I'm going to be migrating about 120 printers from two 2003 R2 32-bit servers to one 2008 R2 server. I've read through some other posts, white papers, blogs, etc. Looks like the way to go is export using the Print Manager MMC and then on the 2008 server use Print Manger to import that file. Right now we have very few Windows 7 drivers on the print server. On the new server I would like to have Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit drivers, when available. I'm guessing 2008 R2 will have many of the Windows 7 drivers that I need. In the paragraph below, which is from the TechNet article further down, it talks about the 64-bit drivers needing to be installed on the source computer, before the export is done. If that is the case, then it sounds like I need to download and install Windows 7 drivers on the source servers first. And that will then preclude the time savings of them already being on the 2008 server. Am I understanding this correctly? If I don't install the Windows 7 drivers on the 2003 server before I do the export, they won't be recreated on the 2008 server when I do the import? If you are migrating from the x86-based architecture of Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 to the x64-based architecture of Windows Server 2008 R2, you should install x64-based drivers on the source server before creating the backup file. The migration process copies all installed drivers from the source server to the destination server. It recreates the printer queues on the destination server if the printer settings file contains the x64-based drivers. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd379527%28WS.10%29.aspx

Hi, Thanks for the post. Yes, your understanding is correct. As your scenario is cross-architecture migration, we need to install x64-based drivers on the source server before creating the backup file, or the relevant printer will not be recreated as the required X64 printer driver cannot be found on the destination server. Thanks, MilesPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.