Using XP printer drivers from Vista

[SierraJim]

I am adding an HP desktop computer to my LAN, which has XP Home and Lanman
(Win98) systems on it. The existing computers can print to the HP g85 by
using the XP drivers (I am assuming, because it works). The g85 is only
partially supported as an All-in-One device on Vista according to MS
information, and HP does not have and will not provide Vista drivers for
attachment to the Vista system.

What options are available to me to pass printer data through the LAN to the
XP system with the g85 Officejet All-in-One. Note that I currently have
difficulty in seeing any of the LAN computers from the Vista system, I have
set the workgroup names to be the same, and disabled much of the Norton
Defender to try to get access across the network. I have enabled file and
printer sharing on all systems, and I can ping the XP home system (32 bit)
from the Vista system, but I can's see the XP system or shared files yet.

XP allows installation of printer drivers for remote systems. I found some
Vista 64 bit drivers on the HP web site, but they will not install on XP, and
how can I install them on an XP system? Do I need 64 bit vista drivers? Can
I use 32 bit Vista drivers (If they exist)? Or is there a way to pass the
printer output from Vista to XP for the remote printer?

Any help or suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[Malke]

I am adding an HP desktop computer to my LAN, which has XP Home and Lanman
(Win98) systems on it. The existing computers can print to the HP g85 by
using the XP drivers (I am assuming, because it works). The g85 is only
partially supported as an All-in-One device on Vista according to MS
information, and HP does not have and will not provide Vista drivers for
attachment to the Vista system.

What options are available to me to pass printer data through the LAN to
the
XP system with the g85 Officejet All-in-One. Note that I currently have
difficulty in seeing any of the LAN computers from the Vista system, I
have set the workgroup names to be the same, and disabled much of the
Norton
Defender to try to get access across the network. I have enabled file and
printer sharing on all systems, and I can ping the XP home system (32 bit)
from the Vista system, but I can's see the XP system or shared files yet.

XP allows installation of printer drivers for remote systems. I found
some Vista 64 bit drivers on the HP web site, but they will not install on
XP, and
how can I install them on an XP system? Do I need 64 bit vista drivers?
Can I use 32 bit Vista drivers (If they exist)? Or is there a way to pass
the printer output from Vista to XP for the remote printer?

You need to install Vista drivers on the Vista machine and they need to be
for the correct operating system; i.e., 32-bit drivers/32-bit OS and 64-bit
drivers/64-bit OS. Once you have installed the correct drivers on Vista,
you can add the printer. Of course, you need to have file/printer sharing
configured correctly. See below for general information about that.

*****
Excellent, thorough, yet easy to understand article about File/Printer
Sharing in Vista. Includes details about sharing printers as well as files
and folders:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx

For XP, start by running the Network Setup Wizard on all machines (see
caveat in Item A below).

Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally caused
by 1) a misconfigured firewall or overlooked firewall (including a stateful
firewall in a VPN); or 2) inadvertently running two firewalls such as the
built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party firewall; and/or 3) not having
identical user accounts and passwords on all Workgroup machines; 4) trying
to create shares where the operating system does not permit it.

A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network (LAN)
traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing File/Printer
Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network Setup Wizard on
XP will take care of this for those machines.The only "gotcha" is that this
will turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a
third-party firewall or have an antivirus/security program with its own
firewall component, then you're fine. With third-party firewalls, I
usually configure the LAN allowance with an IP range. Ex. would be
192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct
subnet. Refer to any third party security program's Help or user forums for
how to properly configure its firewall. Do not run more than one firewall.
DO NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS; CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY.

B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup. This
is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab.

C. Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do not
need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the passwords
assigned to each user account can be different; the accounts/passwords just
need to exist and match on all machines. DO NOT NEGLECT TO CREATE
PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY SIMPLE ONES. If you wish a machine to boot directly
to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for convenience, you
can do this. The instructions at this link work for both XP and Vista:

Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm

D. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab).

E. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users' home
directories or Program Files, but you can share folders inside those
directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared Documents folder.
See the first link above for details about Vista sharing.

F. After you have file sharing working (and have tested this by exchanging a
file between all machines), if you want to share a printer connected
locally to one of your computers, share it out from that machine. Then go
to the printer mftr.'s website and download the latest drivers for the
correct operating system(s). Install them on the target machine(s). The
printer should be seen during the installation routine. If it is not,
install the drivers and then use the Add Printer Wizard. In some instances,
certain printers need to be installed as Local printers but that is outside
of this response.
*****

Malke

 

[Alton B]

I am not sure if this is appropriate, but I have a similar problem. I have a
printer shared on my home nextwork running from an XP Pro machine. The Vista
Laptop sees the printer and can print to it. The XP printer interface shows
the incoming print job and then it disappears from the cue. It never truly
spools to the printer. I am assuming a printer driver issue. Is there a
resolution for this issue?