Installing printer drivers without printer

[doveman]

I'm building an XP for my brother's PC and want to install the printer drivers for him. Can I do this without having the printers connected (I don't have his printers) as I seem to recall reading that the printer should be connected BEFORE installing the drivers?

[jaclaz]

I'm building an XP for my brother's PC and want to install the printer drivers for him. Can I do this without having the printers connected (I don't have his printers) as I seem to recall reading that the printer should be connected BEFORE installing the drivers?

It depends on BOTH printers and drivers , in my experience:

1. "basic" drivers (like the ones that already ship with the OS) can be installed allright with no printer connected.
   
2. a number of "manufacturer" printer drivers require (not the actual drivers in themselves, but rather the completely senseless install programs and "add-ons" and "advanced control panels" and "complimentary apps") to have the printer connected (some go into the perversion of needing to be starting the install WITHOUT the printer connected BUT asking you to connect the printer at mid-install )
   

I seem to remember a printer, of which I won't mention the brand name if not to say that it was (almost surely) an Epson that had issues in installing the drivers because it "sensed" that one of the colour catridges was empty , cannot obviously remember the model.

jaclaz

[doveman]

It depends on BOTH printers and drivers , in my experience:

1. "basic" drivers (like the ones that already ship with the OS) can be installed allright with no printer connected.
   Thanks, that's something at least. I can install the drivers for those printers that have these "basic" drivers available. I'll have to leave any others with "funky" install programs (and I can quite believe Epson wouldn't allow the drivers to be installed until you'd gone and bought a new (chipped) ink cartridge to replace the old one, that probably wasn't empty anyway)

[doveman]

OK, I think I've got them all installed, even the Epson ones

Two of the printers (Canon MP460 and MP470) have scanners so I want to install the drivers for those as well. They have an .inf for the scanner (MP470SC.INF) but I'm not sure where I should go to install this. I did try Control Panel - Add New Hardware but couldn't find a Have Disk button and after drilling down through a few levels it locked up anyway (either due to the funky XP Portable install or the dodgy old hardware no doubt) but if that's the right way I'll have another go.

[erpdude8]

better yet, go to Control Panel > Printers and Faxes, then click "Add Printer", click Next and uncheck the option "Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer", click Next and select which port your printer will be connected to, then click Next and then on the Install Printer software dialog box click Have Disk button to look for your printer drivers, then click Next again for the next few prompts (select No when prompted to Print a test page).

it's a little better than using Add New Hardware when adding printer drivers.

[doveman]

better yet, go to Control Panel > Printers and Faxes, then click "Add Printer", click Next and uncheck the option "Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer", click Next and select which port your printer will be connected to, then click Next and then on the Install Printer software dialog box click Have Disk button to look for your printer drivers, then click Next again for the next few prompts (select No when prompted to Print a test page).

it's a little better than using Add New Hardware when adding printer drivers.

Thanks, I think that's how I installed the printer drivers but I don't think it worked for the scanner drivers (I guess as they're not strictly printers, although built-in to one). I recall selecting the port was confusing as well as there was no option for USB so I just selected LPT but I think that's normal (even though the drivers are for USB printers).