Printer driver question

[Boomyal]

Re: Printer driver question

Humm this is something...the driver package is it a zip file...if it is unzip it....if not double click the file....but before you do that go up to post up a couple and read Network set up...since during the install it says connect usb...well your not going to that right as the destructions say...read them and follow them looks like it should work ONLY use the Network destructions not the rest

dolluper, the 2100 printer is a parallel port printer not a USB printer. As for the driver, I am not sure which one you are speaking of. The Win7 universal 64 bit driver for the 2100, that I downloaded from HP came zipped. When I unzipped it, it was placed in it's own folder under C:. When I tell the printer installer to look in that folder, it still comes up saying that a suitable driver cannot be found.

This is why I have been trying to find where the, supposed, embedded Win7 HP2200 driver is located. I want to be able to point the print installer to that folder when a location of the driver is asked for.

 

[i386]

Re: Printer driver question

I'm assuming you don't have the Universal driver installed on the XP box. That's why it's saying it's not suitable. They have to match.

Go to www.hp.com, support and drivers. Search for LaserJet 2100. Choose the 2100tn which is what you have IIRC.

Now...

Get the HP Universal Print Driver for Windows XP PCL6

Install that on the XP Box. You can either replace the existing driver or install this as an additional driver. Share the printer with a name that will help you identify it from the Win7 Box. Example LJ2100UNIV. Make sure this is successfully installed.

Now download the Universal Driver for Win7 64 PCL6. Double-click the executable and note where it extracts the files to.


Here's how I connect to network printers... On your Windows 7 box. Start ->Run->\\family-computer<ENTER>

You should see the shared in the window that pops up. Right-click that printer and click "connect". When it asks you for the driver, point it to the folder you extracted the files to. Again, because the WinXP machine is using Universal PCL6 driver, your Win7 box will be looking for a Universal PCL6 driver (You did install the Universal PCL6 driver on the XP box right?).

That's about all there is to it. If instead you want to do the whole printer wizard thing, go for it, but in the end, you still need to point it to the folder where the drivers were extracted to.

 

[dolluper]

Re: Printer driver question

Yes I understand about the connection .it's not needed to install the drivers on Win 7 machine....In my post 37 is the destructions for a Network set up half way down the page..they are quite clear on what to do ....with drivers I save them to either My docs or desktop...if in My docs...my unzip program drops them unzipped on the desktop...So as i386 says get the drivers on the XP machine first....then turn on the xp and printer with your network cable {cat5} hooked up ...then the Win 7 machine with network cable hooked up and install the drivers on it the way the destructions say in post 37 Only using the Network set up...follow them because the usb is hooked up to XP machine and the Win 7 machine doesn't need to be hooked to the printer to set up

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Printer driver question

...follow them because the usb is hooked up to XP machine and the Win 7 machine doesn't need to be hooked to the printer to set up

No, no no! The printer is hooked up to the XP machine via a parallel port cable!!!

...and certain knowledge says that the 2100, to be operated by a windows 7 machine, needs to use the HP 2200 printer driver that supposedly comes embedded in Windows 7. I CAN'T FIND THAT DRIVER ON THE WINDOWS 7 HARDDRIVE and I cannot identify what specific HP 2200 driver that is, on the HP website.

 

[i386]

Re: Printer driver question

Yup, there are several LJ2200 and even LJ2100 drivers that come with Win7. I just saw them on my Win7 laptop. Those might work fine if you wanted to connect the printer directly to your Win7 computer but that isn't the case.


You have to match drivers when printing to a shared printer. The Universal PCL6, PCL5, or Postscript are the only drivers for the LJ2100 that are available to both XP and Win7. My recommendation was the PCL6. I would prefer not to use the Universal driver but that's all we have in this case.

I don't know how else to put it.

 

[dolluper]

Re: Printer driver question

Ok your using a serial big deal doesn't matter....as i386 says make sure you use the same type driver on both machines or fifty ....do your Xp drivers first...these other drivers your talking about aren't available for the Xp machine so your stuck with what is available at present time ....people right now are working on writing them ...so go with the flow for now...probably be done just before Windows 8 appears

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Printer driver question

Yup, there are several LJ2200 and even LJ2100 drivers that come with Win7. I just saw them on my Win7 laptop. Those might work fine if you wanted to connect the printer directly to your Win7 computer but that isn't the case.


You have to match drivers when printing to a shared printer. The Universal PCL6, PCL5, or Postscript are the only drivers for the LJ2100 that are available to both XP and Win7. My recommendation was the PCL6. I would prefer not to use the Universal driver but that's all we have in this case.

I don't know how else to put it.

Are you saying that I should download and install the 2100 pcl6 universal 64 bit driver on the the XP machine?...then direct XP to use it,....'cause that is the driver that I downloaded onto the Win 7 machine and the one it looks at and rejects on the win7 printer setup.

If I go to Printer Properties/sharing, on the XP unit, there is a button for add'l drivers. It talks about sharing printers with users running different operating systems.

If you click on the button, it brings up 6 vaguely described driver choices. One of them already shows installed. (Intel-Windows 2000 or XP)

Another choice shows "x64-Windows XP" (not installed). There is no other description to specifically define these drivers and there is no option to add any other drivers in this section.

It does appear that I could download and install the Win7 universal 64 bit driver, that I currently have on the win7 unit, thru the XP/2100 printer properties/advanced tab. There, a New Driver button is located that opens up an Add Printer Driver Wizard. That would probably allow me to Browse to find a newly downloaded driver.

 

[i386]

Re: Printer driver question

Are you saying that I should download and install the 2100 pcl6 universal 64 bit driver on the the XP machine?...then direct XP to use it,....'cause that is the driver that I downloaded onto the Win 7 machine and the one it looks at and rejects on the win7 printer setup.

If I go to Printer Properties/sharing, on the XP unit, there is a button for add'l drivers. It talks about sharing printers with users running different operating systems.

If you click on the button, it brings up 6 vaguely described driver choices. One of them already shows installed. (Intel-Windows 2000 or XP)

Another choice shows "x64-Windows XP" (not installed). There is no other description to specifically define these drivers and there is no option to add any other drivers in this section.

It does appear that I could download and install the Win7 universal 64 bit driver, that I currently have on the win7 unit, thru the XP/2100 printer properties/advanced tab. There, a New Driver button is located that opens up an Add Printer Driver Wizard. That would probably allow me to Browse to find a newly downloaded driver.

No.

You need the Universal PCL6 driver (For XP) on the XP box.
Then connect to the print share from the Win7 box. When it asks for the driver. Point it to the Universal PCL6 driver (For Win7).


The drivers have to match.

In the end you will have Family Computer printing to a LJ2100TN on LPT1: using the HP Universal PCL6 driver for Windows XP.

-and-

Your Win7 laptop will have a printer installed printing to \\family-computer\printer_name, using the HP Universal driver for Win7.



For example, say you have the LaserJet 2100 PCL5e driver installed on the XP box. When you connect to the print share from the Win7 computer you are going to need a LJ2100 PCL5e driver (made for Win7) that is the same version as the one on the WinXP box. Well guess what, there ain't one! You can't use just any ol' LJ2100 driver made for Win7. So you have to go find a driver that's common to each OS







The additional drivers feature will not apply in this case (I don't think) because Win7 was not available when XP came out. This feature is so clients can automatically download the correct driver from the computer (or server) that's sharing the printer.

 

[Outsider]

Re: Printer driver question

If no drivers were written for a given printer, for Windows 7, does that mean that Win 7 will not even be able to see that printer?

Yeah, pretty much. Not all printers have updated drivers for Win 7, nor do all printers work with 'generic' Microsoft drivers ...

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Printer driver question

After weeks of hair pulling, my wife's Win 7 laptop now see's the HP LaserJet 2100 serial printer, attached to it's XP host PC, on the wired network......but a functioning driver has not yet been applied that will let the Win 7 laptop use it.

 

[i386]

Re: Printer driver question

If no drivers were written for a given printer, for Windows 7, does that mean that Win 7 will not even be able to see that printer?

Yeah, pretty much. Not all printers have updated drivers for Win 7, nor do all printers work with 'generic' Microsoft drivers ...

Drivers are not required to "see" a device. Drivers are required to make a device work once it's already been "seen".