I recently installed Vista x64 SP1 fresh on a Thinkpad but can't load my printer drivers. The error I get near the end of the "Add Printer" process is: "Printer driver was not installed. Operation could not be completed (error 0x00000003)." I have double checked that my driver is indeed for Vista x64 - my printer is the Brother MFC-845CW. Since then, I've realized that this error occurs now with any arbitrary printer driver I might choose.

I have been successful installing and using the doPDF printer driver. In my reattempts, I have used pnputil.exe from the command line to delete my printer drivers and also gone into C:\Windows\inf\INFCACHE.1 and delete it to get rid of old traces of the unsuccessful installs to no avail. The print spooler is set to Automatic under services

There seems to be very little reported on the net on this error, and it could be isolated to me. The problem is that I don't know how to diagnose the problem so that I can find a solution. Microsoft's own website does not detail 0x00000003 very well.

My next step is to remove all of my virtual drivers (doPDF, XPS, and FAX), and then try to reinstall them again along with the printer driver I am having problems with.

I would appreciate any and all suggestions.

Thanks!

Hi, I am not very experienced but found this at the Micrsoft Vista Solution Center. You may have already read it but as nobody has gotten back to you yet I thougt I would offer it out to you. You can read it here.

The link above is in regards to an unnattended OS install, but it may help you with your search for an answer. Good luck.

Serenity

I am happy to report that after a redoing pnputil.exe deleting the oem*.inf entry for any previous install of my printer, deleting the infcache.1 file, and deleting the doPDF printer, I was successful in installing my printer driver!

I will try to reinstall doPDF after some time to see if the conflict arises again.