Is it possible to add xp printer drivers without any xp machines on to 2008r2 server

[edutech4schools]

I have a small primary school. All local machines are windows 7 but they have 2 xp laptops that are currently at the teachers home. We have just got a new printer and I do not work on the same day as the 2 staff members who will be bringing in the xp machines soon.

 

I normally connect to the shared printer from an xp machine and install the xp print drivers on to the server. Is it possible to put the drivers straight in to the 2008r2 server without having an xp client?

[3s-gtech]

Yup, using the Print Management snap-in on the server. As long as the drivers are downloaded, you just add them to the list (you'll need both the 32 and 64 bit ones in identical revisions if you have both architectures).

[edutech4schools]

Are xp 32bit drivers the same as 7 32bit drivers?

[SYNACK]

Are xp 32bit drivers the same as 7 32bit drivers?

 

They should be, just use the 7 ones, depends on the driver though. The only one I have encountered that did not work was some dirty Brother 'printers' - they were junk and we got rid of them.

 

Some of the drivers will even happily add right in the Print Manager MMC on the server itself but others will require using the print manager mmc snapin on a 32 bit windows 7 machine to install them to the server as the manufacturers are too lazy to include all the needed system files (Ricoh). Stuff like the HP UPD install flawlessly right on the server and work through all versions of Windows XP - 8.