Additional Print Drivers

[jguillory]

Iknow how to add additional print drivers on a Win2k server for Win9x clients but how do I change the actual drivers that it is handing out?

 

[ncvandy]

jguillory,
if you mean updating the drivers that you clients are using by "change the actual drivers that it is handing out", select properties on the printer, advanced tab, new driver button. After you load the new driver the client will download the new driver next time it connects to print. Jim

 

[jguillory]

Jim,

I know that changes the Win2000 driver but it will not load a Win9x driver at that tab. Isn't that for the current driver used on the server?

 

[Eagle37]

Hello,

This thread is over a year old, but appears still unanswered - now I have the same question. On our Windows 2000 print server, the Windows 98 printer driver for one of the printers is faulty, so I need to replace/upgrade this driver only. As jguillory pointed out, the facility is there to change the primary driver (in this case Windows 2000), but what about changing the additional drivers?

Any help appreciated,
Alistair

 

[Eagle37]

Alright!
I've found the answer for myself - with thanks to jmiller47 on

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/Win2000/Q_20303053.html

(as usual, discovered using Google)

Go to the "Printers" folder, drop-down menu: File > Server Properties > Drivers tab.
From here you can Add, Delete, Update or check Properties of any printer drivers.

Simple yet obscure - even the online "Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Documentation" > "To install new or updated printer drivers" gives only the same explanation as Jim did above.

However, warnings from my past few hours experience:
I have found it better to use the usual Sharing tab > Additional Drivers route for adding or re-installing drivers, otherwise they don't get "checked" in the printer's "Additional Drivers" list.
Also, you must use the standard Advanced tab > Update Driver route for updating the Windows 2000 driver (otherwise "file is in use" errors) - but this creates a "... (Copy 2)" of the original printer object, using the updated drivers, then deletes the original, losing the original preference settings (including previously installed "Additional Drivers&quot in the process. So you get to practice the routine again...
And messages requesting the Windows 2000 CD for .inf files seem to be a dummy - as long as I browsed to an acceptable driver elsewhere, it was happy (but it never learns to look for itself - no better than Windows 9x).

Hope this helps somebody else out there,
Alistair