Shared Printer Driver (x64 to x86)

I posted this in the Printing and Faxing newsgroup, but since it is a driver issue I thought it would be alright to post here as well.

Hello all. I would like to thank you in advance for any answers that are given in this thread. I am an MCSE and would consider myself pretty savy overall, but this particular problem (which exists in my home network) has me frustrated.

I have a PC running Vista Ultimate x64. Attached to that PC (via USB) is a HP Photosmart C3180. My wife's is running XP Professional x86. I am trying to allow her to print to the printer attached to my Vista x64 PC.

I install the printer properly and confirm it working on my Vista x64 PC. I then share it out under the name HPC3180. I disable password protected sharing and under the security settings of the printer I give "Anonymous Logon" permission to access the printer.

I know generally I would have to specify the x86 version of the driver under the "Additional Drivers" area in the properties of the printer; but in this case I do not know where to get the .INF files. I can download the drivers for the 32 bit version of XP from HP's site, but they aren't self extracting EXE files so I cannot get the INF file out of them to use.

I even tried setting it up (on XP x86 laptop) as a "Local Printer" with a "Local Port" that points the printer. I then tried to use a variety of older and generic drivers. At worst it refused to print entirely. At best I got some sort of seemingly random output from the printer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank You Again,

Richard R.

you might need to check the HP website...my understanding is that networking a HP printer in an environment that includes Vista 64 bit is not supported very well.

I could be wrong though so please check.

I have been digging around the HP website and called their customer support line (VERY unhelpful) and haven't found anything useful... that is why I turned here.

I figured after I poster you may have done that. Is there a HP support forum somewhere in cyberspace? I feel you will more likely fond help in that environment.

I don't believe they have a support forum. All I can see for support when I go to their site is a phone number to called (very unhelpful), the ability to chat live (very unhelpful), and the ability to submit a support ticket (i'd like to finish this while I am still young).

Their tech support is entirely incompetent. "Richard, can we verify that the printer is connected to the host machine..." Dude, you just had me print three test pages in a row. I actually had one guy tell me that I would need to buy a print server that HP conveniently sold.

I think I would be better off bashing my face against the keyboard in the hopes that some random key combination will solve my problem, rather than deal with HP customer support.

Don't feel bad RichardR I am having a similar problem getting my Epson R320 (hooked to a Vista x64 system and working AND seen and working by a Vista x86 machine) drivers to install on a XP Pro machine on my network, it is also looking for the INF file, I have the drivers with INF and it still won't load.

But lets get you fixed first

I am just going to have to break down and buy a print server.... or maybe just buy my wife a new laptop so we share a similar architecture.