Making Windows 7 install a driver for an old printer  

I have now successfully configured most of a new laptop's functionality under Windows 7 (that came preinstalled).

However, I'm bogging down on getting my network printer to work with it. It's an HP 920C deskjet - pretty old computer.

The printer is hardwired to a machine running XP, and all the other computers (all XP) in my home can print to it over our wireless network.

The W7 laptop is FINDING the printer okay, but can't find drivers for it.

Installing the Product with the USB Cable and Using the Windows Update Driver or the Driver Located in the Windows 7 Operating System - HP Customer Care (United States - English) tells me that "I'm all set because Windows update has the drivers." But I can't figure out how to get those drivers onto my computer and make the printer work.

X86-all-4189_1228a7cf7b1aac21346b20cb6e21db409dde9e72 is a cabinet file I downloaded from Microsoft, that purports to have the 920C driver file(s) I need for Windows 7. But I don't know what I do with this file to make the O/S know about the drivers.

Any ideas?

Hi Kari,

Your solution worked perfectly. Followed the instructions to the letter, and all was well. I could print to the printer wirelessly; it found it on the network.

But just because I know that sometimes it's best to restart a computer and see if changes REALLY took, I did just that. And my printer is still there, as the default printer, but there are printer errors (or error) that prevents me from printing.

I have tried removing the printer then adding it back in. All goes okay, it tells me I've added the printer, but then the test page won't print.

The printer troubleshooter finds nothing wrong (except for "there's another item in the print queue" - well, duh!).

What might have happened between my successfully printing a test page wirelessly and then my failure to do so after restarting the computer? Other than, of course, the fact that I restarted the computer. Obviously I don't want to have to physically attach the printer to the computer every time I use it, then follow the steps Kari outlined so I can print wirelessly, each time I restart the computer.

The spooler was started automatically already. And bi-directional support was grayed out, and unchecked.

This is driving me nuts! I tried just deleting the port, and when I did, I got a message saying the requested resource was in use. Is there a way I could FORCE the deletion of the port?

I don't want to "roll back" the system. And maybe I could just try again plugging the printer in, then doing as I did before. But still, it was working, I restarted, and then it wasn't working.

I figured it out.

The first time that I ran the printer wirelessly, I was forced to log in remotely from the Windows 7 computer to the XP computer where the printer is plugged in. I must have forgotten to check the box saying "remember my credentials."

So after a restart, the problem was that the Windows 7 laptop was no longer logged into the XP printer host. Logging in again, and checking the "remember my credentials" box, appears to have solved the problem - after several restarts, and after several shut downs, then start agains.

Thanks!