Large Format printing gone!

[stephanpark]

I didn't know where else to go so I'm posting here, hope you guys can help out.

I upgraded to Vista and have invested a lot of time making everything work, then to the printer. I though nothing could go wrong!

I have an HP large format printer that I use all the time and now on Vista, the driver no longer show any options past basically letter size. I don't understand, it is the exact same driver that has worked on a T21 with 2K Pro, T30 XP Pro but now T60 with Vista? No go.

As the printer has recently been discontinued, there is no dedicated driver.

Do I need to by a new printer?
The Vista updater is OEM and so does not qualify for tech support from Microsoft. I'll try Lenovo during next business hours but I fear they may not be able to help.

[stephanpark]

It looks like the driver isn't Vista friendly. It shows up as if all is well but when any real printing is attempted, Vista says there is no driver even though it installed it for itself.

The printer driver was only the final straw...Vista seems little smarter than XP and not worth the trouble for its bugs at the moment. Vista may be the future, but for me it will be when SP1 gets released at the end of this year.

[GomJabbar]

At least sometimes XP hardware drivers can be used in Vista using one of the following methods.

Vista has a compatibility mode. You can launch the Program Compatibility wizard or right-click on an executable file and choose Properties > Compatibility and check the appropriate boxes or you can right-click on the executable file and choose to Run as administrator (this seems to behave differently for me than checking the box to Run as administrator on the Compatibility tab).

Install the drivers in XP, then copy the driver directory over to the Vista partition. If you can see the XP partition from Vista, this isn't even necessary. To install the drivers open Device Manager and update the driver or use the Add Hardware wizard in Control Panel. Point to the directory where the driver files are stored to install the drivers.

Also, for programs, you can launch the Program Compatibility wizard and try to fix compatibility problems with it.

[stephanpark]

Hi Gom,
Thanks much for the input. But I have to unfortunately report that I have already tried that method as my second attempt by mounting a drive image of my latest XP backup and pointing Vista to the driver location. Suitable driver was found according to Vista, etc. etc. No go.

According to HP, my printer and many late model large format printer and others are natively supported in Vista. This is obviously not ringing true in my ears. I'm at a loss. I'll send a chime to tech support to try their solution next weekend.