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Win 7 64 bit, driver question


zlim

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Dell AIO model 942 does not supply Win 7 drivers. The site recommends using Vista driver. I have the directions printed out as per Dell's site of how to proceed.The only Vista driver available is for 32 bit.Can I install a Vista 32 bit driver for this printer on a Win 7 64 bit desktop computer?If it was my computer, I'd just try it and see what happened; unfortunately, it is not mine so I can't use the trial and error method of installation. :hysterical:

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Dell AIO model 942 does not supply Win 7 drivers. The site recommends using Vista driver. I have the directions printed out as per Dell's site of how to proceed.The only Vista driver available is for 32 bit.Can I install a Vista 32 bit driver for this printer on a Win 7 64 bit desktop computer?If it was my computer, I'd just try it and see what happened; unfortunately, it is not mine so I can't use the trial and error method of installation. :hysterical:
Does Win 7 64 bit have generic drivers for the printer?If so do they work.My HP deskjet worked out of the box with the default Win 7 drivers.Win 7 comes with an enormous array of drivers.This is one of the thing I like best about Win 7, when I installed on my Acer notebook with the printer and web cam attached,Win 7 installer setup almost all of my hardware with the appropriate drivers during setup.This included my Network Interface Card and my Wi-Fi adaptor.In fact the only drivers not installed were my camera and graphics card drivers.The first Windows Update fixed that.
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Sorry, but I think you're probably all out of luck here. :hysterical: As this Microsoft page says, "Device drivers designed for the 32-bit version of Windows don't work on computers running a 64-bit version of Windows."And while this Dell Support Page doesn't explicitly state that the AOI 940 series, "Does not support Windows 7 64-bit", it does conspicuously fail to list Windows 7 at all - while other printers in the same list either specifically list Windows 7 as being supported or list support for "Windows 7 (using the Windows Vista driver)". For another nail in the coffin, this Microsoft page shows the Dell Photo 942 A-I-O as Not compatible with both Windows 7 32-bit and Windows 7 64-bit.

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32-bit drivers do not work on 64-bit operating systems. That is a very old printer model and I doubt Windows 7 will have generic drivers for it. (Slim chance). Your friend should just bite the bullet and pick up a cheap $50 printer that's compatible with Win7.

Edited by Tushman
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32-bit drivers do not work on 64-bit operating systems. That is a very old printer model and I doubt Windows 7 will have generic drivers for it. (Slim chance). Your friend should just bite the bullet and pick up a cheap $50 printer that's compatible with Win7.
And not a Dell printer either.HP seems to have the driver market covered quite well, both the generic drivers in Win 7 both 32 and 64 bitand the proprietary drivers from HP's web site. Link below is to the drivers available for my 3 year old Deskjet D2345.http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwar...submit=Go%20%BBAs you can see Win 7 64 bit drivers are listed.The generic drivers installed by Win 7 work OK but the HP drivers include software to offer more functionality.Below some inexpensive HP printers sure to have 64 bit drivers available.http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList....me=HP%20Deskjet Edited by Frank Golden
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I would install a virtual machine with a 32-bit version of Windows and enable printer sharing from that OS. The host OS should see it on the network. VirtualBox or VMware Server are good, free options.

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I called her and told her that I suspected it would not work after searching yesterday. She is going to be buying another printer for that computer.She currently has an HP Laserjet 6P BUT that printer doesn't have a USB port. Win 7 does have the driver and I did install it last week. I set up an adapter to convert the 25 pins to 9 pins, then a gender changer (bought online) and hooked that onto a Belkin 9 pin to USB device she had. Win 7 would not use the Belkin USB gizmo. When I clicked on find a solution, it said something to the effect that there are no drivers, will be no drivers, this piece of gear will never be supported in Win 7 so go buy something else. That is the main reason why I was trying to get the Dell to work in place of the 6P.I hesitate to spend $30 to $45 for a 25 pin to USB printer cable because from my reading, some work and some don't. She also told me that the company that services the 6P told her the drum is going so she knew she might need to buy another printer in the near future.I also told her that whatever she buys, be sure that it says specifically it has Win 7 64 bit drivers.She may be able to use the Dell on another computer in the office. There are 7 and the other six currently run XP.

Edited by zlim
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It sounds like using the Dell printer on another office machine is the solution until it dies. At least she will continue to get use out of it.When I plugged my old Kodak EasyShare 5300 AiO printer into the Windows 7 machine, it was instantly recognized and Windows Update provided me with a link to the Kodak download page for the software for the printer.

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Frank Golden
It sounds like using the Dell printer on another office machine is the solution until it dies. At least she will continue to get use out of it.When I plugged my old Kodak EasyShare 5300 AiO printer into the Windows 7 machine, it was instantly recognized and Windows Update provided me with a link to the Kodak download page for the software for the printer.
To my mind that is one of the neat things about Win 7.On my Acer notebook a clean install of XP required me to download and save drivers for almost all the hardware on my machine to be installed manually after installing XP.This included drivers for my sound, video and network cards (Wi-Fi and ethernet).I couldn't even access the internet until I manually installed the network card drivers.With Win 7 my network cards were fully functional after setup and Windows Update provided me with drivers and software for both my ATi video card and my Logitech USB webcam.My HP printer even worked well out of the box with the generic drivers and a quick trip to HP web site provided me with theirfull software suite for my model printer. The only device needing my attention was my Texas Instruments builtin SD card reader\PCMCIA drivers.I had searched online beforehand and found the latest drivers for these devices and had them on hand.Of interest the SD card reader drivers from Acer would work but would only read standard cards not the high capacity HC cards.The newest drivers from TI would read all.The funny thing, when I installed Ubuntu Linux on this machine all hardware was detected and setup, including the SD card reader w/HC capability.Anyway my point is Win 7 is loaded with many more drivers than any previous Windows.The sheer size of the install DVD is testament to this. Edited by Frank Golden
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