Cross Platform Network Printing with Windows NT

ID: q100346

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT operating system version 3.1
Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1

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:

   a. Select the target printer.

   b. 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.

Additional query words: prodnt

Keywords          : kbnetwork kbprint
Version           : 3.1
Platform          : WINDOWS

Last Reviewed: August 13, 1998