Installing Win7 printer drivers on W2k3 Server

[Carson Dyle]

This may well be a server issue. I just don't where to begin.

I have a Windows Server 2003 file and print server on my home network. And I have an HP 4050 laser printer on the network that is shared through the W2k3 server. Previously, all PCs and laptops on my network had been running Windows XP and they could install a network printer and get their driver from the server. My Windows 7 Pro machine cannot, probably because there is no Win7 driver on the server.

How do I place the driver on the server, so that I can install the network printer on the Win7 machine?

* I have just a workgroup environment set up on the home network, no domain authentication. I'm logged in an admin on the Windows 7 machine.

(I'm guessing that there may be other ways to go about this, like maybe installing the driver directly onto the Windows 7 machine and then pointing at the shared printer on the server, but I'd just as soon get the driver onto the server so that setup is easier for future Win7 machines.)

 

[chev65]

This may well be a server issue. I just don't where to begin.

I have a Windows Server 2003 file and print server on my home network. And I have an HP 4050 laser printer on the network that is shared through the W2k3 server. Previously, all PCs and laptops on my network had been running Windows XP and they could install a network printer and get their driver from the server. My Windows 7 Pro machine cannot, probably because there is no Win7 driver on the server.

How do I place the driver on the server, so that I can install the network printer on the Win7 machine?

* I have just a workgroup environment set up on the home network, no domain authentication. I'm logged in an admin on the Windows 7 machine.

(I'm guessing that there may be other ways to go about this, like maybe installing the driver directly onto the Windows 7 machine and then pointing at the shared printer on the server, but I'd just as soon get the driver onto the server so that setup is easier for future Win7 machines.)

It's unlikely that server 03 will have a printer driver for Windows 7, you will definitely want to install the driver on the Windows 7 machine.

The problem is that with old printers it may be difficult to obtain Windows 7 drivers but that is your best bet.

 

[Layback Bear]

chev65 is much wiser on such things than I am but you might see if a Vista driver is available. Many times a Vista driver will work on a Windows 7 system.

 

[Alejandro85]

Try with the official downloads page:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...lassId=-1&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=25475

They have a driver specific for Win7, for both 32 and 64 bits OSs.

 

[Carson Dyle]

The question isn't about where to find a driver. It's about how to install it on the server so that it's readily available for Windows 7 clients when they install a network printer.

The procedure I ended up using was to install a local printer, using Windows Update to download the driver, connect it to a TCP/IP port (directly to the IP address of the printer). Then after it's installed, change the port to point to the shared network printer on the server.