When installing a new printer earlier, I first installed it in Windows Server 2008 R2 (which of course only exists in a x64 version), and tried to add the x86 (XP) driver since all the clients run XP.
After providing the “additional drivers”-wizard with the printer driver, it asked me to “Please provide path to Windows media (x86 processor)”, which was a bit difficult since I had no 32-bit media (I would have tried 2008 32bit or similar, if so).
Turns out, the solution is blindingly simple: Share the printer, and with an admin user (typically the same who installed the printer on the server), log on to an XP computer, and install the shared printer from there. It will ask you to provide the driver since the server has none. After installing, go into printer properties in XP, find Sharing, Additional drivers…, and check off “Windows XP/2000, x86”. The driver will be uploaded to the server.
Nice–you fixed it for me. Note that the answer may be slightly different than described, for different flavors of the OS / INF files. For example, on a domain-joined XP Pro SP3 x86 system, I actually had to choose (via Properties | Sharing | [Additional Drivers]) “Windows 2000 or XP”. Your text is slightly different, and mine lists the environment as “Intel” and “x64”, with “x86” nowhere to be found, which may mean this becomes an educated guess (much helped by you).
To assist other visitors, once you choose this, you must browse to the printer’s installation folder again and–assuming you have a universal driver / one with the correct INF section, and in my case the printer is shared in AD–the author of the article is correct: the drivers are uploaded to the server! Viola, fantastic (thank you).
Other articles mention other approaches, and I’ll list two here: 1) problems in the INF files, for example on TechNet a simple space in “PCL6” (“PCL 6”) solves the problem, and 2) sharing a folder from Vista for the server.
* http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverprint/thread/59c1d8e4-76f4-415a-9ec1-7046c9d417a2/
Again though: the TechNet article did NOT solve my problem–the article here at lejordet.com did–the additional link is only provided for further information.
Thank you for a clear description! They’re hard to find!
When you say:
” you must browse to the printer’s installation folder again”
I’m rather guessing that the process goes like this:
1) you are told that you need to install the driver on the x32 system (I have surely seen this!)
2) you perhaps download the x32 driver if necessary (on the x32 system of course).
3) you expand the compressed driver files if necessary.
4) you go into the expanded files and run “setup” or something of that sort.
And, when you are asked to install the driver and you follow that path of instructions, are you still installing the “shared” printer? That is, does the install still point to the share on the x64 system? Or are there steps to point it that way later on?
Later you do this:
5) go to the same folder again…..
Lars – What a hero!!!!
You were right it was blindingly simple, but also completely unintuative!
Thanks for the reminder, had to use this trick on another vendor’s driver. One thing new I just spotted, though – On some drivers (you may need to expand out the driver install to see) there is an i386 folder. You can point at that and get the install done. No need to find media, no need to go to a XP system and log in as a print admin. Thanks to your original tip though, as I would not have thought to look at the i386 folder for a source.
For example, the Lexmark universal drivers I’m installing now do have an i386 folder in them. I’m installing on a Win 2008 R2 server, have added the x64 driver on as the root driver, and now have selected add the x86 driver once shared. I simply point at the GDI folder to get the base of the driver, then when the prompt for the Windows media comes up, I dig a little deeper into the i386 folder and the installer completes. Point at the Win2008 share from an XP box, and off it goes!