Cross Platform Network Printing with Windows NT (100346)

This article was previously published under Q100346

A Windows NT print server must have Intel x86, MIPS, and Alpha drivers installed if machines from different hardware platforms will be using it. Printer drivers are platform specific.

For example, if you are running an x86 machine and printing to a MIPS print server with only MIPS printer drivers, Windows NT will request that you install an x86-based printer driver in order to complete the print job.

When a print job is issued from the client machine, a local printer driver will be used if available. If no local printer driver is available, the x86 driver from the print server will be used. The driver image will be copied in memory to the local machine, which will compose the journal file through GDI32.DLL. The journal file is then sent to the server spooler that manages the print job.

Installing Non-Native Drivers on a Windows NT Server

1. From the non-native (to the print server) machine, log on with an account that has administrative privileges on the print server.
2. Start Print Manager and choose Server Viewer.
3. Select the server you want to install drivers on.
4. Available printers will be displayed. For each printer you want to install non-native drivers, do the following:
   1. Select the target printer.
   2. Choose Printer Properties and OK.
      
      You will be prompted for the location of the printer drivers. The drivers can be on the local machine or the print server. They will be installed on the print server and will be available to anyone connected to the print server with the same hardware platform.