Windows Server 2003 R2 32bit Print Server supporting Vista 64 bit

[Guest]

I apologize if this question has been asked before but what is the trick to
support Vista 64 bit print drivers and queues from a "legacy" Windows Server
2003 R2 32bit print server?

Is there a “how-to†document from Microsoft?

I need to be able to allow 64bit Vista users to just double click a printer
on 2003 (32bit) and have the queue and driver seamless create/download just
like we do with XP 32bit.

Sound easy but I cannot get the drivers to upload to the 2003 print server
for Vista x64.

Any ideas?

 

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

Are you using the inbox x64 Vista drivers or vendor drivers?

When first selecting the driver, check x64, then point to the inf file with
the x64 drivers. Inbox and vendor drivers will need to also copy the x64
pscript5 or unidrv files to the server. These files are not normally
included with vendor drivers since they ship with the OS and you will be
prompted for the files during the driver install.

The easiest way to do this is add the drivers remotely to the Server 2003
machine using a Vista x64 client logged on with a user that has admin rights
on the print server.

Launch printmanagement.msc and add the print server to the management
snapin. Expand the server node and add the driver in the Drivers node.

the x64 driver name must match the x86 driver name. If you are using some
drivers from Server 2003, HP changed several of their driver names in Vista
so they don't match.

What driver are you using if not inbox?



--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Guest]

thank you Alan

I think this might work but I also think we will just go ahead and upgrade
our Print servers to 2003 R2 64bit. We run them in VMware so it is an easy
transition.

I guess now my new question is is there any issues having a 64bit print
server supporting mostly 32 bit clients?

 

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

The driver support has come a long way since Microsoft rolled out our first
x64 print server. Drivers were the main issue.


Printmig.exe does not recognize the x64 drivers. If you use this tool, the
printer information migrates but one has to install the x64 drivers on the
server and restart the spooler for the printers to show up.

x64 is a great print server platform. The server can handle a greater
client load and the jobs are processed quickly but I don't have any perf
data on this just experience.
--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

Does the 32 bit driver use the same name as the 64 bit version of the print
driver?

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

A Remote Procedure Call connection (RPC) is not going to work in this case
since the driver names do not match.

You have a couple quick options.

1) Install the x86 Vista driver for this device onto the print server and
install a new (or change the current queue to use the Vista driver but HP
does not recommend this) queue for the device. When the driver name
matches, the x64 Vista machine will install the local driver for the
connection.

2) Create a Local Port in the form \\printserver\printer where printer is
the share name (avoid using spaces in the share name ) on the x64 machine
and use this port for a Local Printer that uses the Vista x64 driver. This
basically just copies the formatted for printer data to the share as if you
had printed to file and copied the file to the print share.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.