1. The HP supported answer:
(This is only a partial solution, unfortunately.)
a. You should still be able to print, normally.
b. If your printer is network-connected, then you can check ink levels via the printer's web interface. (If you use a USB cable, you'll have to use the printer's console, instead.)
c. If you only want to scan photos, and you don't need OCR'd document scanning, then you can download and install a free utility from HP called "HP Scan and Capture." It's pretty pathetic, and if you need OCR'd document scanning, you're out of luck. But it is sufficient for some people.
The main problem is very poor support for document scanning.