32-bit verses 64-bit printer drivers

My company network is using an older HP LaserJet 4100TN printer. This worked
for years by deploying the network driver from a 32-bit Windows print server
to 32-bit company workstations. We have recently upgraded some of the
workstations to Windows 7 64-bit (we were previously using all 32-bit
machines).

The 64-bit Windows 7 machines are not able to download and use the 32-bit
printer driver that is hosted on our Windows 32-bit printer server. We
attempted to upgrade to a Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit printer server. That
seems to work for the Windows 7 64-bit workstations, but not the 32-bit.

The HP manufacturer appears to offer a universal driver that supports both,
but this is not working for us so far:

See this link:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...5&mode=4&idx=1

We would like to deploy both the 32-bit and 64-bit printer drivers from one
server. Is there a solution for this? Is there a Microsoft White Paper that
is designed to address this issue that you can point me to?

Or does this require two machines to deploy the separate drivers?

Thank you for the help.

Hello John L.,

See here from another posting as 64/32bit driver assignment has changed within
Windows server 2008:

INSTALL additional drivers to 64 or 32bit systems.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1). The driver names must match. HP Color LaserJet 9500 PCL6 driver is not
the same driver as HP Color LaserJet 9500 PCL 6. HP has figured this out
but I do know that they will release a Universal driver for a device on x64
just to have support. It will work for the device but it's not the same driver
as the HP Color LaserJet 3800.

2) Install the cross platform drivers for the print server OS. I know you
are looking for 32bit drivers for XP but install the 32bit drivers for Server
2003 or Server 2008. Most vendors have written install infs for a specific
operating system and quite frankly when we change things how drivers are
installed in the OS, those older infs cannot be used on the new OS.

3) Read the prompt for media dialogs. The first thing that is required is
the vendor inf, the next is the path to ntprint.inf of the OS architecture,
if unidrv.dll or pscript5.dll are in the same path great, if not , that's
the next path. If the driver inf is working correctly, the next path is the
first path for the driver files. If the driver files are in a different
directory, you will need to specify this path.
If you extract the complete file set to the same location, you can work
around the multiple prompts.
--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1


This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm


> My company network is using an older HP LaserJet 4100TN printer. This
> worked for years by deploying the network driver from a 32-bit Windows
> print server to 32-bit company workstations. We have recently
> upgraded some of the workstations to Windows 7 64-bit (we were
> previously using all 32-bit machines).
>
> The 64-bit Windows 7 machines are not able to download and use the
> 32-bit printer driver that is hosted on our Windows 32-bit printer
> server. We attempted to upgrade to a Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit
> printer server. That seems to work for the Windows 7 64-bit
> workstations, but not the 32-bit.
>
> The HP manufacturer appears to offer a universal driver that supports
> both, but this is not working for us so far:
>
> See this link:
>
> http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...eDescription.j
> sp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=834 36&swItem=ja-41678-1
> 4&prodNameId=29122&swEnvOID=4024&swLang=8&taskId=1 35&mode=4&idx=1
>
> We would like to deploy both the 32-bit and 64-bit printer drivers
> from one server. Is there a solution for this? Is there a Microsoft
> White Paper that is designed to address this issue that you can point
> me to?
>
> Or does this require two machines to deploy the separate drivers?
>
> Thank you for the help.
>

It looks like that is for a different printer. I'm sorry if I am not being
clear. My question pertains to installing 32-bit and 64-bit drivers on the
same server (for deployment across a network that has a mixture of 32-bit and
64-bit client machines).

Is this something that Windows Server supports? Is there some precise
information on any special steps that need to be taken in order to implement
this? Is this something that is specific to the driver vendor? It appears
that the HP link that I provided says that the Universal driver should
support this (as a single driver actually). It is not working though. I get
an error that the driver is not correct when I try to add it to a 32-bit
machine. I'm not sure where to go from here.

Thank you for the help.

"Meinolf Weber [MVP-DS]" wrote:

> Hello John L.,
>
> See here from another posting as 64/32bit driver assignment has changed within
> Windows server 2008:
>
> INSTALL additional drivers to 64 or 32bit systems.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 1). The driver names must match. HP Color LaserJet 9500 PCL6 driver is not
> the same driver as HP Color LaserJet 9500 PCL 6. HP has figured this out
> but I do know that they will release a Universal driver for a device on x64
> just to have support. It will work for the device but it's not the same driver
> as the HP Color LaserJet 3800.
>
> 2) Install the cross platform drivers for the print server OS. I know you
> are looking for 32bit drivers for XP but install the 32bit drivers for Server
> 2003 or Server 2008. Most vendors have written install infs for a specific
> operating system and quite frankly when we change things how drivers are
> installed in the OS, those older infs cannot be used on the new OS.
>
> 3) Read the prompt for media dialogs. The first thing that is required is
> the vendor inf, the next is the path to ntprint.inf of the OS architecture,
> if unidrv.dll or pscript5.dll are in the same path great, if not , that's
> the next path. If the driver inf is working correctly, the next path is the
> first path for the driver files. If the driver files are in a different
> directory, you will need to specify this path.
> If you extract the complete file set to the same location, you can work
> around the multiple prompts.
> --
> Alan Morris
> Windows Printing Team
> Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
> http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1
>
>
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Best regards
>
> Meinolf Weber
> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
> no rights.
> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
> ** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
>
>
> > My company network is using an older HP LaserJet 4100TN printer. This
> > worked for years by deploying the network driver from a 32-bit Windows
> > print server to 32-bit company workstations. We have recently
> > upgraded some of the workstations to Windows 7 64-bit (we were
> > previously using all 32-bit machines).
> >
> > The 64-bit Windows 7 machines are not able to download and use the
> > 32-bit printer driver that is hosted on our Windows 32-bit printer
> > server. We attempted to upgrade to a Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit
> > printer server. That seems to work for the Windows 7 64-bit
> > workstations, but not the 32-bit.
> >
> > The HP manufacturer appears to offer a universal driver that supports
> > both, but this is not working for us so far:
> >
> > See this link:
> >
> > http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...eDescription.j
> > sp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=834 36&swItem=ja-41678-1
> > 4&prodNameId=29122&swEnvOID=4024&swLang=8&taskId=1 35&mode=4&idx=1
> >
> > We would like to deploy both the 32-bit and 64-bit printer drivers
> > from one server. Is there a solution for this? Is there a Microsoft
> > White Paper that is designed to address this issue that you can point
> > me to?
> >
> > Or does this require two machines to deploy the separate drivers?
> >
> > Thank you for the help.
> >
>
>
> .
>

Hello John L.,

The mentioned drivers see as an example. The driver names still have to be
the same.

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm


> It looks like that is for a different printer. I'm sorry if I am not
> being clear. My question pertains to installing 32-bit and 64-bit
> drivers on the same server (for deployment across a network that has a
> mixture of 32-bit and 64-bit client machines).
>
> Is this something that Windows Server supports? Is there some precise
> information on any special steps that need to be taken in order to
> implement this? Is this something that is specific to the driver
> vendor? It appears that the HP link that I provided says that the
> Universal driver should support this (as a single driver actually).
> It is not working though. I get an error that the driver is not
> correct when I try to add it to a 32-bit machine. I'm not sure where
> to go from here.
>
> Thank you for the help.
>
> "Meinolf Weber [MVP-DS]" wrote:
>
>> Hello John L.,
>>
>> See here from another posting as 64/32bit driver assignment has
>> changed within Windows server 2008:
>>
>> INSTALL additional drivers to 64 or 32bit systems.
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -----------
>> 1). The driver names must match. HP Color LaserJet 9500 PCL6 driver
>> is not
>> the same driver as HP Color LaserJet 9500 PCL 6. HP has figured this
>> out
>> but I do know that they will release a Universal driver for a device
>> on x64
>> just to have support. It will work for the device but it's not the
>> same driver
>> as the HP Color LaserJet 3800.
>> 2) Install the cross platform drivers for the print server OS. I know
>> you are looking for 32bit drivers for XP but install the 32bit
>> drivers for Server 2003 or Server 2008. Most vendors have written
>> install infs for a specific operating system and quite frankly when
>> we change things how drivers are installed in the OS, those older
>> infs cannot be used on the new OS.
>>
>> 3) Read the prompt for media dialogs. The first thing that is
>> required is
>> the vendor inf, the next is the path to ntprint.inf of the OS
>> architecture,
>> if unidrv.dll or pscript5.dll are in the same path great, if not ,
>> that's
>> the next path. If the driver inf is working correctly, the next path
>> is the
>> first path for the driver files. If the driver files are in a
>> different
>> directory, you will need to specify this path.
>> If you extract the complete file set to the same location, you can
>> work
>> around the multiple prompts.
>> --
>> Alan Morris
>> Windows Printing Team
>> Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
>> http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1
>> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
>> rights.
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ----------------------
>>
>> Best regards
>>
>> Meinolf Weber
>> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
>> confers
>> no rights.
>> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
>> ** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
>>> My company network is using an older HP LaserJet 4100TN printer.
>>> This worked for years by deploying the network driver from a 32-bit
>>> Windows print server to 32-bit company workstations. We have
>>> recently upgraded some of the workstations to Windows 7 64-bit (we
>>> were previously using all 32-bit machines).
>>>
>>> The 64-bit Windows 7 machines are not able to download and use the
>>> 32-bit printer driver that is hosted on our Windows 32-bit printer
>>> server. We attempted to upgrade to a Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit
>>> printer server. That seems to work for the Windows 7 64-bit
>>> workstations, but not the 32-bit.
>>>
>>> The HP manufacturer appears to offer a universal driver that
>>> supports both, but this is not working for us so far:
>>>
>>> See this link:
>>>
>>> http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...areDescription
>>> .j
>>> sp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=834 36&swItem=ja-41678
>>> -1 4&prodNameId=29122&swEnvOID=4024&swLang=8&taskId=1 35&mode=4&idx=1
>>>
>>> We would like to deploy both the 32-bit and 64-bit printer drivers
>>> from one server. Is there a solution for this? Is there a
>>> Microsoft White Paper that is designed to address this issue that
>>> you can point me to?
>>>
>>> Or does this require two machines to deploy the separate drivers?
>>>
>>> Thank you for the help.
>>>
>> .
>>

I'm confused with some of that post (especially parts 2 and 3). Would you
mind elaborating on those?

Also, for part 1, I understand the concept that the driver files must have
the same name in order for it to work. Based on that, I assume that these
files would have to be in different directories in order to have the same
name. If so, what are these directories? Are we talking about the actual
driver files or the info files in this case?

May I at least presume that I am able to deploy 32-bit and 64-bit drivers
from the same server? Or does this capability vary by manufacture?

I appreciate your help.

"Meinolf Weber [MVP-DS]" wrote:

> Hello John L.,
>
> The mentioned drivers see as an example. The driver names still have to be
> the same.
>
> Best regards
>
> Meinolf Weber
> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
> no rights.
> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
> ** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
>
>
> > It looks like that is for a different printer. I'm sorry if I am not
> > being clear. My question pertains to installing 32-bit and 64-bit
> > drivers on the same server (for deployment across a network that has a
> > mixture of 32-bit and 64-bit client machines).
> >
> > Is this something that Windows Server supports? Is there some precise
> > information on any special steps that need to be taken in order to
> > implement this? Is this something that is specific to the driver
> > vendor? It appears that the HP link that I provided says that the
> > Universal driver should support this (as a single driver actually).
> > It is not working though. I get an error that the driver is not
> > correct when I try to add it to a 32-bit machine. I'm not sure where
> > to go from here.
> >
> > Thank you for the help.
> >
> > "Meinolf Weber [MVP-DS]" wrote:
> >
> >> Hello John L.,
> >>
> >> See here from another posting as 64/32bit driver assignment has
> >> changed within Windows server 2008:
> >>
> >> INSTALL additional drivers to 64 or 32bit systems.
> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> -----------
> >> 1). The driver names must match. HP Color LaserJet 9500 PCL6 driver
> >> is not
> >> the same driver as HP Color LaserJet 9500 PCL 6. HP has figured this
> >> out
> >> but I do know that they will release a Universal driver for a device
> >> on x64
> >> just to have support. It will work for the device but it's not the
> >> same driver
> >> as the HP Color LaserJet 3800.
> >> 2) Install the cross platform drivers for the print server OS. I know
> >> you are looking for 32bit drivers for XP but install the 32bit
> >> drivers for Server 2003 or Server 2008. Most vendors have written
> >> install infs for a specific operating system and quite frankly when
> >> we change things how drivers are installed in the OS, those older
> >> infs cannot be used on the new OS.
> >>
> >> 3) Read the prompt for media dialogs. The first thing that is
> >> required is
> >> the vendor inf, the next is the path to ntprint.inf of the OS
> >> architecture,
> >> if unidrv.dll or pscript5.dll are in the same path great, if not ,
> >> that's
> >> the next path. If the driver inf is working correctly, the next path
> >> is the
> >> first path for the driver files. If the driver files are in a
> >> different
> >> directory, you will need to specify this path.
> >> If you extract the complete file set to the same location, you can
> >> work
> >> around the multiple prompts.
> >> --
> >> Alan Morris
> >> Windows Printing Team
> >> Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
> >> http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1
> >> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
> >> rights.
> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> ----------------------
> >>
> >> Best regards
> >>
> >> Meinolf Weber
> >> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
> >> confers
> >> no rights.
> >> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
> >> ** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
> >>> My company network is using an older HP LaserJet 4100TN printer.
> >>> This worked for years by deploying the network driver from a 32-bit
> >>> Windows print server to 32-bit company workstations. We have
> >>> recently upgraded some of the workstations to Windows 7 64-bit (we
> >>> were previously using all 32-bit machines).
> >>>
> >>> The 64-bit Windows 7 machines are not able to download and use the
> >>> 32-bit printer driver that is hosted on our Windows 32-bit printer
> >>> server. We attempted to upgrade to a Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit
> >>> printer server. That seems to work for the Windows 7 64-bit
> >>> workstations, but not the 32-bit.
> >>>
> >>> The HP manufacturer appears to offer a universal driver that
> >>> supports both, but this is not working for us so far:
> >>>
> >>> See this link:
> >>>
> >>> http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...areDescription
> >>> .j
> >>> sp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=834 36&swItem=ja-41678
> >>> -1 4&prodNameId=29122&swEnvOID=4024&swLang=8&taskId=1 35&mode=4&idx=1
> >>>
> >>> We would like to deploy both the 32-bit and 64-bit printer drivers
> >>> from one server. Is there a solution for this? Is there a
> >>> Microsoft White Paper that is designed to address this issue that
> >>> you can point me to?
> >>>
> >>> Or does this require two machines to deploy the separate drivers?
> >>>
> >>> Thank you for the help.
> >>>
> >> .
> >>
>
>
> .
>

Is there anyone that can help with this?

Not sure you're still following this post or not, but I'll try to help.

I have this working on my network. All x64 and x86 clients are connecting
to a single Server 2008 R2 print server.

First, download the drivers from the corresponding manufacturer site. In
this case, you could use the HP Universal print driver. Download both the
x64 and x86 drivers.
Expand the drivers into a folder accessible from your print server.

Open your Print Manager in Server 2008 R2. Do this by opening
printmanagement.msc or by adding the Print Management Snap-in into an MMC.
Expand Print Servers > servename (local) > Printers
In the right pane, right click and server and choose properties.
Make sure you are using the driver you downloaded by clicking the advanced
tab and adding the driver you downloaded.
Click the Sharing tab.
Click the Additional Drivers button at the bottom.
Check the x86 and click ok. It will ask you to browse to the correct
drivers. Just browse to the expanded x86 drivers you downloaded from HP.

Let me know if that helps.

"John L." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:B70DFBAF-7A75-4FAF-8FE3-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Is there anyone that can help with this?