Chat Topic: Printing - General
Date: Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Good morning, everyone! Today's chat is on Printing - General. We'll begin the chat in ~20 minutes.
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
I have just opened up Q&A, feel free to start queueing up questions! We'll begin the chat in ~10 minutes
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Welcome to today’s chat on Printing - General. We will try to answer as many questions as we can today. Participants should type their questions, select the “Ask the experts” check box, and click “Send.” Those posts will go into a private queue, from which our experts will draft answers and repost questions in the upper window with their answers. (To confirm: if you selected the “Ask the experts” check box when you posted, you don’t need to resubmit.
At this time, I’ll let the experts introduce themselves.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Hi Everyone, I'm Tali and I'm a Lead Program Manager on the Digital Documents team working on connectivity, installation, device user experience, and print servers.
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Hi Everyone! My name is Wendy and I just recently joined the Longhorn/Windows Vista team. Previously I was part of the R2 and MSN 9.0 Beta Teams. My job is to see that you BTs get what you need to have the best beta experience ever and we’ve got some great things brewing! Looking forward to seeing lots of great questions from you!
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Hello! I'm Jeff and I'm a device driver test lead on the digital documents team. I'm happy to answer all your driver questions.
Oswaldo [MSFT] (Expert):
Hi everyone. I'm Oswaldo and I'm the Print Services Program Manager with Microsoft IT. I run Print Servers internally at Microsoft.
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
For those just joining us, today’s chat is about the Printing - General. To post a question, please type your question, select the “Ask the experts” check box, and click “Send.” That way, we can track which questions we still need to answer.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: does vista have any new features for network attached printers? they seem to be getting more and more popular
A: Vista has several new features for network attached printers. First of all, we've updated the Add Printer Wizard so that the path for installing network printers is much simpler. We'll automatically show you network printers on your local subnet, as well as printers that are published in the active directory.
In addition, we have support for a new type of printer, Web Services printers. These should start coming out around the time that Windows Vista ships and will give you a really great plug-and-play experience when you go to the "network" view.
Oswaldo [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is it possible to keep a record of the print that were taken, there time, paper size etc. (By an automatic process)
A: You can keep record of some things like document title, printer queue name, port, username, number of pages and size in bytes for each job printed if you enable "Log spooler information events" at Printers -> Server Properties -> Advanced tab. This data will be stored at the event log. Page size is not included though.
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
For those just joining us, today’s chat is about the Printing - General. To post a question, please type your question, select the “Ask the experts” check box, and click “Send.” That way, we can track which questions we still need to answer.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Are all events from WSD-Print eventing displayed in balloons when they are recieved? And is there any configuration required to make that happen?
A: By default, the print system subscribes to all installed WSD printers (GO WSD!) but generally we just update the status in the printers folder with the new status. The balloons you're seeing queue off of the status in the printers folder - they're not WSD specific
. Other applications (generally status monitors) can register for the events and show whatever UI they want to show.
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: If Vista doesn't support HP printers out of the box, when can we expect to see some Vista drivers on the HP website?
A: HP is working hard on full vista support for all of thier top selling models. As a general rule, when vista ships all top selling devices from HP will be working either from a inbox driver or a updated driver delivered through thier website. Please note we now support 3800+ printer models in the currect RC1 builds. If you are curious about inbox support for a particualr model, please re-ask the question and include your model name.
Daniel Emerson (Expert):
Hi, I am Daniel and I am a Program Manager on the Digital Documents team for the print spooler, the print driver architecture and XPS printing.
Oswaldo [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is there a new option for priority printing?
A: Vista has the same features for priority printing than XP.
Frank Olivier [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: what new in printing from Windows XP
A: Lots of things :) I post a list of new features in the printing newsgroup every couple of weeks.
Oswaldo [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: to Oswaldo : can file pool arrange itself according to file sizes
A: No, you cannot. Vista shares the same features for priority printing than XP.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: What is the differenc between a TCP/IP port and a WSD port? The Canon pixma i5200R is using a WSD port but has to be set to a syandard tcp/ip port in Vista to be able to print. At least if I remeber the port correct.
A: WSD = Web Services for Devices and is the new kind of network connectivity we've added support for in Vista. It allows you to have a plug-and-play experience similar to what you'd have with USB, but on a network - giving you rich status, true end-of-job etc. WSD ports are serviced by the WSD port monitor (WSDMon), while TCP/IP ports are serviced by our Standard Port Monitor (TCPMon). By default we try to use WSDMon if the printer supports it, otherwise default to TCPMon, but I don't believe that Canon device does support WSD, so it sounds like there's a small bug there.
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: What is the steps to enable "Logon with dial-up connection" on Vista? I have a VPN connection configured and my machine is parte of the remote domain.
A: Unfortunately, this is not related to today's chat topic. However, this is a great question to ask in the NGs and get some assistance from the product groups and/or your fellow BTs!
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: I am unable to install Vista on VMWare and Virtual PC, can you help point in the right direction to why?
A: Unfortunately, this is not related to today's chat topic. However, this is a great question to ask in the NGs and get some assistance from the product groups and/or your fellow BTs!
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: HP 712C printer - Vista has drivers??
A: Vista RC1 has support for the 710 and the 720 however not explicity the 712, you should be able to use the inbox 710 driver to get the 712 to work.
Frank Olivier [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I have a nice HP Business InkJet 1200 color printer. I have found that if I print a Technet or MSDN event ticket with IE7 it resizes the image and the barcode will not scan. If I print to the same printer with IE 6 there is no problem?
A: The new default printing option in IE7 is to print-to-fit - if you do a print preview, you can set the printout to not resize.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: If there are drivers for printers in B2, will they be in the RTM? In other words, will printers supported unow continue to be supported?
A: In general this is true - there could be very few exceptions if as we get into the final parts of the release there are quality problems; and we are adding tens more drivers in teh RC time frame
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: Is there a log of this chat Q&A available for future reference to share with other co-workers?
A: Yes, all transcripts for both chats and Live Meetings are posted on Connect within 24 hours or sooner.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is FAX part of the topic?
A: You can try us on fax questions - my team owns that too but I just recently took ownership of it so I may not be able to answer. However, if we get enough fax questions we'll put on a fax chat.
Daniel [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: What are the main differences with printing in Vista compared to 2000/XP?
A: The main changes to Windows Vista printing are to improve the print output fidelity and performance as well as the reliability of the print spooler. We have some great whitepapers on the changes posted here: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/print/default.mspx. Specifically, the XPS and Color printing whitepaper is a good place to start: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/xps/vista_print.mspx.
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is the HP K550 series of printers supported yet or in RC1?
A: The RC1 build does include drivers for the K550, Print and scan functions will be working once RC1 is released.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Shouldn't Vista have a set of codes that recognizes every major Printer (HP, Canon, Lexmark, et. al.) that has been put on the market over the past, say 5 years, so that older Network printers won't be excluded from being a part of the Vista operating sys.
A: Windows does include drivers for that vast majority of the top selling printers over the past 6 years. There are minor exceptions to this for drivers that have architecture requirements that are non standard
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: HP Photosmart 1215 - drivers included???
A: The 1215 will not be supported inbox when Vista ships. You should contact HP regarding obtaining an updated driver.
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: Can Vista incoporate most drivers for printers, with the options(Checking a box) to install the drivers at the sametime herefore reducing the time needed to insall other drivers, as that would require more time.
A: Can you resubmit your question with more detail so our experts can answer accurately? Thanks!
Frank Olivier [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I never saw the mini-font phenom where print preview will switch in front of you from 100% to "shrink to fit" until 5381.
A: Shrink-to-fit will be the default for IE7 when it ships.
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
For those just joining us, today’s chat is about the Printing - General. To post a question, please type your question, select the “Ask the experts” check box, and click “Send.” That way, we can track which questions we still need to answer.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Previously "Fax" sharing was difficult, required credentials. But did not work in our network with simple LAN connections and no password. Is it possible that we have to face the same problem...?
A: We've made a lot of updates to the fax support in Vista, but primarily to the end user experience. The core fax service hasn't really changed, however. Credentials for fax sharing should be similar to credentials for printer sharing. If you'd like more information about fax, I'd suggest that you add your request for a fax chat to your feedback survey about this chat and we'll do our best to accomodate that!
Oswaldo [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will IP printing be fully supported in Vista?
A: Yes, IP printing will be fully supported as well as WSD (Go WSD!!!)
Frank Olivier [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: is there a option that vista can automatically refreshed printing list based on the file sizes
A: If you want to reorder the print queue so that smaller documents print first - there is no support for that currently. You can, however, assign different priorities to print jobs.
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will there be inbox drivers for the CAnon Pixma i5200R ?
A:
Vista wont support the 5200 inbox, however we do support the 5000 inbox. You should be able to use that inbox driver to get basic printing functions working. You should contact Canon to obtain a fully supported driver for your device.
Daniel [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Why is the print spooler service running even if there is no printer installed?
A: The print spooler is active to monitor print activity even if print queues are not installed. This includes group policy changes, such as configuration changes or pushed printer connections, print notifications and network attached device installation, such as WSD printers.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I have been able to print in Vista using printer device drivers that are a close match to my printer but not exact (print to a deskjet 9650 using the deskjet 990C driver). Would it be possible to get a list of equivalents from the vendors?
A: I can't make commitments on behalf of the various vendors - however there is a whitepaper on the printing website (www.microsoft.com/printserver) that gives some guidelines on compatible devices. For the exact lists of compatible print engines, you would need to contact the vendor.
Frank Olivier [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Does vista still treat a shared network UNIX LPR printer as a local printer and not a networked one?
A: Yes - there have not been any changes to the way Vista represents LPR printers in the UI.
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
For those just joining us, today’s chat is about the Printing - General. To post a question, please type your question, select the “Ask the experts” check box, and click “Send.” That way, we can track which questions we still need to answer.
Daniel [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: When will Microsoft release a list of Compatible Printers that work out of the box? At least the later ones.
A: We will release a listing of compatible printers when Windows Vista is released. The list will be posted here: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/default.mspx.
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Jeff,your comments on support for a Xerox Workstations?
A:
We support over 100 Xerox WorkCentre products in the current Vista RC1 builds, overall our support is excellent I would say. If you have a question about a particular model please re-ask the question and include your exact model number. Thank you.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Can you elaborate any further on webservices printers???
A: I'd be happy to. Web Services printers, also known as WSD printers, support the Device Profile for Web Services, which you can read here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/webservices/webservices/understanding/specs/default.aspx. We use web services to discover these printers (we send a multicast hello) and then we are able to get metadata about them to determine which driver to install and how to configure the port monitor. We then use WS-Eventing to get status. It's VERY cool :)
Oswaldo [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Can Windows 2003 server support Vista clients with printing? How do we install a printer driver for Vista on Windows 2003 server?
A: Windows Server 2003 support for Vista client depends on how the print drivers are written. I recommend visiting the WHDC web site (http://www.microsoft.com/whdc) for detailed information about Vista driver store and how drivers work in Vista.
Daniel [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Hi Daniel Emerson. It appears that you are not from MSFT. Mind if I ask where ya' from?
A: I am from MS - Please see my updated display name :).
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: BTW - My printer - HP Color LaserJet 4550 drivers kept causing an error message - I know this is an HP issue, but thought you should also know
A: Thank you for the report of the issue, please make sure to file a bug on any printing problems you encouter. MS is committed to makeing Vista the best possible print platform.
Frank Olivier [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I lobbied and want to continue Lobbying you all for a change I think is much needed and will help a lot of people's printers work immediately versus not. You all have the pulldown for printer port still preferrring LPT1. That is a mistake to list LPT1 as
the preferred port because 1) More XP drivers will work if people use USB2Virtual as the port so LPT1 is ***not the preferred port. It is less than preferred unless you don't want some printers to work in Vista. Alan Morris said they would consider this on Print Team and have been and is their an update?"selection for LPT is due to the fact that USB devices are
supposed to Plug and Play and customers don't have to run the Add Printer
Wizard to select the port and add the printer"
A: We're working on fixing this one - the Add Printer Wizard will not suggest lpt as the default port.
Frank Olivier [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: And as KoZe pointed out on the thread the number of printers coming to mkt with an LPT1 port is diminishing for home printers.
A: We're aware of this :) We're changing the Add Printer Wizard.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: In what way are the developers from MS working with the mfgrs from the diverse printers, and does it make sense to not only bug problems but ask the vendors about driver issue's as well?
A: MS works with the vendors on co-development of drivers. MS works on the OS integration and graphics susbsystem side and the vendors develop a driver that defines the individual characteristics of the device. Yes, it makes sense to ask both MS and the vendor.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: How will multifunction printers be handled? (built in scanners, copiers,....) Will they be treated as seperate devices or will the print driver recognize all of it?
A: MFPs will work approximately the same as they do today - if you have a USB or WSD MFP that supports print & scan, you'll get two drivers installed - one for each function. What's cool about WSD printers is that we can tell that all the drivers are associated with one physical piece of hardware, so when you try to install or uninstall it, all drivers will get installed or uninstalled.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is the HP psc 950 series supported in Vista. This is a four-year old product.
A: yes it is
Oswaldo [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is there any tech documents of Web Service printer?
A: You can find information about Web Services for Devices at http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/print/default.mspx
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
For those just joining us, today’s chat is with the Printing - General Team. To post a question, please type your question, select the “Ask the experts” check box, and click “Send.”
Frank Olivier [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will Vista provide additional features (other than those with the printer drivers) like Manual Duplex Printing, Generating Sepia Images etc?
A: No; printer manufacturers can add these features to their drivers, but we don't have this feature in Vista itself.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Tali, does WSD also work over USB?
A: WSD doesn't currently work over USB, just for network printers. However, there are two things to note:
1) some vendors will likely be releasing a small "print server" device that you can plug your USB printer into and turn it into a network WSD printer. I can't promise anything since I don't work for any of these companies directly :-) but I think they will go for approximately $100 or so when they get into the market.
2) there is a specification for IP over USB going through the USB working group right now. When Microsoft implements that sometime in the future, we will be able to support WSD over IP over USB
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Can Vista incoporate most drivers for printers in the install file, with the options(Checking a box) to install the drivers of printers at the sametime therefore reducing the time needed to insall drivers, as that would require more time. For example, when
A: Sharing printers across arch ( x86 / x64 ) is all about vending out all arch drivers on the server that is hosting the printer. For example if you have a 32bit print server and both x86 and x64 clients... all you need to do is add the x64 driver to your 32bit print server and everything will work fine. In essence for each printer, you will have two drivers ( x86 and x64 ) for that each printer that's installed.. 1 main driver and 1 "additional driver".
The only potential problem in this solution is finding x64 compatible drivers for your printer.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Any chnace for a generic printer driver for sharing? I.e. the server connects directly to the printer with the right driver but shares out a generic printer all OSes have drivers for
A: there are several "generic" drivers included with vista, however these aren't truely generic as they apply only to printers within a very narrow type - for example "Generic TTY"; "Epson 24 pin" etc etc. in teh vast majority of cases a printer requires a characterisation file (driver) that is tightly coupled tothe actual device.
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: If HP says they will not provide drivers for my 2 printers I can't use Vista. Can't afford to buy new printers ;)
A: HP is committed to support all top selling devices either inbox or through thier website at Vista ship... if your device is older or not on the "supported" list I would encourge you to try a driver that's close to your device. For example if you have a 7960 you could try the 7800 driver. If you have a question about a specific device please re-ask the question and include your particular model number.
thank you for the quesiton.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Has there been any enhancements to printing via Terminal Services? There are third party client/server solutions that deal with RDP printing issues such as Simplify Printing. Has there been any thought to a MS solution integrated into Vista and Longhorn?
A: The main update was in Windows 2003 SP1 with the addition of the TS Fallback printer driver (http://www.brianmadden.com/content/content.asp?ID=438 is a good article about that). We are working on some changes for Longhorn server that I can't disclose yet.
Frank Olivier [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I'm having trouble getting Vista x64 to print to my HP DeskJet 952C shared from an XPSP2 box. Bug responses have been that it is not a reproducable problem. Any hints on where to look to resolve this?
A: I'm assuming that the xpsp2 machine has a x64 driver for the shared printer. Are you on a domain, or not?
Daniel [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: All of a sudden and I have looked high and low to correct this --I used to be able to set print preview my print font is tiny. I haven't had a problem in months Brother Printer and now if go to print prev the dumb thing goes from 100% to "fit page"
(tiny) right in front of me. I cannot click a setting anywhere and i've tried them all to fix this. I did it transiently by switching to Tray 1 from auto but that no longer does it. Any help for this annoying ridiculous mini font printing?
A: Are you printing from IE7? IE7 includes a new "shrink to fit" feature to scale the content to the width of your page. You can change this behavior by choosing the scaling dropdown in the print preview dialog. It defaults to "shrink to fit".
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is there any chance for some kind of x86 - x64 emulation mode, so that printers in a network including both x64 and x86 setups can be easily shared over the network ?
A: Sharing printers across arch ( x86 / x64 ) is all about vending out all arch drivers on the server that is hosting the printer. For example if you have a 32bit print server and both x86 and x64 clients... all you need to do is add the x64 driver to your 32bit print server and everything will work fine. In essence for each printer, you will have two drivers ( x86 and x64 ) for that each printer that's installed.. 1 main driver and 1 "additional driver".
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: You guys have repeatily mentioned RC1 and what's in it. So umm errr is there a date we should be circling on our calanders? Also if there drivers we need are ready, can't they be made available via windows update - sooner as opposed to making us wait?
A: Asking about release dates constitutes a $0.25 fine for the first infraction. Please see the newsgroups for details on this. :-0
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Are HP 5550 Deskjet drivers included in RC1?
A: Yes the 5550 drivers are included in RC1. Thank you for the question.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will Vist support the new Dell Printer Manager that they are releasing soon? Or would that be a question better asked to Dell.
A: I believe this is a printer management tool, and there are no changes to the printer subsystem that should make such a tool not work; however there are other changes in Vista (UAC comes to mind) that can cause app compat issues. Please take this up with Dell.
Frank Olivier [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will there be any issues with Windows 2000 servers and Vista Clients in regards to printing?
A: No - our test team spends a lot of time testing Vista with w2k/w2k3/etc servers.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: In our company, we have tons of Lexmark and HP All In One printers. Currently hardly supported in Vista. Will be difficult to migrate to Vista without proper drivers of devices 1-3 years old. Any confidence manufacturers will supply drivers for these?
A: the major manufacturers have given commitments that they will have Vista drivers for their top selling devices at Vista release. Some of these will get included inbox, others will be posted to Windows Update or the IHVs web site.
Inbox coverage for the HP MFPs is generally quite strong.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Why doesn't landscape print work?
A: Could you please re-post your question with some additional information about the scenario? Thanks.
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: RE Q[39] Jeff: I have frequently asked for drivers, it has resulted in having XP X64 drivers, those do work in Vista X64. So no need to use the 5000 drivers.
A: Thanks for the feedback.
Frank Olivier [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will Vista implement Manual Duplexing for all supported printers that do not have that inherent capbility?
A: No - There is no generic manual duplex support in Vista; Some manufacturers add manual duplex support to their printer drivers.
Frank Olivier [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Why can we not print to PDF?
A: Any PDF Writer (from Adobe/other companies) should work without any problems on Vista. Also, Office 2007 supports printing to PDF.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is it possible to have a "Driver Compatibility Mode" for printers and other devices so XP drivers will function under Vista (in a wrapper) until hardware companies are able to produce native Vista drivers?
A: That's a great question, and unfortunately the answer is "no it's not".
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: In beta 2, every time i add a networked printer (the printer is on a xp machine), i just get; Access Denied - Can't connect - Any idea why?
A: Generally I'd guess this is an ACL issue - is the printer shared to the credentials that you're using on your Vista machine?
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: A fix for the HP deskJet 5550 is apparently in the RC1 source. Are we going to get this in the next (post beta 2) beta release - rather than having to wait for the actual RC1 release?
A: We are committed to providing as many builds as possible for testing to our beta participants and are constantly reviewing the quality of builds for release.
Daniel [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Wonderring how many XPS printers we are going to see at Vista launch? Any idea how wide the adoptions is going to be? There are announecements from IHVs, but it is difficult to say what exactly they are doing for XPS.
A: We are working with the print industry for adoption of XPSDrv print drivers or print devices that can consume XPS as a PDL. Major manufacters are planning XPS-enabled printing at or shortly after the Windows Vista release. As you mention, many vendors have published announcements for XPS support and print hardware vendors have demostrated pre-release XPS devices at our WinHEC and PDC events.
To determine if a particular manufacturer is planning to release XPS-enabled printing and the specific timeline, I would recommend you contact them directly.
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
We will need to wrap up this chat in about 20 minutes. Please post any other questions (select the “Ask the experts” check box) that you would like us to answer. Thanks!
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: My fear is that while it's no big deal to use the pull down a lot of people will simply never see it and will have trouble getting their printer going.
A: Could you please re-ask this? I'm not sure what this means.
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Before you leave the chat, don’t forget to let us know how we’re doing! To the right of your emoticon pull-down box is a “Chat Feedback” option. If you don’t feel the chat was helpful, please ensure that you provide verbose comments on why you didn’t feel it was helpful and what we can do to improve the experience for you!! If you would like to provide more feedback than the 1000 characters will allow, feel free to eMail us at LHBeta@microsoft.com.
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is there still a Generic/Text Only printer? Has that been corrected so that it doesn't introduce garbage characters - a problem somewhat reduced in WXP, but still present. Note this was a standard way to convert documents to text.
A: Yes the generic / text only printer is still supported for Vista. The garbage charactor problem has been reduced as you point out however there are some scenarios that this situation can still occur in. If you have a specific problem or bug I encourage you to file it.
Also you might want to look at the "Microsoft XPS Document Writer" , this is a inbox printer driver which will allow you to print to and create XPS files.
Oswaldo [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Why can't we print selecting pages with .xps documnets
A: You are able to select what pages you want to print when using the Microsoft XPS Document Writer driver that ships with Vista
Frank Olivier [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Re 96. The XPSP2 box doesn't have the 64bit drivers installed. I install them on the Vista box when prompted and get no errors from the wizard. This is a workgroup environment. Disk shares work OK.
A: You can install the x64 drivers on the xpsp2 machine (as an 'additional driver'; see the printer properties dialog) - the xpsp2 machine will not use the x64 driver (it won't run the code; it just stores the files on disk so that other x64 machines can download the driver from the xpsp2 machine.)
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: if there drivers we need are ready, can't they be made available via windows update - sooner as opposed to making us wait? Many of us are just trying to stay with Vista instead of constantly switching back to xp
A: the packaging requirements between inbox and WU are slightly different, and in practice it would take about the same time for us to post a print driver onto WU as it does to incorporate it into the product. Putting the driver on WU wouldn't get it into your hands any faster.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Vista boots up, it could ask "Do you wish to install drivers for your printer now?" or if drivers are included, "Drivers for your printer that is connected are detected. Do you wish to install?"
A: I'm not sure if this is a response to another answer, but yes, this is more or less what Vista does. If there are no drivers, it asks you if you want to search for drivers or if it should ask again later, and if there are drivers available, it just tries to install them.
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: When I plug in my printer it automatically installs the drivers but the "port is set to print to file", When I change the port to USB the document goes to the queue but never prints. What am I doing wrong?
A: Your problem doesnt sound famarliar, could you please re ask the question and provide more details such as the printer model number and what driver you are using for for your device. Thank you.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: FYI, Vista Beta 2 still doesn't recognize my HP LaserJet 1300. I can add it manually and all the drivers seem to be present on the system. It is a shame Vista doesn't automatically add it like it does my HP PSC 950.
A: you should file a bug on this - the 1300 should plug and play.
Frank Olivier [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: We have all our print queues for networked printers on a server. From what I am hearing, we won't need those in the future. Is that a valid statement?
A: You can still use print servers, if you want to/need to - Windows Vista makes it easier to connect to tcp/ip & wsd printers, though.
Daniel [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Do any of the printer drivers that come with Beta 2 use the XPS path or are they still GDI? If any are XPS which ones?
A: All of the inbox drivers that will ship in Beta 2 are GDI based print drivers. However, we are shipping a sample XPSDrv print driver in the Beta 2 WDK to assist in the development of XPSDrv print drivers. In addtion, the Microsoft XPS Document Writer will support the creation of XPS Documents from Win32/GDI applications in Beta 2.
Oswaldo [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Occasionally we'll get a network print job using a bad driver, causing reams of paper to be printed with garbage. Is there a way in Vista to track back to who printed the job? Machine name, IP address, or anything? Cover page doesn't help.
A: If you enable "Log spooler information events" in Printers -> Server Propertied -> Advanced tab you'll get information recorded in the Event Log about Document Title, Print Queue, Port, Size in Pages, Size in Bytes and Username for each print job sent through the spooler.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Feedback - I may not be getting the answers I would like, but I am getting answers. thanks
A: Thanks for asking them :)
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Jeff: HP says they will not provide drivers for the Photosmart 1215 so no Vista for me...this old lady can't afford a new printer <g>
A: I would encourage you to try a close model number to your printer... other then that ongoing support for your model is up to HP. I am sorry if you have any problems due to vista...
Thanks for the question.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Since I don't yet have a working printer on Vista, I've not been able to test this. Has the several minute delay to delete the current print job been eliminated in Vista? This is something that annoys everyone who's ever had to terminate a print job!
A: The amount of time it takes to delete a print job depends on the type of connection and port you're using. A USB printer generally has good status back and forth and you should be able to delete a job quickly. With a TCP/IP printer, you sometimes send the job to the printer but then it gets held in the printer's internal memory and we no longer have control of it through the UI. With WSD printers, you should get excellent performance on deleting a job because we can communicate with the printer well. Again, it all depends on the connection type.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I have an old epson stylus color printer ESP2, the first series or ESP2, what would be a compatable x64 driver?
A: There are several ESCP/2 compatible devices supported in Vista - all of the inbox drivers are there for x86 and x64. If you don't have an exact match - try one of the other ESC P/2 models.
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is there any driver in vista that i could use right now to get my HP photosmart 7150 printer functional?
A: We do support the 7200 series inbox, you should be able to use that to get ink on the page however advanced options wont work.
thanks for your question.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will the DLL files used internally by the spooler (spoolss.dll, localspl.dll, win32spl.dll) be changing names? Changing interactions? Changing functions?
A: The file names will not be changing, and will only be changing in that they will support new features as well. they should generally be backwards compatible.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I have a Photosmart HP 8750. At present the inbox driver works very badly. I cannot print in 6 x 4 and application colour management is not present. Are there any plans to improve this situation?
A: please make sure to file bugs on any functionality problems that you see with your device.
Frank Olivier [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: @ 99 - Word 2003 supports manual duplexing - printing first all odd pages, then all even. Would like that on the O/S level.
A: That's a good feature suggestion, thanks!
Daniel [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Which is the maximum page size that you can set in the print ticket in the following cases :1- when the driver is a GDI driver,2- when the driver is a XPS driver.
A: The PrintSchema, the basis of the PrintTicket ,does not define a limit on the maximum paper size. However, the page size may be pratically limited for GDI drivers (devmode max paper dimension is constrained by MAX_SHORT). In Vista we will provide a workaround to support larger paper sizes used forms for GDI drivers, but this may require a driver update. XPSDrivers are not limited to a maximum page size, but specific driver implementations will have pratical limits.
Oswaldo [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Follow up to Q108. What about tcp/ip & wsd printing? There's no print server, and I can't check the potential 110,000 PC's spool logs to see who it might have been.
A: Without a server, there is no way to know this information unless you enable the option to log spooler info events on each machine.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: How about other leading brands of printers? Will they be able to work out-of-the-box?
A: In general drivers for the top models from the leading manufacturers will be included with Vista.
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
We will need to wrap up this chat in about 10 minutes. Please post any other questions (select the “Ask the experts” check box) that you would like us to answer.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: RE [36] - The printer uses simple sharing and is shared, i can print from this computer if i switch back to XP right now (i'm dual booting), and i'm using the same username on my XP OS as well.
A: The guest account is disabled by default on Vista which might be causing it. This can also be caused by certain drivers. There's an active bug on this issue that we've been following up on so keep trying it out and filing bugs!
Daniel [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will changes to the GUI in Vista result in any new GDI calls that will be added to Enhanced Metafile documents? Will EMF files generated by Windows Vista be backwards compatible with previous versions of the OS?
A: EMF spool files generated for print connections from Vista clients to printers on downlevel print servers will be compatible as today (requires the driver version on the client and the server to be compatible). The GUI changes in Vista are mainly supported by the Desktop Window Manager, which does not affect the usage of EMF for printing.
Frank Olivier [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is WSD expected to find my Hawking PN71237P (10/100 to Parallel -TCP/IP etc) print server? If so, how do I get it actuated? If not, should something else discover it?
A: The Hawking PN71237P device would have to support WSD.
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will HP Deskjet 9650 drivers be included in RC1?
A: Given our current RC1 device support matrix, this device is not slated to be supported. Sometimes there are late editions to the product, however odds are that we wont be supporting this device inbox for Vista.
HP should be releasing a new signed driver around the RTM timeframe.
Thank you for the question.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is WSD expected to find my Hawking PN71237P (10/100 to Parallel -TCP/IP etc) print server? If so, how do I get it actuated? If not, should something else discover it?
A: WSD support would need to be enabled by Hawking in your print server - it doesn't happen automatically, unfortunately. They would need to upgrade the firmware to support the Web Services specs.
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Before you leave the chat, don’t forget to let us know how we’re doing! To the right of your emoticon pull-down box is a “Chat Feedback” option. If you don’t feel the chat was helpful, please ensure that you provide verbose comments on why you didn’t feel it was helpful and what we can do to improve the experience for you!! If you would like to provide more feedback than the 1000 characters will allow, feel free to eMail us at LHBeta@microsoft.com.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: will there be any (or better) support for current HP printers in Vista? Have you heard anything from HP on the status of availability of beta drivers for any of their printers?
A: There will be drivers for the top selling HP models for Vista - either included with Windows Vista, or if the dev cycles are too short, tehn they'll be made available on either Windows update or the Manufacturers web site.
Daniel [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will there be any changes to the "Microsoft Document Image Writer" printer that installs with Office? Is this feature continuing or will it be abandoned or replaced by functionality in the OS?
A: This print driver (Microsoft Office Document Image Writer) is released by the Microsoft Office team. There is a planned update for this driver to be shipped with Office 2007.
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will VISTA provide drivers x64 and x86 for HP Laserjet 3100 MFU?
A: The 3100 series of laserjet multifunction devices are not supported in Vista, however the 3200 and the 3300 are. If you cant find a working 3100 driver from HP you could try the inbox driver for the 3200.
Thanks for the question.
Oswaldo [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Why not add a feature of password protecting a printer, may come handy to some people...
A: If you work with a network environment with domain-based authentication, you can add lists of people of security groups to the print queue sharing properties to control access to specific printers.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Landscape printing in general never seems to workl. I printed some photos I wanted landscape, but they were squished and distored into a portrait style.
A: Hmmm - this works for me - can you file a bug with more precise details of the scenario that isn't working for you?
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Why does it take so long to install HP drivers using the INF files from the CD? Sometimes it takes up to 10 minutes?
A: The HP product CD's incorporate numouse value add software installs and normally that's what takes most of the time. If you only want the driver, you can sometimes use the add printer wizard manually and point at the INF directory on the CD.
HP would communicate that the value add software is critical to makeing the most out of your devices advanced functions.
Jeff
Oswaldo [MSFT] (Expert):
A: Yes, Office 2007 Beta 2 ships with Microsoft Office Document Image Writer. You also may take advantage of the new Microsoft XPS Document Writer (Go XPS!)
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I seen a lot of questions about HP. I am assuming that Canon and others are doing the same thing with their new/old print drivers.
A: As a general rule, the major manufacturers are all working on getting great printer driver support for Vista.
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Before you leave the chat, don’t forget to let us know how we’re doing! To the right of your emoticon pull-down box is a “Chat Feedback” option. If you don’t feel the chat was helpful, please ensure that you provide verbose comments on why you didn’t feel it was helpful and what we can do to improve the experience for you!! If you would like to provide more feedback than the 1000 characters will allow, feel free to eMail us at LHBeta@microsoft.com.
Frank Olivier [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Re 103: Is there a functionality/behavior difference between installing x64 drivers on a Vista box vs. installing them on an XP print server?
A: No - When printing, Vista generally doesn't care if the printer driver came from a print server, or an install CD, etc. The printer port routes the job to the print servers/tcp/ip port/usb cable/etc.
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Later!!!
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: BTW, I had to cancel out of installing my HP 6830 printer just be able to login into this chat.
A: :)
Daniel [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I built XPSDrvSmpl from the WDK Beta 2, installed it successfully in Vista Beta 2 32-bit, but when I test print (to file with .xps extension), I am getting 0 bytes. Is this a known issue? In an earlier beta build, I was able to do this without any hitch.
A: The driver sample should be functioning properly on Vista, but not on downlevel OS (Windows XP/Server 2003) at this time. If you continue to run into problems with the driver, please send detailed repro steps to 'prninfo@microsoft.com' and we can investigate.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Problem with Xerox Workstation.Will print with Word docs but in attempting to print from IE you get message saying IE has stopped working and will not print.Anyone else see this problem?
A: Does this work with other printers? What about other apps? I'd suggest adding this info and filing a bug please!
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: jeff, i have not been able to connext to an XP box with Brother 8820D drivers. It says it's there. The computer is accesable for transfering files both directions but the printer will not work. it even says it is pringing but nothing happens.
A: I am sorry to hear about your driver problems. I would encourage you to file a bug on the issue so that we can follow up with Brother on it. In the meantime, we do support the 8820 inbox in Vista.. you might try to share the printer instead from the Vista box and then connect to the vista box with the Xp machine.
Thank you for the question.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is there any way for a printer driver to discover which application or process generated a specific print job?
A: In general no - at least not as a user of a driver. It is possible to author a driver in such a way as to track the calling application, however this is rarely done.
Oswaldo [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Can there be permisions based in print job size? i.e. some users can print more then 30 pages while others can't
A: Unfortunately not at this time.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I have a linksys PSUS4 print server that is x86...will x64 Vista be able to see it on an XP x86 or Vista x86 box and use it over the network or do I have to have x64 drivers for the x64 Vista box
A: The linksys should just work as a network "passthrough" so you'll need to make sure you have a 64-bit driver for whatever printer is hanging off of the linksys rather than worrying about supporting the linksys itself.
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I have been trying with no luck to get an HP Scanjet 5300c to work. Driver will not install on Vista--only device I can't make work by hook or crook. Jeff Macduff from Print team suggested I try a Twain DS driver and I've looked everywhere for one and
can't find one. Does anyone know a site?
A: Hello T16,
The only suggestion I have is to contact HP or to try and find the original CD for the scanner.. often times there is a TWAIN DS on the disc.
Sorry that you are having device support issues.. thank you for the questions.
Oswaldo [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is any preview of the Office Document Image Writer in actual Beta 2 Office 2007 Beta 2
A: Yes... Office 2007 Beta 2 includes the Microsoft Office Document Writer.
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is there a functional driver for my HP 5550, if not when is one expected? OR Is there a work around to get the existing driver to function? - I'm still getting the "incorrect parameter" error message.
A: The inbox 5550 driver has been updated in the RC1 builds, I would encourage you to upgrade to the next RC1 build and verify the issue is fixed. I have also filed a bug to HP on this issue to verify it's been resolved.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: What port should be selected for a printer shared from an XP box? Mine shows none?
A: The port is related to how the PC that's sharing the printer out communicates to the printer itself. The PC that's connected to the shared printer is not communicating over a printer port (USB, TCP port, etc) but just over RPC.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: the Xp drivers from manufacture website. The printer appears to be working but files just add up inqueue and never print.
A: sounds like a connection issue - does the web site in question make any claims that the driver is also Vista compatible? There are a couple of things that could be causing this situation - all of them linked to decisions the driver writer for XP made, that are no longer supported in Vista....
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Support for Lexmark X7170 All In One printer/scanner/fax - a relatively new machine of which we have hundreds. Can't get it working.
A: you'll need to talk with Lexmark about thier support plans for this set of models.
Daniel [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will the existing Win32 and Win64 applications take benefits from the XPS drivers and/or printer supporting natively XPS ? Should we wait to have WinFX applications using WPF to get benefits from the XPS printing path ?
A: While WPF applications will automatically take advantage of XPS printing support, Win32 and Win64 applications can also receive benefits. First Win32/64 apps can optimize for XPS by supporting XPS passthrough to XPSDrv print drivers. Second, the conversion from GDI/DDI result in improved output fidelity for transparencies and gradients for existing Win32/64 depending on how the application is written.
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Our experts have agreed to say for another 10 minutes to continue to answer your questions!
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Any chance for supporting a way to pass credentials directly to a printer? So a client can directly connect to a printer and pass their windows credentials which the printer then then pass to its "controlling" server which then authenticates them
A: There's no support for this directly at the moment, but we're looking at what we can do longer term, especially for WSD printers.
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: we have a few users that use Epson printers here (specifically models: CX3200, C42UX, C66), will epson be releasing vista drivers for these models?
A: I dont see those devices on our current list of Vista inbox supported devices. You should contact Epson to obtain supported Vista drivers.
Thank you for the question.
Daniel [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is XPS v0.9 essentially v1.0 in terms of content, or shall we stiil see major changes with v1.0?
A: XPS v0.9 is expected to be "design complete" meaning that we are planning only editorial changes between v0.9 and v1.0. However, we do reserve the right to make changes if a serious design or security flaw is encountered before the v1.0 release.
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Photosmart 1100 - will it be supported directly,? I can now use it through the WXP machine over the LAN.
A: Due to the age of the 1100, inbox support was removed from Vista for this device. HP is aware of the issue and should be providing updated drivers for all top selling models at Vista RTM.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Can windows provide authetication to IP printers or the new web service printers? i.e. to allow only the servers to directly connect to printers on the network
A: For wsd printers, you'll be able to create a secure connection using TLS and certificates. Longer term we'll be continuing to add more support for security to make the UI easier to use, but for now it is doable.
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Xerox WorkCentre XD105f,unable to print from IE (IE stopped working message),any fixes. Printer works fine with Word 2007
A: I would encourage you to file a bug on the IE7 printing issue and include the specifc web page you are trying to print and the errors you recieve.
thank you for the question.
Oswaldo [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: will there be a simple way to update the print drivers on servers? I notice many times there are errors in print jobs from using old drivers but have no easy way to update drivers and the admins don't want the extra workload
A: You can use PMC (Print Management Console) to update the drivers at your servers, from there users will get the updated drivers via Point-and-Print the next time they use the printer. PMC will allow you to replace the drivers from a central location, so a single person could do the job very easily. This is an awesome tool available in Windows Server 2003 R2, Vista and Longhorn server (Go PMC!!!)
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will Vista have native support for XPS-to-PDL direct conversion (i.e. via the UniDrv arch)?
A: Yes
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will a HP Photosmart 7150 printer be supported in Vista?
A: The 7150 isnt diretly supported inbox for Vista, however the 7200 is.. you should be able to use the 7200 to get your 7150 working. Also please look to HP at Vista RTM time to release a fully featured driver for your device.
Thank you for your question.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will any new security features in Vista affect printing? Will it be possible to create a security policy in the OS to disable printing on a schedule?
A: The main security feature that will affect printing is UAC (user account control). We've made changes so that as a non-admin user, you can still install printers and drivers, as long as the driver you're using is either already staged in your driver store or is signed by a trusted certificate (this can be set through group policy). There isn't support to disable printing on a schedule, but all our Group Policies to disable/enable printing in general have been improved.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I was told that the drivers for an Epson 875DC Photo Stylus printer will not be upgraded for Vista, is there any work around for that, since it was a very expensive printer?
A: CAn you elaborate on the problem that you're seeing - does the driver not install, or not work in some way?
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Jeff, your method does not work. The only method I have found for getting my HP Deskjet 6830 to install is to use two steps. I will post this info on the printer NG.
A: I apologize if you had problems with a suggestion, I cant tell from your question/comment here what method or problem you are referring too. I will look for your NG post.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: in re Q10: It is a konica minolta 1350w. When i plugged in the USB cable it auto installed from windows update but the port was print to file. I swith the port to USB001 and tried to print, got blue screen and reboot. I unistalled the printer and used the
A: CAn you file a beta bug on this please?
Oswaldo [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Previously, deleting a print was hazardous job. We had to delete, restart the printer (experienced this problem in HPDeskJet1280, HPDeskJet3535, EpsonStylus1520) many times before we could completely remove it and then print again. Will Vista solve this?
A: Sometimes, although you remove a document from the spooler, it may be cached on the printer's memory. If you power off the printer, it may think it got disconnected of than an error occurred. Then, the printer may re-print the document thinking it is recovering from an error. This behavior could change from printer to printer, depending on how the device wa designed.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: You suggest we contact the manufacturers directly. How does a Joe Average break through their barrier to get an answer other than "Betas not supported"?
A: I would suggest that you file a Vista bug first so that we're aware of it. Next, I would go to the manufacturer's website and be really clear that you're not requesting support for a beta (in fact, I wouldn't mention the word beta) but that you want support once Windows Vista ships. Good luck!
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: No the driver for the Epson 875DC will not install. at all
A: I'm not familiar with this model, however i'd expect the installer to work - worth filing a beta bug
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: My wife wants to know if she looks fat...can I just "print" the answer?
A: Have Lola answer this for you.
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Are HP 2710 x64 and x86 drivers included for both VISTA and Longhorn and Server 2003 x64 Entrprise?
A: The HP photosmart 2700 series is current supported in Vista Client, however we have not finalized our Longhorn server device driver support plans.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I built XPSDrvSmpl from the WDK Beta 2, installed it successfully in Vista Beta 2 32-bit, but when I test print (to file with .xps extension), I am getting 0 bytes. Is this a known issue? In an earlier beta build, I was able to do this without any problems
A: I think Daniel already responded to this one: A: The driver sample should be functioning properly on Vista, but not on downlevel OS (Windows XP/Server 2003) at this time. If you continue to run into problems with the driver, please send detailed repro steps to 'prninfo@microsoft.com' and we can investigate.
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
I have just frozen Q&A so our Experts can finish up answering questions.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Kudos to the print team for providing a very extensive XPSDrvSmpl driver in the WDK. Makes XPS print path adoption a whole lot easier for everyone. :)
A: Thanks! We'll pass your feedback along to the rest of the team :)
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Adding print ticket support to a GDI printer driver expected to work in Windows 2000 (Version 3 driver) will allow applications running on Windows 2000 use the print ticket ?
A: if the app is PT aware and you have the right PT support in teh driver, then yes.
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I have a question about Epson C84 from x64 Vista to x86 XP SP2 wich was supported in 5381 but not any more in 5384. Will I have it back on a future release?
A: In the current RC1 builds, the Epson C84 Series (M) is supported inbox. We did have a bug eariler regarding some epson drivers being removed from the product by mistake.. however I see the device is back in the list currently.
Thank you for the question.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: RE [115/36] - I've enabled guest accounts on both machines and i'm quite sure that the permissions are set correctly, so it must be a problem with the x64 Epson Stylus C65 drivers then..... Is there anything else i can look into that may help?
A: Have you tried installing the drivers natively on your Vista machine? that's the next step I would recommend. Otherwise it sounds like you've hit the problem we're currently debugging now.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I have a question about Epson C84 from x64 Vista to x86 XP SP2 wich was supported in 5381 but not any more in 5384. Will I have it back on a future release?
A: there should not have been a change made here - check out later biulds and if your functionality doesn't return, file a bug.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will the Win32 GDI calls for printing be changing in Vista? For example, will there be any new JOB_INFO structures added to calls like EnumJobs, or will structures like DOC_INFO be changing size?
A: That's a very generic question which is really behond the scope of this discussion - you should check teh documentation in the WDK for any changes.
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Hi, I have four networked printers on WinXP, and only one, and old HP925 is showing with the attached Vista machine. I have been through four (or is it five?) builds and can't get past connecting to only one. I installed all the printer drivers on the Vis
A: It's hard to tell from your question whether you've got shared printers on your XP machine or whether they are network printers (plugged into the network) that you're trying to connect to. If it's the former, I'd start by checking permissions to make sure you have access from your Vista machines. If it's the latter, printers that are on your local subnet should show up in the Add Printer Wizard, but if they're not there you should have to put in the IP address directly.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Who is coming with releases XPSDRv
A: We are working with the print industry for adoption of XPSDrv print drivers or print devices that can consume XPS as a PDL. Major manufacters are planning XPS-enabled printing at or shortly after the Windows Vista release. Many vendors have published announcements for XPS support and print hardware vendors have demostrated pre-release XPS devices at our WinHEC and PDC events.
John Clavin [MSFT] (Expert):
Time for us to go - some great questions in here and thanks for your enthusiasm withteh beta programs - John
Tali [MSFT] (Expert):
Thanks for all your great questions! See you on the newsgroups.
Oswaldo [MSFT] (Expert):
Thanks so much everyone for such a great questions - Keep up the support for our beta program... Oswaldo
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Second "Best Question" winner goes to KXBoy for aasking "I built XPSDrvSmpl from the WDK Beta 2, installed it successfully in Vista Beta 2 32-bit, but when I test print (to file with .xps extension), I am getting 0 bytes. Is this a known issue? In an earlier beta build, I was able to do this without any problems"
Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
Thank you for all the questions today. If you want to follow up on any issues or ask new ones, please use the newsgroups to contact us.
Jeff
Device Driver Test Lead
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Thanks for a great chat everyone!!!! If you were a Best Question winner, please remember to email me at LHBeta@microsoft.com and include your full address with phone and t-shirt size!
Wendy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Before you leave the chat, don’t forget to let us know how we’re doing! To the right of your emoticon pull-down box is a “Chat Feedback” option. If you don’t feel the chat was helpful, please ensure that you provide verbose comments on why you didn’t feel it was helpful and what we can do to improve the experience for you!! If you would like to provide more feedback than the 1000 characters will allow, feel free to eMail us at LHBeta@microsoft.com.