How to Use Your Old Printers in Vista

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20 Responses

  1. HP T65xi ForEver says:

    Kent, from comment #13, I wish I could grab you by the ears and kiss you on both cheeks! (I know, you’re probably glad I can’t!) Using the USB port worked! I had done this in the past using the Ancient Printer registry tweak for Vista Home (LOCAL MACHINE/Policies/SOftware/Windows NT/Printers/KMPrinters are blocked) asked by Craig McKay, but I recently had to restore my computer and that fix wasn’t working this time. But when I followed your steps, it worked! The printer wizard defaults to the LPT1 port, so I used the dropdown to select the USB option. I use the HP R65 driver, so the driver might not have to be the range you specify, but hey, who cares about that? Thank you!!!

  2. HelpEverHurtNever says:

    The referenced link to my earlier post… hope it gets published.

    You have to download the driver through Windows 7 add printer “windows update” option.

  3. HelpEverHurtNever says:

    For those of you who are using HP810C 810C or HP 810 C (printer / driver) a workaround might be to use HP Deskjet 812c.. I am yet to test this, but I read a note from another contributor that this works, elsewhere on the web. I uncertain if I can post a reference link to that contribution. I will post my results later.

  4. Anthony says:

    @Angus – What error message are you getting exact?
    Have you tried right-clicking the printer driver install application and in the popup menu select “Run as administrator”?

  5. Angus says:

    Hi Anthony..I have this Win XP SP3 before on my desktop, then upgraded to Win 7 Professional. I did this gpedit.msc tweak because my Riso printer driver cant be installed. But I still get this error message in my Win 7. Any more advise?

  6. Anthony says:

    @Jim – Don’t worry about old thread or not, all comments on PCauthorities get attention!
    Regarding your question, yes, not all editions of Windows Vista have the group policy editor installed, so it might not work on the Home Premium version this way.
    But in Vista most XP drivers van often still be used. Have you tried running the XP installer in compatibility mode?
    If you can let me know the printer brand and model, I might be able to give you more advise.

  7. Jim says:

    Anthony:
    I realize this is an old thread, but I have the same problem as Geneva Yadav (I have Vista Home Premium and when I type GPEDIT.MSC in RUN, it says “Windows cannot find GPEDIT.MSC. Make sure you typed it correctly.” HELP! PLEASE.) and I find no answer for her query. Is ther an answer?
    Thank you.

  8. KENT says:

    @Anthony, I came across the different solution that worked out! First, open the printers under the control panel, and then delete the current hp printer. Stay on the tab, add a new local printer and choose the usb printer port and then select a driver for hp 830/832c printer from the vista’s driver selections. The driver works great and the printer has a new lease on life! I almost buy the new printer on ebay auction another day.

  9. Anthony says:

    @KENT – That might be true for the Home editions, so that will not work unfortunately. Have you tried Andy’s tip to use the compatibility mode to install the old driver?

  10. KENT says:

    Hello Andy, My version of vista home does not recognize the GPEDIT.MSC command. I explored the entire windows but no Local Group Policy Editor, Computer Configuration, and Administrative Templates were found. Please help!

  11. Ed Garner says:

    Very good tip. It worked with an Epson R300 and Windows 7. This is going to save a lot of printers as XP is phased out. The information needs to be distributed more broadly.

    Thanks!!

  12. Andy says:

    Nice tip. But also consider simply installing the XP drivers in Vista using the Vista compatibility mode. Many XP drivers can be installed in Vista that way and work fine.

  13. I have Vista Home Premium and when I type GPEDIT.MSC in RUN, it says “Windows cannot find GPEDIT.MSC. Make sure you typed it correctly.” HELP! PLEASE.

  14. Anthony says:

    @Steve – Before you dispose of it….
    Did you try the HP Laserjet IIP driver? Also have a look at comment 11 in the following link:
    http://www.tnpcnewsletter.com/blog/2007/02/28/vista-vs-my-nec-superscript-870-printer/

    Hope you get to use it with Vista.

    Anthony

  15. I tried this for my NEC Superscript 870 and it just would not recognize the driver. It’s a shame to waste a perfectly good printer and fill the landfill that much more. Damn capitalism!

  16. Anthony says:

    @Chris – Thanks for the correction, it really needs to be GPEDIT.MSC, I have corrected the article.
    YOu say ‘it’ does not work on the Vista Home Premium version. Do you mean the GPEDIT.MSC command or the use of the old printer driver?

    Anthony

  17. chris says:

    Hello Anthony,
    is it named gpedit.msc or gredit.msc ? On my Vista Business PC I have to input gpedit.msc and it works, but in Vista Home Premium both does not work, Do you have any idea ?

    Chris

  18. Anthony says:

    @Pan – The screen shot is actually from Windows Vista Home Premium. The solution does not depend on the Vista edition.

    Anthony

  19. Pan says:

    Is there a way to use this for Vista Home Premium version? I have an old HP that still works that I want to use with Vista 64. Thanks

  1. October 14, 2016

    […] in Safe Mode, you can try to fix your spooler problems by deleting the spooler printer and printer driver files. To do this, launch Windows Explorer and delete the files in the following two […]

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