Canon LBP 3000 64bit driver? Help please

I got this email today from Canon Australia:

Dear futa,

Thank you for your enquiry.
There has been a delay in the release of the drivers for the LBP3000 on Windows 7 64bit.
These drivers are still be tested to ensure that when they are released they will work correctly.

There is no ETA as to when these will be available.

I apologise for your inconvenience.


If you have further enquiries in regard to this issue, please contact Technical Support on 131383.

Regards

Theresa
Consumer Technical Support
Canon Australia Pty Ltd

This implies that the drivers are almost ready, if they are being 'tested' then that means they are in their final stages no?

Anyway, let's see what happens !

Merry Christmas all !

Received this yesterday after further enquiries. I don't intend to give up.

Dear Mr Thomas,

Thank you for your email regarding your Canon Laser Shot LBP3000 Laser Printer.

Be advised that we are of the expectation that the 64bit driver for the Windows 7 Operating System will be released at some stage in the first quarter of this year. In the meantime, can I ask you to periodically check the availability of Windows 7 drivers and software by navigating to the link below.

http://software.canon-europe.com/index.asp

What are The Canon RD people doing ?
Are they working on this problem ?
We hope they will responce ASAP ????.

Seriously, how long does it take to write a driver? My bloody printer is going to be a rusty heap before these guys get their shit together.

Canon - hurry up !

The odd thing about this is that if you go to the Windows 7 Compatibility site and search the 64bit section for Canon LBP3200, you find this info: Windows 7 Compatibility Canon Canon Laser Shot LBP3200 Laser Printer which tells you that the printer is supposed to install automatically without any additional software. Of course, we know this isn't true.

However, if you try finding the printer manually by going to the "Printers and Scanners" section of the site and then selecting Laser printers and 64bit, the whole Canon link just disappears - so, I'd just assumed that there aren't any Canon laser printers that have 64bit drivers... that is, until yesterday.

On Tuesday, I installed a new Win7 64bit PC for a client to act as their business's file server. While I was there, they brought in a Canon ImageClass 8180c (multifunction laser) and asked me to install it. I said I'll have a look for a driver, but I don't hold much hope. I tried just plugging it in - wouldn't install. Tried Windows Updates - no joy there. Went to Canon Australia site - just a 32 bit driver. Called Canon Australia - was told they don't know when a 64 bit driver will be released for it.
So I told them I'd have to come back on Friday (yesterday) to install 32bit Win 7 on the server.

Much to my chagrin, when I got there, my client told me that his girlfriend had been searching on the net and had managed to find a 64 bit driver for the 8180c on the US Canon website!!! I downloaded it and was worried at first worried when the readme file that came with the driver only mentioned Vista (no Win 7), but when I tried it on the 64bit Win 7 machine, it actually worked!!!!!

Naturally, I went to search for my LBP3200 on the US Canon website, but frustratingly, the model doesn't even seem to exist there. Either this model was never sold in the US, or it was sold under a different model name, but as yet, I haven't been able to find any info to confirm or deny it either way.

What gets me is that the US website has this driver, but Canon Australia doesn't even know about it. In my quick search on the US site, there seemed to be quite a few Win 7 64-bit drivers for other laser printers too. So what gives?

I've also been the way down the Canon support in Europe (I'm from Switzerland) and they told me the same as any of the previous poster, after escalating it to Development (apparently):

Sehr geehrter Herr xxxxxx,

vielen Dank für Ihre Anfrage. Nachstehend finden Sie die uns zur Verfügung stehenden Informationen. Wir hoffen, dass Ihnen diese weiterhelfen.

Gemäß aktueller Informationen der Entwicklungsabteilung befindet sich der Treiber noch in Entwicklung und wird, wenn keine gesonderten Komplikationen auftreten, noch im Laufe des ersten Quartals 2010 im Downloadbereich verfügbar sein.

Which tells as much as: "The driver is still in development and will be available by the first quarter of 2010, if there are no further complications."

EDIT: Yeah, by now it's March; the date's closing in...

You can download it here:

i-SENSYS LBP3000

Choose windows 7 -> english

2. Printer Driver (x64 Edition) (R1.13 Ver.3.10)

Canon CAPT Printer Driver
Kompatibilität:

Betriebssystem(e): Windows 2003, Windows 2008, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP


Sprache(n): Englisch

===================
Endlich 64 bit für Windows 7-64bit:

http://de.software.canon-europe.com/products/0010420.asp

windows 7 wählen -> english

thankx canon, you just saved your ass, after 1 year.

Yep, at long last Canon have supplied us with a 64 bit driver for the LBP 3000 laser printer. The driver works with XP, Vista and Windows 7 among other platforms, I have checked these out. Just download the driver pack from here Printer Driver (x64 Edition)= . Save the zip file to a new folder (named say Canon LBP 3000 64 Bit Driver). After saving it to this folder click run. When the files have been unpacked go to the folder you saved the file to and you will see a new folder with the unpacked files. Go to this folder and run the setup module, follow the instructions and reboot when asked. You should now find your LBP 3000 Printer listed under Devices and Printers etc.

Good luck and thank you at last Canon

Yay ! Thanks for that, I downloaded it and it works :)

And thanks Canon, my faith has been restored