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How to install a printer to Vista when the maker doesn't supply drivers
This is probably a hypothetical question, because the expected order
of events in my computer setup probably won't give me an incentive to do this. But it's a question nevertheless. Please don't argue with me that even though I can do it, it's a waste of my time. As I said, it's a hypothetical question. I'm runing Vista, which is a lot like Win7. A friend gave me a laser color printer, a Brother MFC-6800 fwiw. The Brother site has drivers for XP, but no drivers for Vista. I've finally bumped into the big complaint I heard so much about, a shortage of drivers for Vista. I figured the Win7 drivers might work, but the Brother page says 7 has the drivers in it. "The built-in driver is already included with Windows® Operating System or is available through Windows® update." Does that mean I could install 7 on another computer, install the printer, go to Device Manager (or maybe it's the Printer properties) and display a list of the installed drivers, copy all of them to the appropriate directories in Vista, and then install the printer in Vista? To make this non-hypothetical: I have a win7 installation disk, which I presume has a lot of .cab files etc. Any chance I can somewhere get a list of the drivers needed, or maybe I can tell them by the use of "br" in their names, copy them all to Vista, and install the printer that way? |
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How to install a printer to Vista when the maker doesn't supplydrivers
On 01/08/2016 04:03 AM, Micky wrote:
This is probably a hypothetical question, because the expected order of events in my computer setup probably won't give me an incentive to do this. But it's a question nevertheless. Please don't argue with me that even though I can do it, it's a waste of my time. As I said, it's a hypothetical question. I'm runing Vista, which is a lot like Win7. A friend gave me a laser color printer, a Brother MFC-6800 fwiw. The Brother site has drivers for XP, but no drivers for Vista. I've finally bumped into the big complaint I heard so much about, a shortage of drivers for Vista. I figured the Win7 drivers might work, but the Brother page says 7 has the drivers in it. "The built-in driver is already included with Windows® Operating System or is available through Windows® update." I still do a lot of computer repair work and do sometimes have to use drivers from another version of Windows. They work fine but there are a few things you need to know: 1) You need to be aware that a 64 bit driver must be used with a 64bit OS and of course 32 bit driver for 32 bit OS 2) A driver that is a self-extracting executable may need to be run in the "compatibility" mode ...or...the files may need to be extracted first. |
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How to install a printer to Vista when the maker doesn't supplydrivers
On 1/8/2016 5:03 AM, Micky wrote:
This is probably a hypothetical question, because the expected order of events in my computer setup probably won't give me an incentive to do this. But it's a question nevertheless. Please don't argue with me that even though I can do it, it's a waste of my time. As I said, it's a hypothetical question. I'm runing Vista, which is a lot like Win7. A friend gave me a laser color printer, a Brother MFC-6800 fwiw. The Brother site has drivers for XP, but no drivers for Vista. I've finally bumped into the big complaint I heard so much about, a shortage of drivers for Vista. I figured the Win7 drivers might work, but the Brother page says 7 has the drivers in it. "The built-in driver is already included with Windows® Operating System or is available through Windows® update." Does that mean I could install 7 on another computer, install the printer, go to Device Manager (or maybe it's the Printer properties) and display a list of the installed drivers, copy all of them to the appropriate directories in Vista, and then install the printer in Vista? To make this non-hypothetical: I have a win7 installation disk, which I presume has a lot of .cab files etc. Any chance I can somewhere get a list of the drivers needed, or maybe I can tell them by the use of "br" in their names, copy them all to Vista, and install the printer that way? You ran into one of the reasons I stopped considering Brother printers. As I understand it the 6800 is a "windows Printer", and uses a Microsoft "universal driver". The driver has been changed several times since the 6800 was new. I'd have to say that getting it to work may be a bigger hassle than it's worth. But, you also need to know that a web search of Microsoft's driver library may be useful. |
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How to install a printer to Vista when the maker doesn't supply drivers
On Fri, 8 Jan 2016 05:38:09 -0500, Charlie wrote:
On 1/8/2016 5:03 AM, Micky wrote: This is probably a hypothetical question, because the expected order of events in my computer setup probably won't give me an incentive to do this. But it's a question nevertheless. Please don't argue with me that even though I can do it, it's a waste of my time. As I said, it's a hypothetical question. I'm runing Vista, which is a lot like Win7. A friend gave me a laser color printer, a Brother MFC-6800 fwiw. The Brother site has drivers for XP, but no drivers for Vista. I've finally bumped into the big complaint I heard so much about, a shortage of drivers for Vista. I figured the Win7 drivers might work, but the Brother page says 7 has the drivers in it. "The built-in driver is already included with Windows® Operating System or is available through Windows® update." Does that mean I could install 7 on another computer, install the printer, go to Device Manager (or maybe it's the Printer properties) and display a list of the installed drivers, copy all of them to the appropriate directories in Vista, and then install the printer in Vista? To make this non-hypothetical: I have a win7 installation disk, which I presume has a lot of .cab files etc. Any chance I can somewhere get a list of the drivers needed, or maybe I can tell them by the use of "br" in their names, copy them all to Vista, and install the printer that way? You ran into one of the reasons I stopped considering Brother printers. As I understand it the 6800 is a "windows Printer", and uses a Microsoft "universal driver". The driver has been changed several times since the 6800 was new. I'd have to say that getting it to work may be a bigger hassle than it's worth. So it might not even work in win7 or later then? Maybe that's why I got it for free. (I thought it was because she had a business and did high volume printing, and was having trouble finding more toner. I otoh print little, especially in color, and did find one place with more toner.) But, you also need to know that a web search of Microsoft's driver library may be useful. I will check that out. Downloading now. Thank you both. BTW, I forgot to say that I realize, if the printer really worked with the win7 drivers, Brother might just have provided them on their webpage, along with the XP drivers. Do you think the fact they didn't means they actually tried and the printer didn't work? Or they just figured, Let's move on. |
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How to install a printer to Vista when the maker doesn't supply drivers
From: "Micky"
This is probably a hypothetical question, because the expected order of events in my computer setup probably won't give me an incentive to do this. But it's a question nevertheless. Please don't argue with me that even though I can do it, it's a waste of my time. As I said, it's a hypothetical question. I'm runing Vista, which is a lot like Win7. A friend gave me a laser color printer, a Brother MFC-6800 fwiw. The Brother site has drivers for XP, but no drivers for Vista. I've finally bumped into the big complaint I heard so much about, a shortage of drivers for Vista. I figured the Win7 drivers might work, but the Brother page says 7 has the drivers in it. "The built-in driver is already included with Windows® Operating System or is available through Windows® update." Does that mean I could install 7 on another computer, install the printer, go to Device Manager (or maybe it's the Printer properties) and display a list of the installed drivers, copy all of them to the appropriate directories in Vista, and then install the printer in Vista? To make this non-hypothetical: I have a win7 installation disk, which I presume has a lot of .cab files etc. Any chance I can somewhere get a list of the drivers needed, or maybe I can tell them by the use of "br" in their names, copy them all to Vista, and install the printer that way? Philo has the way to go. It is often the installer, not the Printer Drivers, that is the issue. Putting the installer in Compatibility Mode will often be the key. Just create a ShortCut ( LNK ) to the SETUP.EXE and put it in Compatibility Mode for execution. Additionally I will use Universal Extractor to extract the Printer Drivers and then install the printer. When installing Print Drivers on a NT Print Share on Windows Server it doesn't care if what OS is related to the Print Drivers pushed to the Domain Participant. It only cares if they are 32bit or 64bit. It is bloated installers like HP AIO OTC Retail devices that present the most problem in that their software has IE and OS dependencies as well as being highly OS instrusive. -- Dave Multi-AV Scanning Tool - http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp |
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How to install a printer to Vista when the maker doesn't supply drivers
| BTW, I forgot to say that I realize, if the printer really worked with
| the win7 drivers, Brother might just have provided them on their | webpage, along with the XP drivers. Do you think the fact they | didn't means they actually tried and the printer didn't work? Or | they just figured, Let's move on. Microsoft has allegedly built in better generic support. I've run into the same thing with an HP printer, but I haven't yet had to find out whether the MS support actually works. (Even if it does, there's the question of scanner applets, printer proerties, etc. I doubt the Windows version will be as complete.) Either way, MS doesn't write 3rd-party drivers. In other words, what the Brother site is telling you is that they don't provide drivers for Win7 but that Win7 may be able to run it without a driver. (Like the HP site, they're being cagey about it; not entirely admitting that they simply don't support NT6.) So you can't copy some kind of Windows Brother MFC-6800 driver from Win7. But you *might* get the printer recognized on Win7. It's not really the fault of Brother or HP or any other company. They made a printer and provided Windows drivers. Then MS came out with a new version of Windows (Vista), which was a notable departure from previous versions. |
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How to install a printer to Vista when the maker doesn't supply drivers
On Fri, 8 Jan 2016 09:22:04 -0500, "Mayayana"
wrote: | BTW, I forgot to say that I realize, if the printer really worked with | the win7 drivers, Brother might just have provided them on their | webpage, along with the XP drivers. Do you think the fact they | didn't means they actually tried and the printer didn't work? Or | they just figured, Let's move on. Microsoft has allegedly built in better generic support. I've run into the same thing with an HP printer, but I haven't yet had to find out whether the MS support actually works. (Even if it does, there's the question of scanner applets, printer proerties, etc. I doubt the Windows version will be as complete.) Either way, MS doesn't write 3rd-party drivers. In other words, what the Brother site is telling you is that they don't provide drivers for Win7 but that Win7 may be able to run it without a driver. (Like the HP site, they're being cagey about it; not entirely admitting that they simply don't support NT6.) So you can't copy some kind of Windows Brother MFC-6800 driver from Win7. But you *might* get the printer recognized on Win7. So even once I'm using win7, the simple print functions might work, but the fax and scanning that it knows how to do in XP might well not. ??? Maybe I'd be better off looking for a new model Brother all-in-one that DOES have drivers for 7 and 8 and seeing if they work for this all-in-one. ??? It's not really the fault of Brother or HP or any other company. They made a printer and provided Windows drivers. Then MS came out with a new version of Windows (Vista), which was a notable departure from previous versions. |
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How to install a printer to Vista when the maker doesn't supply drivers
Micky wrote on 2016/01/08:
This is probably a hypothetical question, because the expected order of events in my computer setup probably won't give me an incentive to do this. But it's a question nevertheless. Please don't argue with me that even though I can do it, it's a waste of my time. As I said, it's a hypothetical question. I'm runing Vista, which is a lot like Win7. A friend gave me a laser color printer, a Brother MFC-6800 fwiw. The Brother site has drivers for XP, but no drivers for Vista. I've finally bumped into the big complaint I heard so much about, a shortage of drivers for Vista. I figured the Win7 drivers might work, but the Brother page says 7 has the drivers in it. "The built-in driver is already included with Windows® Operating System or is available through Windows® update." Does that mean I could install 7 on another computer, install the printer, go to Device Manager (or maybe it's the Printer properties) and display a list of the installed drivers, copy all of them to the appropriate directories in Vista, and then install the printer in Vista? To make this non-hypothetical: I have a win7 installation disk, which I presume has a lot of .cab files etc. Any chance I can somewhere get a list of the drivers needed, or maybe I can tell them by the use of "br" in their names, copy them all to Vista, and install the printer that way? The "Add Printer" wizard includes several Brother MFC models. Pick one with a similar feature set as yours. http://support.brother.com/g/b/faqen... 00002643_001 Yep, that's what they suggest, too. I have BITS and WU services disabled and only enable them when *I* want to get updates - and then review each one because Microsoft has turned some of them into adware for Win10 or want to install updates for software that is NOT installed and will NOT be used. The Windows Update in the printer wizard uses WU; however, I'm pretty sure I have previously used this method to enlarge the list of embedded drivers in Windows 7. If that doesn't find a printer driver for your model then you use one listed that is close to your model. Alas, Brother and almost all (perhaps all) never list the family of printers supported by a particular driver and version. http://support.brother.com/g/b/faqen... 00002644_000 That lists the MFC-6800 at the bottom of the article. They expect you to get their driver that they gave Microsoft. Microsoft doesn't write those drivers. They get them from the hardware vendors who want their drivers available within a Windows distribution or via the WU source. You sure the Windows XP printer driver won't work? |
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How to install a printer to Vista when the maker doesn't supply drivers
You might find something useful he
http://support.brother.com/g/b/oslis...rod=mfc6800_us -- Bill Brought to you from Anchorage, Alaska "Micky" wrote in message ... This is probably a hypothetical question, because the expected order of events in my computer setup probably won't give me an incentive to do this. But it's a question nevertheless. Please don't argue with me that even though I can do it, it's a waste of my time. As I said, it's a hypothetical question. I'm runing Vista, which is a lot like Win7. A friend gave me a laser color printer, a Brother MFC-6800 fwiw. The Brother site has drivers for XP, but no drivers for Vista. I've finally bumped into the big complaint I heard so much about, a shortage of drivers for Vista. |
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How to install a printer to Vista when the maker doesn't supplydrivers
On 1/8/2016 11:00 AM, Micky wrote:
On Fri, 8 Jan 2016 09:22:04 -0500, "Mayayana" wrote: | BTW, I forgot to say that I realize, if the printer really worked with | the win7 drivers, Brother might just have provided them on their | webpage, along with the XP drivers. Do you think the fact they | didn't means they actually tried and the printer didn't work? Or | they just figured, Let's move on. Microsoft has allegedly built in better generic support. I've run into the same thing with an HP printer, but I haven't yet had to find out whether the MS support actually works. (Even if it does, there's the question of scanner applets, printer proerties, etc. I doubt the Windows version will be as complete.) Either way, MS doesn't write 3rd-party drivers. In other words, what the Brother site is telling you is that they don't provide drivers for Win7 but that Win7 may be able to run it without a driver. (Like the HP site, they're being cagey about it; not entirely admitting that they simply don't support NT6.) So you can't copy some kind of Windows Brother MFC-6800 driver from Win7. But you *might* get the printer recognized on Win7. So even once I'm using win7, the simple print functions might work, but the fax and scanning that it knows how to do in XP might well not. ??? Maybe I'd be better off looking for a new model Brother all-in-one that DOES have drivers for 7 and 8 and seeing if they work for this all-in-one. ??? It's not really the fault of Brother or HP or any other company. They made a printer and provided Windows drivers. Then MS came out with a new version of Windows (Vista), which was a notable departure from previous versions. I've run into this with the Brother MFC-465CN. I bought a Win8.1 machine and Brother didn't bother to update their driver for that OS. They do say on their support site that Win8 has a driver built in but not all of the functions will be supported, and indeed the printer will print and scan but not fax, and there is no Brother Control Panel available for it. But I will disagree with Mayayana - that it is Brothers fault for not supporting a perfectly good machine; it shouldn't be that difficult to write the software for these machines to keep all their functionality when a new operating system comes out, even if it takes them a while to do it. John. -- This is not an email so the anti-virus software hasn't wasted your time telling you that this note was checked for viruses, because this is USENET for crying out loud |