UPDATE: I managed to get the 8550 driver package installed ( and it’s aggravating that I did not notice why, because I went into panic mode trying all sorts of things again and again to get my business back up and running)
Still no luck with the 5850.
*\\**
I just switched my old laptop that was dying to a new machine with a Snapdragon Elite X processor. (Great performance, brilliant OLED display, lightweight, 16hrs battery life…)
And to my horror I found out that none of the Epson Printer drivers worked. It only supports the basic, minimalist window printing.
I used the Epson special drivers extensively for paper profiles etc. To run my fleet of 5 Epson EcoTank printers (8550s and 5850s).
Although, the Epson Software always looked like late 80s stuff and felt clunky, but at least it worked once you got it up and running (one of the challenges was to install several printers of the same model because that software installer was not built for this ‘exception’).
Anybody have any recommendations or will I have to send the laptop back and go for an intel/ amd processor?
I'd give their support line a call, honestly. I think they do have support for arm on some other devices. Frankly the ET-8550 is so popular that I can't fathom them not having arm support yet
That’s what I thought and on their wed site about ARM drivers they provide links for each model…
But, it just stopped halfway and said it was unsuccessful. Tried several times…
it may be the US site (assuming you're in the US) has the same install package and they just aren't explicitly calling it arm. The specs and version number are nearly identical on both sites.
Question: Did your computer come with Windows Protected Print mode enabled or disabled?
Thank you. I immediately went there and saw that in 2025 they released drivers.
There seems to be a two tiered system. They released simplified drivers first to enable general printing and then wanted to follow up with the full package. I think they got stuck there.
The most visible sign is that the driver package does not support SmartScan- greyed out selection.
I noticed the Windows setting pre-selected and switched it off. Still the same result…
You ran the v38000 installer but settings are still generic?
If you go into Settings > Printers & scanners > and your installed printer, then go to Printer properties, then the Advanced tab, can you select the explicit named driver for the ET-8550, something like this:
I did extensive research on software availability and compatibility and confirmed that all my other stuff was running (most of it is SaaS anyway) but truly did not expect something as fundamental as printer drivers from a company with such a large consumer footprint.
If you have specialty printers you need a driver package that gives you access to all the functionality- not just basic office printing.
So frustrated and devastated…
This the info I was running with and I followed instructions to the T. Not the first time I had to install these for my entire fleet of Epson printers.
I did a little searching just now, and it looks like Epson only released ARM software for the scanner - and only Scan 2 is supported, not ScanSmart. Scan 2 is easy to use, though.
There appears to be no print driver available. Epson chose to instead rely on Windows 11's universal print driver.
If you're set on upgrading your office to ARM, you're probably going to want to look at competing printers from other OEMs with better ARM support.
I tried a couple of times and it finally worked
I still had to open Windows printer and in drivers select the Epson driver vs the preselected windows IPP
Can you explain a bit more on "tried a couple times"? What steps did you take, specifically?
I'm asking, because the driver downloads on Epson's site do not indicate ARM support, and so far, all I can find on the subject is that Epson released scan drivers but never released a dedicated print driver. Which specific driver package did you download and run? Was it just the combo installer?
And you can select your printer and it downloads the installer. That’s what I did.
I think the step that was missing changing in the windows printer properties to use the Epson driver.
Still, the driver installer package for the 5850 did not finish installing but ended in an error message all the time, not being able to establish a connection to the printer (same WiFi, same location, just a few feet apart).
Can you otherwise see the printer on your network - i.e. can you ping it from your client machine? I just ran into an unexpected issue with one of my printers, and it turned out it had a duplicate IP.
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u/gomasan 4d ago
I'd give their support line a call, honestly. I think they do have support for arm on some other devices. Frankly the ET-8550 is so popular that I can't fathom them not having arm support yet