VHD and Printer Drivers

[Sxcd1]

I'm considering a new system with Windows 7 Pro 64. All my peripheral work in 64 bit except my color printer that only has 32 bit drivers for windows 7.

Can I run a VHD of Windows 7 32 bit (or WinXP) to allow seamless printing of documents/photos?

Do I need the Ultimate Version of Windows 7 for this?

Do I need to buy license for the additional Windows OS?

 

[osholt]

I will try and answer your questions to the best of my ability.

Q: Can I run a VHD of Windows 7 32 bit (or WinXP) to allow seamless printing of documents/photos?
A: You can run a VHD of XP 32 bit on your computer using Windows XP Mode (assuming it has the appropriate system requirements which I'm pretty sure it does because it can run 64 bit), I would not call it seamless but it's not difficult either.

Q: Do I need the Ultimate Version of Windows 7 for this?
A: No you don't require Ultimate to run Windows XP Mode. Windows XP Mode will run on Windows 7 Pro, Enterprise (which you can't buy as an individual) and Ultimate. Windows 7 Pro is the cheapest of the two that you can buy and is what I am currently running XP Mode on. It runs fine for me.

Qo I need to buy license for the additional Windows OS?
A: No you do not; once Windows 7 Pro/Ultimate is installed simply go to Download Windows XP Mode and follow the instructions.

Now I have a couple of questions.

What is the exact make and model of your printer?

What is your system spec? (If your system spec is not amazing ie <5GB RAM I would not recommend 64 bit.)

Hope this Helps.

Oli

 

[Sxcd1]

Q: Can I run a VHD of Windows 7 32 bit (or WinXP) to allow seamless printing of documents/photos?
A: You can run a VHD of XP 32 bit on your computer using Windows XP Mode (assuming it has the appropriate system requirements which I'm pretty sure it does because it can run 64 bit), I would not call it seamless but it's not difficult either.

So if I have a driver for my printer in XP and 32 bit Windows 7 I can use it despite not having 64 bit drivers?


Now I have a couple of questions.

What is the exact make and model of your printer? Epson Photo Stylus 960

What is your system spec? (If your system spec is not amazing ie <5GB RAM I would not recommend 64 bit.) Considering purchasing 6 GB RAM, GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R , Intel i7 920 or 930.

Thanks Oli

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
If you run a "Classical" VM such as standard XP using say Virtual Box or Vmware or even Virtual PC you can of course share the printer between your virtual machine and the host. (I'm not talking about XP mode but running a fully blown Virtual machine).

Vmware now implements "seamless" printing from a virtual machine -- but otherwise you can share printers between a 32 bit Virtual machine and a 64 bit Host by simply enabling networking.

In fact you can print to a WIRELESS printer from your virtual machine as well.

Search for Sharing printers in the forum -- I've posted on this topic a few times --no problems sharing printers between 64 and 32 bit machines even if the printer is attached to the 64 bit machine.

The advantage IMO of NOT using XPMODE is that XPMODE is rather slow and restrictive and it can't run on Windows 7 Home Premium. In addition you need to have the Virtualisation feature enabled.

If your machine is 64 bit and doesn't have the virtualisation enabled (still a few CPU's out there that don't have the feature) then XP mode is off the menu in any case.

You can always run a "Classical" virtual machine with vmware or Vbox without problems.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[osholt]

Well said jimbo45.

 

[Sxcd1]

jimbo

Thanks. I'll look into vmware.