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I've got a printer which only has 32-bit drivers, so it's installed on a 32-bit machine (XP). I need it to appear as a printer (with duplex control etc) on a 64-bit machine (Vista).

  • I can't just share it using Windows printer sharing because the 64-bit client requires drivers to connect to it.
  • There's no 64-bit driver for a similar printer that works (using the new port named \\server\printername).

I've tried the ghostscript approach but that doesn't seem to help with the duplex control etc.

Printeranywhere doesn't support 64-bit OS yet.

Is there another way to do this?

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5 Answers 5

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The problem you have is that to get duplexing and other features, you need to use the native features of the print driver. Things like ghostscript will get you the basic printing features, but to get more advanced features, you really need a proper driver for the printer.

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  • This is correct. Nothing is going to get you around the fact that there are not Vista 64-bit drivers for your printer. You are left only with the option to use "similar" print drivers that may be able to talk to your printer but you're likely to be missing model specific features.
    – Kevin Kuphal
    Jun 2, 2009 at 13:42
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Is it a PCL5 printer? If so, I've had success with the HP Universal PCL5 driver (on HP's website) even on non-HP printers.

HP driver

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  • It's a Canon LBP5100. No 64-bit Windows drivers, and the drivers for the models which have 64-bit support won't talk to the 5100.
    – marklam
    Jun 2, 2009 at 12:09
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    I've just put a link up to the driver - I'd try these HP drivers, they work with most PCL5 printers (which the Canon LBP5100 is).
    – Richard Gadsden
    Jun 2, 2009 at 15:01
  • According to Canon, the LBP5100 is CAPT not PCL. I couldn't connect to the shared printer using the x64 driver on the 64-bit machine. I tried installing the x86 HP PCL driver on the 32-bit machine so I could share it to the 64, but it said the printer wasn't a supported HP device.
    – marklam
    Jun 3, 2009 at 8:37
  • OK, that's not going to work then. Shame.
    – Richard Gadsden
    Jun 3, 2009 at 10:01
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I know this is an old question but I just figured out how to do it so I thought I'd post my method for connecting to and printing from Windows 7 64-bit to a 32-bit Windows print server (should be the same for 64-bit Vista):

  • ensure you have the proper printer driver installed on your Windows 7 box
  • goto printers and devices, add new printer
  • select local printer
  • use existing port (LPT1)
  • select proper print driver
  • click next throughout rest of process
  • name the printer how you'd like it to be displayed.
  • let it install...
  • select "do not share"
  • when finished, right click and select "Printer Properties"
  • goto ports tab, click "Add port..."
  • select "Local Port" and then click "New Port..."
  • type in the exact network address for the printer. ie: \printserver01\hplaserj
  • click OK, then click close
  • ensure the new port is selected and click Apply, then close
  • test printer. If it doesn't work than you may have an incorrect or incompatible print driver installed

Also, if you're trying to connect to HP printers I have found the HP Universal PCL6 driver to work remarkably well: download here

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Got the same problem with XP 64-bit and LBP-5000 printer. Contacted Canon and they just suggested the 5050 printer which apparently supports Vista x64. Really disappointed with Canon, this is not proper customer care, Today memory prices are ultra cheap so you really need a 64bit OS for your system to take advantage of the extra RAM.

Releasing any hardware without 64bit drivers is... how can I put it nicely... just plain dumb! Most manufacturers are trying to cater for their customers by releasing 64-bit drivers for their legacy hardware, and here we've got Canon, one of the leading peripheral manufacturers releasing new stuff, with only 32-bit support.

I mean, come on, producing the drivers is almost a no cost for them and if you check the net you'll see complaints everywhere. They are losing customers like no tomorrow because of this issue. I myself won't be buying anything from them again, unless they do something to satisfy their customers.

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  • We hooked the printer up to a 32-bit XP machine and followed the instructions here: stat.tamu.edu/~henrik/GSPSprinter/GSPSprinter.html to share the printer as PostScript. (It didn't get us the duplexing etc - we bought a Xerox which had 64-bit drivers.)
    – marklam
    Jul 1, 2009 at 15:09
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I bought a Canon LBP-3500 (we wanted A3 laser and options were limited) last week with the expectation that 64 bit drivers wouldn't be a problem given that 64 bit Windows has been around for so long. I was very rudely surprised. I also eventually succumbed to the GhostScript / Redmon method of sharing the printer.

Technically that did work, but unfortunately the speed of printing A3 drawings through GhostScript and RedMon over the network was so slow (several minutes before the printer on the client PC acknowledges that the file has been printer), we decided to uninstall 64 bit Vista and go back to 32 bit.

This is the 2nd time I've had problems with Canon over drive issues, the first was with the ip5200r, the r indicating a LAN connection...and there were always problems setting the LAN connection up. I don't think I'll buy Canon printers anymore.

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