Add Printer Driver to Vista64

[frank43]

Hi,
Using Vista64 RTM. Have old Canon BJC-4550 (parallel) with a USB-Parallel
adapter cable. I know the adapter cable works (tried it on my Compaq TC1000
running XP32 SP2 which only has USB prots). Anyway, Vista64 automatically
recognizes the USB-Parallel adapter cable, so no problemo there. When I plug
the BJC-4550 onto the parallel end of the adapter cable, Vista64 recognizes
that the BJC-4550 is connected and looks for 64-bit drivers. Since Vista64
doesn't have that driver by default in its CAB files, Vista64 asks if I have
the install disk. The Canon BJC-4550 install disk only has the 32-bit driver,
which I understand won't work with Vista64. BUT, XP64 does have Canon
BJC-4550 64-bit drivers. A geek friend used WinRAR to expand the XP64 CAB
files to a CD. I located CNB4550.DLL and CNB4550.GPD. I tried pointing the
installer to the files on my C:\ drive but the installer says it can't find
the drivers.
Question: What did I do wrong? OR Did I copy the wrong 64-bit drivers? OR
how to I add them to the Vista CAB file? Any help on how to make this work
would be greatly appreciated. ALSO, do you think some of the other Canon
drivers in the Vista64 CAB (BJC-4400, 4650, 550, 6000, 6100, 6200, 6500,
7100, 8000) might work with the BJC-4550? THANKS

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Put the dll and gpd files in a folder and point the installer to the folder.

While Canon does have drivers for XP Pro x64 (on the Windows cd) as you
know, they do not have Vista x64 drivers. You should contact Canon support
by email by using the support link
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=SupportMailWSSSAct&fcategoryid=230&modelid=7983
and ask if the XP x64 drivers will work in Vista x64. I'm not optimistic
that they will.

 

[frank43]

Colin,
Thanks for the quick reply. Wasn't aware that XP64 drivers wouldn't work
with Vista64. Guess I thought Win 64-bit drivers would work with any 64-bit
Windows OS just like Win 32-bit drivers will work with any win32 OS.
Question: Do you think this might have anything to do with Vista64 requiring
signed drivers and that probably the XP64 driver isn't signed? I've heard
that there are ways to turn off the Vista64 signed driver requirement. What
do you think?
As regards Canon, they say MS wrote the driver, that's why they don't have
the download on their website and can't provide supoport.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

No, the signed driver requirement is in addition to the drivers needing to
be for Vista x64. Vista drivers are needed for Vista x86 as well but the
drivers do not have to be signed. Vista uses a different driver model than
XP x86 and x64.

Colin,
Thanks for the quick reply. Wasn't aware that XP64 drivers wouldn't work
with Vista64. Guess I thought Win 64-bit drivers would work with any
64-bit
Windows OS just like Win 32-bit drivers will work with any win32 OS.
Question: Do you think this might have anything to do with Vista64
requiring
signed drivers and that probably the XP64 driver isn't signed? I've heard
that there are ways to turn off the Vista64 signed driver requirement.
What
do you think?
As regards Canon, they say MS wrote the driver, that's why they don't have
the download on their website and can't provide supoport.

 

[frank43]

Colin,
Thanks, didn't realize 64bit drivers were unique to the Win OS version.
Guess I'll have to install VMWare (since MS says VirtualPC won't work here)
with an XP32 guest OS (mapped to at least 1 USB port) and "network" it to the
Vista64 host so I can use the Canon BJC-4550 32-bit driver.
Question: I understand I can put a BartPE minimal version of XP32 on a USB
drive, and "network" it to Vista64, but how would I connect the printer to
the USB? Does anyone make a USB with both male and female ports so I can plug
the printer cable directly into the female port on the USB?

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

It doesn't say that VPC won't work. It says that your operating system is
not supported. That is not the same thing. Supported means technical
assistance from Microsoft Product Support Services. VPC will run fine. You
click though the advisory message and continue the installation. As always
with non-supported software you are responsible for use of the software.

Colin,
Thanks, didn't realize 64bit drivers were unique to the Win OS version.
Guess I'll have to install VMWare (since MS says VirtualPC won't work
here)
with an XP32 guest OS (mapped to at least 1 USB port) and "network" it to
the
Vista64 host so I can use the Canon BJC-4550 32-bit driver.
Question: I understand I can put a BartPE minimal version of XP32 on a USB
drive, and "network" it to Vista64, but how would I connect the printer to
the USB? Does anyone make a USB with both male and female ports so I can
plug
the printer cable directly into the female port on the USB?

 

[frank43]

Colin,
I think I found a simpler hardware solution. Xmultiple makes the FlashPint
USB Drive that looks like a regular USB 2.0 Flash drive but also has a female
USB port on the back end. It supports loading Windows OSs, and also handles
pass-through data. I have emailed them to confirm that I can load a minimal
copy of Win XPPro32 plus the Canon BJC-4550 32-bit drivers plus a dedicated
print que file and set it up as a networked computer with a networked printer
attached. If everything works as planned, Vista64 should think it is part of
a computer network with a networked printer attached to the other computer.
What do you think?

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

I don't know anything about it.

Colin,
I think I found a simpler hardware solution. Xmultiple makes the FlashPint
USB Drive that looks like a regular USB 2.0 Flash drive but also has a
female
USB port on the back end. It supports loading Windows OSs, and also
handles
pass-through data. I have emailed them to confirm that I can load a
minimal
copy of Win XPPro32 plus the Canon BJC-4550 32-bit drivers plus a
dedicated
print que file and set it up as a networked computer with a networked
printer
attached. If everything works as planned, Vista64 should think it is part
of
a computer network with a networked printer attached to the other
computer.
What do you think?

 

[frank43]

Colin,
At least I still have 2 ways to make this work. Virtualization or hardware.
Thanks again.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

You're welcome.

Colin,
At least I still have 2 ways to make this work. Virtualization or
hardware.
Thanks again.

 

[soren]

I found a Vista 32bit driver on Canon down load support.
There´s 64bit drivers to.
s