"Unable to Find the INF Source File" Adding Print Drivers

• Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Server

SYMPTOMS

When you are adding additional driver support for Microsoft Windows NT 3.5 printer clients, you may receive the following error message:

Unable to find the .INF Source File. Check the /i switch on the Setup command line.

Unable to install "printer", Intel, Windows NT 3.5 or 3.51 driver. An unexpected error occurred.

CAUSE

The Printer.inf file is a compressed file on the Windows NT 3.5 CD-ROM.

RESOLUTION

Use either of the following methods:

Method 1

1. Copy the files from the I386 folder on the Windows NT 3.5 CD-ROM to a hard disk location (such as Winnt\Inf).



2. At a command prompt, switch to the folder containing the files you copied.



3. Expand the Printer.in_ file to Printer.inf. To expand the Printer.in_ file, type expand printer.in_ printer.inf.

Method 2

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

Windows 2000 can add printer drivers for other clients that connect to the shared printer. In addition, Windows 2000 has many drivers for Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0 Alpha, and Windows NT 4.0 Intel (x86) printers already on the Windows 2000 CD-ROM. If you need a driver that is not included on the CD-ROM, you must place the driver on a hard disk in a form that Windows 2000 can recognize when adding additional printers.

For more information about this process, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q154291 Installing Cross Platform Print Drivers in Windows NT 4.0

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbenv kberrmsg kbprint
Version : WINDOWS:2000
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb