Re: 64bit Windows 2008 Terminal Services and printing

Alex, I fully understand your situation, maybe it's me who hasn't
stated my answers clearly enough :-)

In the example that you mention, where HP has developed a 32-bit
and a 64-bit printer driver for a particular printer model, you
should have no problem.

My hesitation to use a 64-bit OS on the TS has to do with the fact
that there are so many printer models out there which do *not* have
a 64-bit printer driver which is moreover TS compatible.

So all depends on the range of printers that you have to support.
If it's a limited amount of printer models, and you know that they
all come with 64-bit drivers which are tested with TS, then there's
no problem.

But in most situations where the TS Manager doesn't have full
control over which printer models are to be supported on the
clients, you will be faced with a demand to support printers which
don't have a TS-compatible 64-bit driver.
_________________________________________________________
Vera Noest
MCSE, CCEA, Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
TS troubleshooting: http://ts.veranoest.net
___ please respond in newsgroup, NOT by private email ___

nospam@xxxxxxxxxx wrote on 02 mar 2008 in
microsoft.public.windows.terminal_services:

Vera, I appreciate your efforts in trying to help me.

But I feel that perhaps I've not asked my question clearly
enough. So let me elaborate a bit. We currently run 32bit
Windows terminal servers. But in order for a client to print to
one of their local printers they must use a print driver that
matches exactly one that is also installed on the terminal
server. Fortunately MS supplies hundreds of print drivers with
both their server and client OSes. We have a list of terminal
server supported printers so there are many possible printer
drivers that a client may successfully use.

But what happens if we upgrade our terminal server(s) to 64bit
Windows 2008? Will our clients still be able to print? Will
any 32bit client print driver have a good match with a 64bit
terminal server print driver?

For example, HP has developed both 32bit and 64bit printer
drivers for their very popular LaserJet 4+ printer. A 32bit
Windows client PC needs to install the 32bit print driver, and a
64bit terminal server needs to install the 64bit version of the
print driver. But will the drivers match for terminal services
printing?

Our terminal services clients are outside customers of ours and
we allow most Windows PCs to connect to our terminal servers.
We have customers connecting with PCs running Windows 2000, XP,
Vista, etc. Although Easy Print sounds like a promising new
development most of our clients do not (or cannot) meet the
requirements. Limiting our customers to only PCs running
Windows XP SP3 or VISTA SP1 is just not possible at this time.

You said that "If you can't use Easy Print...then I wouldn't use
a 64-bit OS on my Terminal Server".

Therefore you believe that printing will be a very big problem
for us if we upgrade our terminal servers, right?



On Sat, 01 Mar 2008 04:43:57 -0800, "Vera Noest [MVP]"
<vera.noest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Maby printer manufacturers haven't even bothered to create a
64-bit printer driver, especially not for printers which are
mostly used by home users, since they seldom run a 64-bit OS.

If you can't use Easy Print, because your clients can't install
XP SP3 (but why can't they?), then I wouldn't use a 64-bit OS on
my Terminal Server.

For HP printers, you can find information about TS compatible
drivers here:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?
objectID=c00213455

_________________________________________________________
Vera Noest
MCSE, CCEA, Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
TS troubleshooting: http://ts.veranoest.net
___ please respond in newsgroup, NOT by private email ___

nospam@xxxxxxxxxx wrote on 01 mar 2008 in
microsoft.public.windows.terminal_services:


OK. I'm just trying to get some sense for the consequences of
moving to 64bit Windows 2008 Terminal Services. If we choose
to use only the printer drivers supplied by Microsoft with the
new server OS, how will this affect most of my clients? Would
a typical client running 32bit Windows XP and using a printer
driver included with XP likely to match or not?

For example, would a client who is using the HP LaserJet 4+
driver provided with Windows XP find that he can continue to
print when connecting to a new 64bit Windows 2008 Terminal
Server?



On Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:46:58 -0800, "Vera Noest [MVP]"
<vera.noest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

That depends on the manufacturer, but more important: most 3rd
party printer drivers are not (fully) compatible with TS. So
installing the printer driver on the TS is a big risk.

_________________________________________________________
Vera Noest
MCSE, CCEA, Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
TS troubleshooting: http://ts.veranoest.net
___ please respond in newsgroup, NOT by private email ___

Alex <nospam@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote on 29 feb 2008 in
microsoft.public.windows.terminal_services:

Since Easy Print is only available for clients running VISTA
SP1
or
Windows XP SP3, plus the client must have XPS enabled and
.Net
3.0
loaded, I don't expect it to be a good solution for many of
our clients.

Will a 32bit client printer driver match a 64bit printer
driver available from the same manufacturer?


On Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:17:13 -0800, "Vera Noest [MVP]"
<vera.noest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Windows 2008 TS has a new feature called Easy Print, which
solves problems like this. No need for driver installation
on the TS anymore!

Read about the details here:

WS2008: Terminal Services Printing
http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2008/02/17/ws2008-
terminal-services-printing.aspx

_________________________________________________________
Vera Noest
MCSE, CCEA, Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
TS troubleshooting: http://ts.veranoest.net
___ please respond in newsgroup, NOT by private email ___

Alex <nospam@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote on 29 feb 2008 in
microsoft.public.windows.terminal_services:

Does anyone know whether we should expect to run into
printer driver issues when connecting a 32bit Windows
client PC to a 64bit Windows 2008 Terminal Server?

I assume that the 64bit Windows 2008 Server machine will
need
to
have 64bit printer drivers installed. But will the old
32bit printer drivers installed on our client PCs work or
must some kind of update be done?

Thank you!
---Alex
.

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