What to do when there is no Vista driver available?

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phil81uk · #1 Post by **phil81uk** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:28 pm

What are the options available if Vista (or the hardware manufacturer) does not provide drivers for hardware, such as a printer?

I read that files can be executed in various compatibility modes (right clicking on a EXE files displays these modes). What exactly should be set to the correct compatibility? Is it the driver installed/exe file?

Is there any scope in trying to use drivers for a different printer?

Are there any sort of emulators available for these scenarios?

At present I am running a Virtual Win XP via Microsoft Virtual PC. I thought about setting up my desktop as a print server so that my Thinkpad does not actually need the drivers installed. I will try to do this in the coming weeks.

Canon today told me that they are unlikely to release drivers for my printer even though it is not obsolete. They say that they will wait and see if Vista becomes popular.

#2 Post by **jdhurst** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:32 pm

Welcome to the world of "Vendors dropped their pants, shut off their brains, and are not ready for Vista". Canon is NOT the only one, and it appears that vendors not ready are overcome with lethargy and disinterest in the people who put food in their mouths. I am not happy with Juniper, either.
... JD Hurst

Update: No sooner did I write and post this, than I got an email from CIN where the author was saying precisely the same thing - Five years of Vista development and vendors could not get their act together. In his case, it was the wireless driver for high speed wireless internet in the U.S. (Sprint or Verizon). .. JD Hurst

skanky · #3 Post by **skanky** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:39 pm

t41, ati 7500, not supported. bah.

phil81uk · #4 Post by **phil81uk** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:40 pm

I should rephrase my second paragraph. When trying to get a driver to work in different compatibility mode, which file should have its compatibility options changed (by right clicking, properties, then compatibility tab). Is it the exe file which installes the driver (ie before I install the driver)? Or is it the driver files which the installer installs?

DAH · #5 Post by **DAH** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:53 pm

Just my opinion, mind you but drivers will not run in compatibility mode. Drivers are very special software designed to connect the OS (operating System with the hardware) Even if you run a print server on your desktop, you'll still need drivers for Vista to print. I'd look for a printer that supports Vista if I was you. Trying to patch something together that's not designed for Vista will just increase the probability of problems.

rvacha · #6 Post by **rvacha** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 6:53 pm

phil81uk wrote:I should rephrase my second paragraph. When trying to get a driver to work in different compatibility mode, which file should have its compatibility options changed (by right clicking, properties, then compatibility tab). Is it the exe file which installes the driver (ie before I install the driver)? Or is it the driver files which the installer installs?

You set the EXE that actually runs the setup to compatibility mode, usually setup.exe. If the EXE in question is the unzipper, don't bother with it. I had a Cisco VPN EXE that unzipped and then automatically ran an unzipped setup.exe. I couldn't stop it before the install started. In that case I opened the EXE with Winrar, extracted the files manually, changed the setup.exe file to compatibility mode, than manually ran the setup.exe file.

I have read many success stories of people getting non-Vista drivers to work this way. The ones that are guaranteed to fail are graphics and (internal) audio. Both sections were gutted in Vista in an attempt to improve stability (graphics) and features (audio). I myself have even got a Sonica external USB audio hockey puck to work in Vista.

waynesdukeess · #7 Post by **waynesdukeess** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:47 pm

most of my hardware(scanner,printers) are 5 yrs old.Companys can't afford to always update drivers. rather even try to find drivers and
get them to work with XP or VISTA with all the full fetchures.

I just use dual and triple boot. And sometimes handy to have spare
OS to fix problems.

luck, Wayne

wehugheog · #8 Post by **wehugheog** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 7:43 am

By the way...

Please do correct me if I am wrong!

Why does Microsoft keep the backward compatibillity? Why not just say "heck with all this" and just make 64 bit software and start fresh with software/driver/hardware support with Vista (multiple manufacturers)?

reasons:
1) One needs a pretty decent (and new) machine to really make use of Vista.

2) As far as I know now, people have quite some problems to install/connect legacy/older hardware.

EDIT: I am not trying to Windows/Vista bash here!

#9 Post by **GomJabbar** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:31 am

jdhurst wrote:...I got an email from CIN where the author was saying precisely the same thing - Five years of Vista development and vendors could not get their act together. In his case, it was the wireless driver for high speed wireless internet in the U.S. (Sprint or Verizon). .. JD Hurst

FWIW, Sierra Wireless had a Vista driver (3G Watcher) that worked with Beta 2, RC1, and I believe RC2, but did not work with RTM. Probably many hardware and software companies just didn't want to spend the time and money writing software for a moving target. They didn't want to write software/drivers that would likely be broken later. That said, I still think it would have been wiser for them to have posted beta versions to run on the beta versions of Vista, and at least have been shown to make the attempt. This would have make them appear more forward looking, and placate their customers for a time.

What to do when there is no Vista driver available?

What to do when there is no Vista driver available?

try dual (even triple) boot

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