HP DJ970Cse Network Printer & Windows 7  

I have a HP Deskjet 970 Cse (parallel) printer attached to a computer that is running XP Sp3 on my network. I want to be able to use the printer across the network with machines running Windows 7 64-bit. When I "Add a Printer" in Windows 7 it "sees" the printer but says that it can't communicate with it. The HP web site talks about a generic driver in Windows 7 that will work but gives no information on the name of the driver or where in Windows to find it.
The printer is parallel only and the Windows 7 computers don't have parallel ports, so I can't hook the printer directly up to the Windows 7 computers. I can't see spending $50 on a parallel/USB cord just for downloading a driver either.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kari,
I did exactly as you said and got the following results. Everything worked fine through step six of your instructions above. When I tried repeating the procedure but this time choosing "Add a Network Printer" I got a screen titled
"Searching for available printers..." with an entry in that windows that says "HP DJ970Cse on DELL8100" Address \\DELL8100\HP DJ970Cse. I highlighted this entry and clicked on "Next".
The next screen that popped up said
"Connecting to HP DJ 970Cse on DELL8100" followed shortly thereafter by another screen saying.
"No driver found" "Windows can't find a driver for hp deskjet 970c series on the network. To locate one manually click OK. When I click on OK another window opens asking me to enter the path to the INF file.
If I only knew what the name of the generic driver file was and WHERE on my machine it is located, I could just "Browse" to the correct file and install the driver. BUT what is the INF file name and where is it located?

BTW I used the "Snipping Tool" to capture pretty pictures of the screens I got, to make it easier on you to follow my ramblings but I couldn't figure out how to get them into this message. My kudos to you for knowing how to do that.

Please Help me figure this out. Thank you very much.

HEY!!! I think I just figured out how to get those pictures into the message. Here are the rest of them in order seen.

Kari,
I feel like such an IDIOT. The printer has been sitting where it is for so many years with a parallel cable attached that I didn't even remember that it had a USB port in the back. Let me tell you the steps I took to get it WORKING!!
1) First off, I did what you said and moved the printer into the room with the new Windows 7 machines and hooked it up with a D shaped USB cable that I had on a USB external HD (LUCKY to even have a cable). Imagine my surprise when Windows 7 said that it automatically installed device drivers for the printer. The printer then worked GREAT as a Local Printer hooked directly to the Windows 7 machine.
2) Next, I moved the printer back into the room with the XP SP3 computers and hooked it up with the parallel cable again (I wanted to save my only D shaped USB cable for the external HD).
3) Now I tried to install the printer as a Network Printer but ran into the same exact problem as before. The computer could "see" the printer on the network but said it couldn't find a driver for it.
4) I did several hours of research on the web and hit upon a solution that WORKED!
5) I selected "Add a Printer" from the Devices and Printers menu.
6) I selected "Add a LOCAL printer"
7) In the next menu I selected "Create a new port" and "Local port"
8) In the next menu where it asks "Enter a port name", I entered \\DELL8100\970Cse. ("DELL8100" is the name of the computer that shares the printer and "970Cse" is the name of the printer share) In my humble opinion the "Enter a port name" should be labeled "Enter a port PATH" instead!!!!!
9) Then I just kept hitting "Enter" until it finished.

Imagine my complete and total surprise when I selected "Print a Test page" and I could hear the old HP Deskjet 970 Cse printer come to life in the next room. I AM ELATED....
Your advice about hooking the printer directly to the new Windows 7 machine first in order to automatically download drivers worked GREAT. To be honest with you, I don't know whether or not the whole setting it up as a local printer through a new Local port would have worked or not if I hadn't followed your advice and gotten the drivers through Windows 7 directly.
In any case IT IS WORKING and I owe you a debt of gratitude. I also added to your reputation (I think) by clicking on the button. THANKS AGAIN VERY MUCH!

Kari,
I put my original post into this forum (Drivers) as well as the Networks & Sharing forum and the Hardware Devices forum. I did this because the problem really applies to all these subjects. Do you think I should copy the solution that WE came up with in those forums as well so people can find it easier or would that be considered "spamming" the forums or some other bad etiquette?