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Sorry for delay in replying.<br />
This sounds great but yuo can't actually add the different drivers to the respective machines. WIndows won't let me add a 64 bit driver to a 32 bit machine and vice versa. So by using your technique, windows then tells me I can't add this river to the machine. So I don't quite see how to get around this. &nbsp;Any ideas?<br />
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James
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You can certainly add a 32 bit driver to a 64 bit machine using the steps describes beforehand. I haven't tried it vice versa. I think the problem would be that the 32bit print server wouldn't be able to process for the 64bit drivers. <br />
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I know this works so perhaps give it another shot. One thing to keep in mind is that the account you are adding the drivers with needs to be an administrative account on the server, and not just on the client machine. <br />
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Here is a link to Microsoft's white page article going into greater detail on how this process works. The article is geared towards Server 2003 R2, but 2008 also supports the point and print setup.<br />
<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/pointandprint.mspx" rel="ugc nofollow">http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/pointandprint.mspx</a><br />
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Here are some articles that describe migration of printers from an existing 2003 server to a 2008 server. Perhaps this may work better for you if you already have a printer server configured and running. <br />
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<a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938923" rel="ugc">http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938923</a><br />
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<a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc722360.aspx" rel="ugc">http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc722360.aspx</a>
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Im going to give it another shot. I have read a number of articles on this now and it seems you have to start the process of adding a network printer from the print server to the 32 bit machine, then, when it says there are no dirvers, to add the drivers which must be the exact equivalent of the 64bit version but in 32bit, to comlete the installation on teh 32bit machine. Then windows is supposed to upload teh drivers to the 64 bit server.<br />
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I have seen various posts on this and will try again tomorrow. I have fully tested all the printer drivers and have botht he 32 bit and 64 bit equivalents. I just have always got the message saying that the driver won't work on the arhchitecture whichever way I try it and its so annoying. &nbsp;I'll review the articles you suggested too. I just don't see why MS have to make ti so damn hard. I know no-one who has yet actually made it work properly and had endless talks with HP on this and tehy seem to have no clue. In fact they hardly even understand the concept of printer sharing. We have 5 HP printers adn one Epson and all work fine if I first install the printers directly on teh 32 bit machine. I can then delete them and then add them as network shares which works fine once the drivers have been installed.<br />
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Just not the way it should be and takes along time to do 6 printers on 50 machines!! Hopefully I can get it working tomorrow.<br />
Will post back then
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If you get the drivers sorted out you could also look into rolling out the printer installs using the group policy which would also save you time from having to go around to all 50 machines and install the printers. Good luck. Keep us posted on how you are coming along.
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Finally Got There.<br />
Thanks for your help<br />
The key is this<br />
1. You have to install the drivers from the machines with the correct architecture - as you noted. i.e. use the \\servershare to access the printers and faxes from the 32 bit machine and install the drivers that way as you cannot just load them into the additional drivers part of the sharing tab on the 64 bit machine from the 64bit machine.<br />
2. The caveat is that you have to install the drivers first on the 32 bit machine. i.e. &nbsp;install them for use by adding the shared printer to the 32 bit machine. When it can't find the drivers, install them in the usual way so the printer will then work if connected directly to the 32 bit machine. The share will now work but only on that machine. Any machine without the drivers will still have a problem as the 32 bit drivers are still not loaded on the 64 bit machine.<br />
3. Then use the \\servershare to add the drivers to the sharing tab on the 64 bit machine. This time it will work as they are already installed on the 32 bit machine. Its a weird and illogical way to do it. You have to install them as if they were not installed already i.e. follow the install instructions and navigate to the drivers on a disk somewhere . (its like installing them twice from the 32 bit machine, one on the 32 bit machine directly and once to the sharing tab of the 64 bit machine but from the 32 bit machine) The difference, is that this time they will install and the 32 bit architecture checkbox will be checked on the 64 bit machine and from this point on, when you share the printer on other 32 bit machines, the drivers will be pulled off the server
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Thanks. Got me on the right track
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Nicely done! Good luck rolling it out to the rest of the network. :)
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We have a Win 2008 Server and wish to use it as a Print Server. In the office, we have around 50 users running mianly XP althoug there are some Vista users and no, doubt, soon to be some Win 7 users. &nbsp;IN addition, some XP users are moving to 64 bit.<br />
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Unfortunately, most printer manufactureres have different drivers for x86 and x64 and also for XP/2003 and Vista/2008. FOr some extraordinary reason, Microsoft have only included the ability to add 32bit, 64bit and Itanium drivers to the installed printers on the print server, obvioulsy having never anticipated teh fact that they would then require multiple different drivers to be written for their range orf current in use operating systems!<br />
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Can anyone suggest a way that I can support Win XP and Vista x86 and x64 bit drivers to a print server so that Group Policy or a simple login script can add printers to client machines without having to manually install each one. In Win 2000 printer sharing was awesome. Now I find it virtually useless. So much for progress!!
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We have a Win 2008 Server and wish to use it as a Print Server. In the office, we have around 50 users running mianly XP althoug there are some Vista users and no, doubt, soon to be some Win 7 users.  IN addition, some XP users are moving to 64 bit.

Unfortunately, most printer manufactureres have different drivers for x86 and x64 and also for XP/2003 and Vista/2008. FOr some extraordinary reason, Microsoft have only included the ability to add 32bit, 64bit and Itanium drivers to the installed printers on the print server, obvioulsy having never anticipated teh fact that they would then require multiple different drivers to be written for their range orf current in use operating systems!

Can anyone suggest a way that I can support Win XP and Vista x86 and x64 bit drivers to a print server so that Group Policy or a simple login script can add printers to client machines without having to manually install each one. In Win 2000 printer sharing was awesome. Now I find it virtually useless. So much for progress!!

Win 2008 x64 as print server. How to add multiple printer drivers

This topic area includes legacy versions of Windows prior to Windows 2000: Windows 3/3.1, Windows 95 and Windows 98, plus any other Windows-related versions including Windows Mobile.

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Microsoft Windows XP is the sixth release of the NT series of operating systems, and was the first to be marketed in a variety of editions: XP Home and XP Professional, designed for business and power users. The advanced features in XP Professional are generally disabled in Home Edition, but are there and can be activated. There were two 64-bit editions, an embedded edition and a tablet edition.

Windows XP

Windows Vista is an operating system created by Microsoft as the successor to Windows XP. It was intended for PCs, workstations and laptops, and shares the same code base as its successor, Windows 7. New features included an updated graphical user interface (GUI) and visual style dubbed Aero, a new search component called Windows Search, redesigned networking, audio, print and display subsystems, and new multimedia tools. Vista aimed to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network, using peer-to-peer technology to simplify sharing files and media between computers and devices. Windows Vista included version 3.0 of the .NET Framework, allowing software developers to write applications without traditional Windows APIs.