HP Photosmart C7280 driver install fails with an error registering hpbmiapi.dll failed to register

Recently, my mom’s troublesome Brothers MFC-3360C All-In-One printer finally died. The printer was just pure evil. Dust would collect around the tray and make it impossible to remove the paper tray. The ink cartridge would run dry every couple of months even though no one printed anything because it continuously self-clean. I was not unhappy to see it go.

I replaced it with a HP Photosmart C7280 All-In-One. The printer looked solid and I hope that it will last longer than the Brothers, but our relationship soured quickly when I attempted to install the drivers. The driver failed with the following error:

Fatal error during Installation
Module C:\Windows\system32\hpbmiapi.dll failed to register. HRESULT -2147221164. Contact your support personnel.
Please go to http://www.hp.com/support for troubleshooting information about "Fatal Error" and "MSI.dot4wrp".

Since the CD install didn’t work, I downloaded the latest drivers from HP and they didn’t work. I tried to unzip the drivers and locate the hpbmiapi.dll and manually register the dll, but I ran out of disk space. I tried google and notice that many HP owners of a different printer had similar issues, but was resolved by a patch from HP.

I called HP customer support in hopes that they will have a patch for the C7280, but they were less than helpful.  I mentioned that various other people on the HP forum had the same issue, but they told me that no one has reported this issue. After trying a few things, they declared that the problem was Microsoft’s fault and that I should call up Microsoft since they will know what the problem is. They wouldn’t escalate the issue because it was a Microsoft problem. Right…

This post gave me a clue:

http://forums13.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?admit=109447627+1235967722575+28353475&threadId=1198595

The hpbmiapi.dll registration failed because of a dependency. Apparently hpbmiapi.dll is dependent on atl.dll (Active Template Library) to be registered. When it wasn’t, the install blew up when it failed to register hpbmiapi.dll. What the error message should have mentioned was the dependency.

To fix the problem, do the following:

1. Check if atl.dll exists in your system directory. It’s usually in C:\Windows\system32. If it exists, go to the next step. If it does not, you may be able to install it by downloading and installing the Visual C++ 6.0 runtime at:
   http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;259403
2. Once it’s there, you can register it by running the following command in a command window (you must be an admin of the system):

   regsvr32 C:\WINDOWS\system32\atl.dll
   

   
   

3. Now install the driver again. This time the install should work.

I am hoping that this article will help someone save a few hours of frustration. Sadly, I have had good luck with HP in the past. It’s clear that they are no longer the company they used to be.

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