Shared printer with different windows versions
Have 3 PCs: One with xp, one with vista and one with 7 Have connected a printer to the Windows 7 computer that is shared. Network and sharing files works fine otherwise. (xp and vista is 32 bit, and Windows 7 is 64bit) The problem is that I can't use printer from xp and vista machine. When I try to connect to the shared printer I get message that the driver can not be used. why it tries to load the driver from the Windows 7 computer when it has a driver locally that it has used before.? Previously, this printer was conected to xp machine and shared on home network so the vista machine also was able to print to it. Why can't they use that driver? How can I fix this? Thought I found the solution by selecting "Devices and Printers" right-click your printer and select printer properties, select "sharing" and then select "multiple drivers", checking for x86, and let it search the driver disc that came with the printer (canon iP1800 Inkjet series), But it could not find the file there. (also downloaded latest 32 bit driver for vista and xp from the canon, but it did not find it there either)
December 8th, 2009 5:52pm

When i conect the printer to the XP then it's no problem. Both the vista pc and the 7 pc can then print to the shared printer on xp pc.
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December 8th, 2009 10:38pm

I have the same issue. A printer (HP LaserJet 3030) is connected to (by USB) and shared on an XP machine. I have a Windows 7 machine that I am trying to add this shared printer to. When I try, I can see the shared printer on the XP machine. However, when I try to add it, it fails with a message that the driver cannot be found. I have connected the Windows 7 machine directly to the printer and loaded the driver and can print via USB from the Windows 7 machine. When I disconnect from the printer and try to connect over the network I still get the driver error (when the driver is already installed).
December 8th, 2009 10:55pm

Try this: On the windows 7 machine you start the "add new printer" wizard and "add a local printer", "new port" and choose "local port" , and then you write inn the local port lik this: \\name of the xp mashine\printer name When you choose your printer modell i guess that the windows mashine will tell you that it recommend to use the driver that is already instaled. This worked for me, but my problem is when the printer is conected to the windows 7 mashine. Then I have the same problem as you, but this i havn't resolved yet.
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December 9th, 2009 2:28am

Every machine using a printer must have a printer driver for that printer. It has to format the data into the format required by the printer. The machine hosting the shared printer cannot do this for you. (You would ned to actually copy the file to the other machine to print it that way). If the OS on the"new" machine is the same as (or similar to) the machine hosting the printer, the driver is automatically downloaded and off you go. If the machine hosting the printer does not have a driver for the "new" machine OS, this will fail. You will need to obtain and install a driver for the printer which works for this OS. This is not always possible. Some older printers simply do not have drivers which work in Win 7. Some have 32-bit drivers which work but no 64-bit drivers. The printer manufacturer might have a driver available for download. I never have much joy trying to find things on the HP website, but the Canon pixma series should not be a problem.Bill
December 9th, 2009 4:47am

Every machine using a printer must have a printer driver for that printer. It has to format the data into the format required by the printer. The machine hosting the shared printer cannot do this for you. (You would ned to actually copy the file to the other machine to print it that way). If the OS on the"new" machine is the same as (or similar to) the machine hosting the printer, the driver is automatically downloaded and off you go. If the machine hosting the printer does not have a driver for the "new" machine OS, this will fail. You will need to obtain and install a driver for the printer which works for this OS. This is not always possible. Some older printers simply do not have drivers which work in Win 7. Some have 32-bit drivers which work but no 64-bit drivers. The printer manufacturer might have a driver available for download. I never have much joy trying to find things on the HP website, but the Canon pixma series should not be a problem. Bill Yes but: I downloaded the right driver from canon. When windows is searching and looking for a INF file in the folder were i put the canon driver, windows can not find any driver of that format there. Another thing is that I can not understand why windows need a new driver for that printer bacause i have used the same printer before with my vista laptop , but then the printer was conected to the xp maschine.
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December 9th, 2009 7:33pm

Gran----ITHINKthat series of printers uses an exe to install the printer drivers did you run the exe
December 9th, 2009 8:57pm

Hi Granlibonden, I would like to suggest you uninstall the printer drivers on all the printers first. Then install the correct PIXMA iP1800 printer drivers for the different operating systems. Note: The third-party product discussed here is manufactured by a company that is independent of Microsoft. We make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product's performance or reliability. After that, you may refer to the following links for how to setup the home network and share the printer. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Networking-home-computers-running-different-versions-of-Windows http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Share-a-printer Good luck!Arthur Li - MSFT
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December 10th, 2009 6:01am

Hi Granlibonden, I would like to suggest you uninstall the printer drivers on all the printers first. Then install the correct PIXMA iP1800 printer drivers for the different operating systems. Note: The third-party product discussed here is manufactured by a company that is independent of Microsoft. We make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product's performance or reliability. After that, you may refer to the following links for how to setup the home network and share the printer. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Networking-home-computers-running-different-versions-of-Windows http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Share-a-printer Good luck! Arthur Li - MSFT Thanks Arthur Li. I will try this later. Just now i have conected the printer to the xp mashine, and both the vista and 7 machine are printing to the shared printer without any problems, and for now I will keep this arangement.
December 12th, 2009 2:06am

OK...I've tried all this but nothing works. I have an old Brother MFC-8220 printer connected to an XP machine and two other laptops on a network, one runs XP the other runs Windows 7. I cannot print from the Windows 7 machine. Brother has a driver for the 64 bit version of windows 7. I've downloaded the driver for the windows 7 machine but it doesn't work even after uninstalling and re-installing. Tried the 'add new printer' and \\name of xp machine\printer name. Any help would be great.
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August 30th, 2010 11:29pm

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