Using Windows Server 2003 32-bit print server with Windows 7 64-bit clients
I’ve seen this question come up on discussion forums and other support resources a lot since the release of Vista. Many organizations still use Windows Server 2003 to serve users print services. And the need to upgrade isn’t really behind the corner yet. I know, I feel the same. We still use a Windows Server 2003 R2 as a print server and it it 32-bit, not 64-bit.
Can a 32-bit server handle 64-bit drivers
Short answer, yes. The server uses it’s own 32-bit driver as a interpreter between the spooler and the printer but it can serve clients with the drivers they need. The server really doesn’t care if the drivers it serves to clients are 32 or 64 bit. It can store all of them on the filesystem.
How do I install the drivers?
I’ve been using Windows 7 RSAT(Remote Server Administration tools) to add the drivers to our print server. The important step is to upgrade your current 32-bit drivers. If the driver versions of the 32 and 64 bit differ the server wont recognize them as the same driver. So if you’re using old drivers on your server I’m sorry to say you’ll have to start by upgrading the 32-bit ones first. I suggest you download both the 32-bit and the 64-bit version of the driver when you’re out driver hunting. First upgrade the 32-bit drivers you want to add 64-bit drivers for. I did this directly on the print server and I removed any old versions of the driver. Next add the 64-bit driver. Adding drivers from RSAT is really simple so I won’t go trough it in any detail. Just open Print Manager
Right click drivers and select add driver, add your 64-bit driver. As you can see in the image booth Toshiba drivers have the same version number, the difference is only the Environment.
Group policy edits for Windows 7
Next we’re going to create a group policy to allow restricted users to install their drivers, and we don’t want UAC to disturb or scare them. Side note: if you’re thinking of disabling UAC take a look at a previous article here http://www.nixadmins.net/2009/12/04/why-uac-is-the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-windows/ .
Open your Group policy management console and create a new / or add these settings to an old policy. You’ll find the setting under Computer Configuration \ Policies \ Administrative templates \ Printers \ Point and Print Restrictions.
Set the policy to Enabled and set the Security prompts Do not show warning or elevation prompt.
Push the group policy setting to your clients, point to your printer and you’ll be able to install it as a normal user.
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“First upgrade the 32-bit drivers you want to add 64-bit drivers for”. Sure, but what if those drivers are ONLY available in Win7, and can’t be downloaded?
What do you mean by only available in Windows 7? What kind of printer do you have connected to the server?
A lot of older model HP printers, for which i can’t use the universal PCL6 driver (because i need printer specific features). The Win7 drivers are only available from Win7, not from HP site anymore. I guess installing the drivers once on the win7 client, and then using RSAT from that client to install it on the Windows 2003 server does the trick.