Click to get started.Setting up x86 print drivers on a 64bit Windows Server 2008 R2
6 comment(s)I recently ran into a problem with getting x86 drivers installed onto a Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard 64bit server. I was able to open the devices and printers and right click on the printer then go to properties. From there I could look at the sharing tab and click on the Additional Drivers... button on the bottom and see the x64 option checked with the Installed status as Yes. I went on to check the X86 option and browse to and then select the x86 drivers but I ran into a problem where Windows was looking for the ntprint.inf files. I was unable to find them in the default \\Windows\system32\DriverStore\FileRepository\ntptint.inf_xxxxx folder.
After much research I found the solution. It is copying the ntprint.inf_xxxxx folder from a Windows Vista or Windows 7 x86 machine to the server and then pointing the request to that copied folder. Once that was done I was able to install the x86 version of the drivers without a problem. Why Microsoft didn't see fit to install this folder into Windows Server 2008 64 bit when they still promote x86 workstations is a mystery to me. Also with the readings I found I couldn't tell if the printer manufacture making the drivers was still using an older way to setup/install the x86 version of the drivers since there were several articles I found that said slightly updated or newer drivers fixed the installation problem.
Another work around I found, but haven't tested is connecting to the print server from one of the x86 workstations by going to Start>Run> \\PrintServer (replacing it with the name of your print server) to display your printer shares. Click on and install the printer onto the local machine. Once it has installed select properties then go to the sharing and additional drivers. Check the box for the x86 drivers and let them install/pull files from the x86 workstation onto the print server.
Comments
Adding x86 Drivers to 2008 R2 Print Server
If you install the Print and Document services role on the server, it is much easier to install x86 drivers. It will give you a really good interface with a drivers expansion tab. You may then install x86 and x64 drivers on your system using the OEM supplied drivers. No need to install folders from workstations. Once you install the printer, just tell it to use the drivers on the server and it will have both x86 and x64 drivers so the network clients can connect without a problem. Try it out, let me know what you think...
That does not work at all!
I'm going crazy with W2K8. I have install HP printers on my 2K8R2 print server with both x86 and x64 drivers. When deploying printers to 2K8 SP2 x86 RDS servers, I've got an error message "cannot connect printers" although the driver is pre-installed or correctly downloaded and installed by the 2K8 x86 server. All other printers from other manufacturers work fine.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGHHH!!!!!!
Can you help me??
Regards
Second work around
I have been battling this same problem. I used the second work around and it worked perfectly. I was able to do this from a Win XP x86 machine without problems. Thank you.
How to add new 32bit driver
How to add new 32bit driver to a windows 2008 64bit printer server :
http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/doli/archive/2011/05/15/how-to-add-ne...
Do not always use the
Do not always use the administrative account to connect to a server, but I use an alternate user name that has limited administrative capacity. Besides, usually remotely on a terminal server that does not always work as a domain controller. While I am limited in the administrative account and / or while on the terminal server
Cannot find .cat file
I tried the method of installing from a workstation because I couldn't find ntprint.inf (I didn't realise it had to be extracted first) All went well until I got a dialog saying that the install couldn't find some ".cat" file. Research told me that apparently these files are provided by Microsoft when drivers are WHQL certified.
I clicked cancel, and the installation asked if I wanted to install anyway with the ".cat" file skipped. I opted to go ahead, but right at the end the installation failed. In desperation I went back to the server to try and install from there - I figured I would point it to my workstation's windows\inf folder when it asked for ntprint.inf.
Turns out I didn't need to! Windows asked me to confirm installation of an unsigned driver, and once I said yes it seemed to use the files I had already copied when trying to install from my workstation. Problem Solved.
Hope this makies sense and helps someone else with the same problem...