    \
cpanminus

Get and install umapsync

Downloads the latest build on Github to the current directory, adds execution permission, and moves it to /usr/bin:

wget -N https://raw.githubusercontent.com/imapsync/imapsync/master/imapsync
chmod +x imapsync
mv imapsync /usr/bin/

Run imapsync

imapsync

To check for the latest release and library dependencies, add the --releasecheck parameter:

imapsync --releasecheck

Example: Incremental backup between two distinct IMAP servers:

USR1='[email protected]'
PWD1='somepassword1'
USR2='[email protected]'
PWD2='somepassword2'
imapsync --releasecheck --addheader --automap --prefix1 "INBOX." --prefix2 "INBOX/" --no-modulesversion --host1 mail.giesecke.org --user1 $USR1 --password1 $PWD1 --host2 backup.giesecke.org --user2 $USR2 --password2 $PWD2

Note that imapsync could create a log directory in the current working directory (pwd).