Add printer with Vista 64 bit

[silverhalo]

I have a printer direct connect to a Vista 32 bit computer. Other Vista 32 bit machines had no problem seeing this printer since all machines are connect a router. Now I have a machine with Vista 64 bit that can't add this printer.

Again, all 32 and 64 bit machines are connecting to the same router. Please explain in simple technical term since I am not a computer savy person.

Thanks advance for your help.

Sivlerhalo

 

[JohnWill]

Top suspect here would be printer driver issues I would think. Does the Vista 64 machine see shared folders on the network?

 

[silverhalo]

No, I don't think it see anything. This is what I did to add the printer to the 64 bit machine:
Control panel ->printer -> add printer, the computer searching but never see any printer on the network. I did the same procedure and connect 32 bit machine to the printer.

Thanks for your reply.

 

[JohnWill]

If you simply go to the Network and Sharing Center, can you find other computers on the network and access shared files and folders on them? Do you see the printer in question in the browsing window?

 

[silverhalo]

Yes, I can see the printer on the share folder. I tried to connect to it and there is an indication of *.INF file is needed. I then clicked on search for the file but nothing is found.

Again, thanks for help so far.

silverhalo

 

[JohnWill]

This is looking like driver issues.

This is a procedure that may work for installing network printers when the normal install doesn't work properly.

1. Select: Control Panel, Printers, Add Printer
2. Choose Add Local Printer.
3. Uncheck the box marked :Automatically detect my PnP printer.
4. Click Next
5. Select Create a New Port and leave the default in the drop down selection as Local Port.
6. Click Next
7. Windows displays a small dialogue box asking a port name.
8. Key in: \\<computer_name>\<printer_name> See note below
9. Click OK
10. Windows will show a list of printer vendors and models. The list looks just like the Windows Add Hardware Dialog. Select your printer manufacturer and printer model from the list. If your specific printer isn't shown, you can click on Have Disk and browse to the folder where you have the unpacked drivers for your printer.

Note:

<computer_name> - Computer name from Control Panel, System status display.
<printer_name> - The actual name of the network printer viewed by browsing to the shared printer on the network.​