Windows 7 And Printer Drivers

[hlewton]

I have a small home network with one printer hooked up directly to the router and a couple others hooked to different computers. I can print to any printer I want to if I’m on any of my XP machines because I was able to load the printer drivers on to each separate computer when installing them to work over my network. The only one I can print to with my Windows 7 machine is the printer that is hooked up to the router.

I would like to be able to print to at least one other printer with my Win 7 machine but when I try adding it using “add a printer” wizard I am stopped when it tries to find a driver and can’t. The driver shows up in the list of supported printers for Win 7 but since the printer is hooked to another machine I never get that far. Also the manufacturer of my printer does not have a driver download available for me to download and place in to a folder where I could direct the “add a printer” wizard to look for the driver.

So is there a way to find where this driver is stored on my machine and direct the printer installation wizard to it when it asks for the driver?

Thanks.

[Tarbo]

Gotta have/get the Windows 7 drivers (32 or 64-bit) for whatever printer concerned. If drivers are not available (possibly Vista drivers would work) for that printer and the OS you wish to associate it with, they are incompatible.

If you did get the drivers, the trick is to install the drivers locally (on the Win7 system) and then point the printing port to the XP-attached shared printer you want to print to. In other words instead of printing to port USB-1 or LPT: or whatever, you'd point the Win 7 printing port to \\XP System\shared printer.

The key though is getting Win 7 drivers for that printer.

[hlewton]

Gotta have/get the Windows 7 drivers (32 or 64-bit) for whatever printer concerned. If drivers are not available (possibly Vista drivers would work) for that printer and the OS you wish to associate it with, they are incompatible.
If you did get the drivers, the trick is to install the drivers locally (on the Win7 system) and then point the printing port to the XP-attached shared printer you want to print to. In other words instead of printing to port USB-1 or LPT: or whatever, you'd point the Win 7 printing port to \\XP System\shared printer.

The key though is getting Win 7 drivers for that printer.

Please, am I reading this worng or are you meaning compatible? I am a bit confused.

Yes the rest I know and that is why I was hoping I could point to the drivers that the "update drivers" button found because it did find a compatible driver for my printer. I just don't know what to look for as far as a name of the file is concerned or the folder to look for it in.

The printer company just answered my email saying there will be no driver made available for my printer for download other than the way Win 7 gets it. So I hope there is a way to point to where ever it is on my machine.

[Tarbo]

I believe that will only work for 32-bit. If you have 64-bit Windows 7 I think you are out of luck.

[hlewton]

OK thank you.

[hlewton]

Update and thank you very much. I installed a 64 bit Vista driver and my printer is now working. I sure appreciate the suggestion.

[Tarbo]

Great! See, Vista was good for something!

[hlewton]

LOL Yes and fortunately I never experienced it.

[JMess]

In addition to what Byron Tarbox stated, which is good information, here is a slightly different alternative.
Go to printer manufacturer web site, download and Install the printer driver on your Windows 7 machine. It will go to C drive usually such as C:\HP LaserJetXXX.
Add Printer, Local Printer, Create new port, Local Port and use UNC naming convention.
\\Computername\printername
For printer name use the one in Network on the Windows 7 machine. Click on the Windows XP computer you browsed to in Network that has the printer attached to it and use that specific printer name, not the name used on the Windows XP machine locally, and spelling counts.
Browse to the Folder of extracted printer files for the inf and it will install.
But the installation will stall out after about 5 minutes sometimes! Just force a close through the task manager and print a test page. Good to go!
Have a lot of experience with this one!

[hlewton]

In addition to what Byron Tarbox stated, which is good information, here is a slightly different alternative.
Go to printer manufacturer web site, download and Install the printer driver on your Windows 7 machine. It will go to C drive usually such as C:\HP LaserJetXXX.
Add Printer, Local Printer, Create new port, Local Port and use UNC naming convention.
\\Computername\printername
For printer name use the one in Network on the Windows 7 machine. Click on the Windows XP computer you browsed to in Network that has the printer attached to it and use that specific printer name, not the name used on the Windows XP machine locally, and spelling counts.
Browse to the Folder of extracted printer files for the inf and it will install.
But the installation will stall out after about 5 minutes sometimes! Just force a close through the task manager and print a test page. Good to go!
Have a lot of experience with this one!

Sorry but if I am understanding you correctly that is what I had originally tried but, as I believe I said somewhere in this thread, the printer manufacturer has no intention of making a driver available for my printer compatible with Windows 7 other than how ever Windows 7 itself obtains them. I guess this is because my printer is so old. That is why I had to try the Vista driver that I did download from the manufacturer's site which appears to be compatible with Win 7 and working well.

If I have misunderstood what you were telling me please clarify it.

Thank you.