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I'm trying to install x64 printer drivers on a Windows 2003 R2 Standard x86 print server. I downloaded the amd64 folder locally to the server.

When I try to install the x64 bit print driver it asks for NTPrint.inf and it auto points to my cd drive E:\amd64. I hit Browse and browse to the location I extracted my amd64 folder to and find NTPrint.inf. I hit Ok to accept and then it says I need NTPrint.inf again. Again from the cd drive e:\amd64.

I've seen tricks of getting around this by changing the drive letter of the cd drive then mapping the folder to where your cd rom used to be, but that seems sloppy and dangerous. Is there a more professional/clean way of getting this to work?

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Its been a long time, but there's a registry key you need to change, but I don't recall where. A quick solution might be to fire up regedit and just search the whole regsitry for e:\amd64 – Mark Henderson♦ Jul 11 '11 at 22:45
@Mark Unfortunately I have nothing listed uner the registry for e:\amd64. I did a search for amd64 and it isn't showing anything related to that. – Nixphoe Jul 12 '11 at 7:34

2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

I had the reverse issue; 32 bit drivers on a 64 bit print server. This solution may or may not be applicable to your situation, but it's worth a shot:

From a 64 bit system (a desktop or something should be fine, same windows generation would be a good idea though), copy the directories at c:\windows\winsxs\amd64_ntprint.inf_* over to your 32 bit system (not into winsxs, though). The next time a driver install asks for ntprint.inf, point it to the copy in the copied directory.

This stopped the prompts permanently for me, but again, reverse situation; I'm curious to find out if this works!

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I like where you're headed with this. I've checked two of my servers that have 2003 x64 on them, both of them do not have the ntprint.inf folder (how do you get that to populate?). I did try this trick copying the folder from a 2008 x64 server, but that didn't work. Any follow up? – Nixphoe Jul 12 '11 at 7:26
Oh, gotcha.. 2003. I must've selectively read that part; unfortunately, I don't think this solution is applicable to pre-2008. – Shane Madden Jul 12 '11 at 14:03
up vote 0 down vote accepted

It looks like the best way to make this work and not ask for the amd64 folder is to set the printer through a x64 bit OS.

  1. Start > Run > \\servername
  2. At the top click View Remote Printers
  3. Right click on the printer you want to add the x64 bit driver to and go to Properties
  4. Sharing tab > Additional Drivers button
  5. Check the box for x64 > Ok > Point to the location of your x64 bit drivers
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