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By Root 1581 0

is not a physical device; it is a program that controls one or more physical printers. The physical printer is called a print device to Windows (although I continue to use the term “printer” for most purposes, just like almost every tech on the planet). Printer drivers and a spooler are still present, but in Windows 2000/XP and Vista/7, they are integrated into the printer itself (Figure 22-17). This arrangement gives Windows amazing flexibility. For example, one printer can support multiple print devices, enabling a system to act as a print server. If one print device goes down, the printer automatically redirects the output to a working print device.

The general installation, configuration, and troubleshooting issues are basically identical in all modern versions of Windows. Here’s a review of a typical Windows printer installation. I’ll mention the trivial differences among Windows 2000, XP, and Vista as I go along.

Setting Up Printers

Setting up a printer is so easy that it’s almost scary. Most printers are plug and play, so installing a printer is reduced to simply plugging it in and loading the driver if needed.

Figure 22-17 Printer driver and spooler in Windows

If the system does not detect the printer or if the printer is not plug and play, click Start | Printers and Faxes in Windows XP to open the Printers applet; in Windows 2000, click Start | Settings | Printers. For Windows Vista, you need to open up the Control Panel and find the Printer menu item—it is either by itself or, in the categorized view, under Hardware. You can also find the icon for this applet in the Control Panel of Windows 2000/XP.

As you might guess, you install a new printer by clicking the Add a Printer icon (somehow Microsoft has managed to leave the name of this applet unchanged through all Windows versions since 9x). This starts the Add Printer Wizard. After a pleasant intro screen, you must choose to install either a printer plugged directly into your system or a network printer (Figure 22-18). You also have the Automatically detect and install My Plug and Play printer option, which you can use in many cases when installing a USB printer.

Figure 22-18 Choosing local or network printer in Windows XP

If you choose a local printer (see Chapter 23, “Local Area Networking,” for a discussion of networked printers), the applet next asks you to select a port; select the one where you installed the new printer (Figure 22-19). Once you select the port, Windows asks you to specify the type of printer, either by selecting the type from the list or by using the Have Disk option, just as you would for any other device (Figure 22-20). Note the handy Windows Update button, which you can use to get the latest printer driver from the Internet. When you click Next on this screen, Windows installs the printer.

Figure 22-19 Selecting a port in Windows XP

Figure 22-20 Selecting a printer model/driver in Windows XP

Figure 22-21 shows a typical Windows XP Printers and Faxes screen on a system with one printer installed. Note the small checkmark in the icon’s corner; this shows that the device is the default printer. If you have multiple printers, you can change the default printer by selecting the printer’s properties and checking Make Default Printer.

Figure 22-21 Installed default printer in the Printers and Faxes applet

In addition to the regular driver installation outlined previously, some installations use printer emulation. Printer emulation simply means using a substitute printer driver for a printer, as opposed to using one made exclusively for that printer. You’ll run into printer emulation in two circumstances. First, some new printers do not come with their own drivers. They instead emulate a well-known printer (such as an HP LaserJet 4) and run perfectly well on that printer driver. Second, you may see emulation in the “I don’t have the right driver!” scenario. I keep about three different HP LaserJet and Epson ink jet printers installed on my PC, because I know that with these printer drivers I can print to