Installing Non-Native Printer Drivers on a Print Server Fails

• Microsoft Windows NT workstation version 3.5
• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 3.5

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to install a printer driver for a platform other than that of the print server by the following standard procedure:

1. Select Properties from the Printer menu

2. Select Other... from the Driver list

3. Enter the path to the subdirectory on the Windows NT 3.5 CD-ROM for the preferred platform (eg: "F:\MIPS")

   Cannot find setup file f:\<platform>\printer.inf.

CAUSE

Print Manager cannot find the setup file PRINTER.INF because it is compressed on the CD-ROM as PRINTER.IN_.

NOTE: A compressed file has the same filename as its original file except that the last letter is replaced with an underscore.

WORKAROUND

The following steps use the example of installing MIPS printer drivers on an 80x86 print server. For other installations, replace "i386" and "w32x86" with the platform of your print server, and replace "MIPS" with the platform of the printer driver you wish to install. These steps also assume the CD-ROM disk drive is drive F:.

1. Create a directory on your hard disk, such as C:\DRIVERS\MIPS.

2. Decompress the PRINTER.IN_ file to the C:\DRIVERS\MIPS directory, by executing the command:

         F:\I386\EXPAND -R F:\MIPS\PRINTER.IN_ C:\DRIVERS\MIPS
   

3. Look in the %SYSTEMROOT%\SYSTEM32\SPOOL\DRIVERS\W32X86\1 directory to identify what files are necessary, and use EXPAND.EXE to decompress the appropriate files from F:\MIPS to C:\DRIVERS\MIPS. The following command is an example:

   EXPAND -R F:\MIPS\PSCRIPT.DL_ C:\DRIVERS\MIPS

4. Select Properties from the Printer menu

5. Select Other... from the Driver list

6. When prompted for a path to the setup files, enter:

         PATH C:\DRIVERS\MIPS
   

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 3.5. We are researching this problem and will post new information in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.