Network printer help

[Guest]

Vista 64 will not accept additional drivers when setting up a network
printer. On my laptop I can install it using "local printer" but when I try
and install using "network printer" I get message not suitable driver. The
driver worked w/ XP32pro before I got Vista, now it does not work at all. I
check the box "x86" (for 32 bit, right?) and nothing.
Thanks

 

[Bruce Sanderson]

1. these kinds of issues are very printer driver specific - what make and
model of printer do you have?

2. It is not clear exactly what your situation is. Please clarify:
a. is the printer installed locally on the Vista 64 bit computer, or locally
on another computer running a 32 bit version of Windows?
b. what steps, on which computer are you doing to get the "x86" box (see for
example http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/AddDrivertoOldOS.htm - written for
XP, but the concept is the same with Vista)?

If the in-box (or "installed") printer driver names on the 32 bit and 64 bit
computers are identical, the driver will usually get installed automatically
on the client computer Note that the crucial part is that the names of the
Printer Drivers (not the printer make and model) that have to be exactly
identical (not just similar) for this to work.

If the driver names are not identical there is essentially no way to get the
driver to install as an "Additional Driver" either.

I've discovered that some of the printer driver names for in-box drivers in
Vista (32 and 64 bit) are not exactly the same as those in earlier Windows
versions. In this situation, the workaround described at
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/NetPrinterNoPP.htm has to be used.

 

[Guest]

Printer Epson 300 ( vista sees 300M )
Locally on Vista 64
Under properties go to share, go to Additional drivers.
Drivers are not the same for vista and xp but on laptop w/ xp installed the
driver for installing a network printer and installing a local printer are
the same. XP sees the shared printer attached to vista64. XP will not accept
the correct driver when loading drivers for the network attached printer. I
was hoping a work around would be to have additional drivers installed under
Vista so that the other computers in my house would be able to download them
from vista like the box under sharing says it would do.

 

[Guest]

By the way this worked perfect when printer was connected to XP 64bit and it
was accessed with XP 32bit

 

[Guest]

The link to your page on creating a network port worked perfect!!!!!! It
should be distributed in the Vista help.

thank you very much.

 

[Bruce Sanderson]

Good that you have your printer working again. Is this an Epson FX, Epson
LQ, Stylus, Photo Stylus or what? What's important with these kinds of
things is the entire Printer Driver Name (e.g. "Epson Stylus Photo R300
(M)"), not just some substring of it.

If the driver names (the entire character strings) are not identical,
attempting to install an "Additional Driver" will most likely be futile.

On Windows XP, the built-in drivers are all described in the file
%systemroot%\windows\inf\ntprint.inf (%systemroot% is usually c. If the
driver name on the two platforms are not identical, but you're pretty sure
they are for the same physical printer, you can copy the existing entry in
the ntprint.inf file into a new entry (line) and change the driver name (the
name in between the " marks at the left end of the entry) to match exactly
what is on the other platform. Save the revised ntprint.inf file, delete
the ntprint.pnf file then try connecting the printer again - this might
work. Unfortunately, the design in Vista is different; the ntprint.inf file
does not contain the printer driver definitions, so this workaround can't be
used in Vista.

One needs to install the "Additional Driver" from the computer that has it,
not the from the computer you want it on - see
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/AddDrivertoOldOS.htm. Although this says
"on older OS", the process works for "newer" OSs also - probably I should
revise this to say "different".

I don't know what the rational is for making some of the printer driver
names slightly different between XP and Vista; this difference certainly
creates some problems for network printing!

--
Bruce Sanderson MVP Printing
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders

It is perfectly useless to know the right answer to the wrong question.

 

[Guest]

This link solved my problem, to print from an XP to an Epson Stylus C60
connected to a Vista 64. THANKS Bruce!
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/NetPrinterNoPP.htm

 

[Guest]

Hey! I just installed my Epson Stylus CX3200 on Vista 64-bit and Networked to
it through XP 32-bit. Had to go through the process below as well. Saved my
life!

http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/NetPrinterNoPP.htm

Thanks for the link Bruce!!!!!!! LIFE SAVER!