Legacy printer driver on modern clients

Hi devistollon,

the solution to set up a legacy printer on a modern client is to use a print server.
A print server is a computer that manages printers and makes them available to other computers on the network.

To set up a print server on Windows Server 2003 R2, you can follow the steps:

1. Install the Print and Document Services role.
2. Add the printer to the print server.
3. Create a print queue for the printer.
4. Share the print queue with the client computers.

Once you have set up the print server, you can add the legacy printer to the print server and create a print queue for it.

To add the printer to the print server, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Printers and Faxes.
2. On the File menu, click Add Printer.
3. In the Add Printer wizard, click Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer.
4. In the Find a printer dialog box, click Browse for a printer.
5. In the Browse for Printers dialog box, select the print server and then select the printer.
6. Click Next, and then follow the instructions in the wizard to complete the installation.

To create a print queue for the printer, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Printers and Faxes.
2. On the Action menu, click Server Properties.
3. In the Print Server Properties dialog box, click the Drivers tab.
4. Click Add.
5. In the Add Printer Driver Wizard, click Have Disk.
6. Browse to the location of the printer driver files and then click Open.
7. Click Next, and then follow the instructions in the wizard to complete the installation.
8. Click the Queues tab.
9. Click New.
10. In the New Print Queue dialog box, type a name for the print queue and then select the printer that you want to use.
11. Click Next, and then follow the instructions in the wizard to complete the installation.
    
    

You can then share the print queue with the client computers.
To share the print queue with the client computers, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Printers and Faxes.
2. Right-click the print queue that you want to share and then click Properties.
3. In the Print Queue Properties dialog box, click the Sharing tab.
4. Select the Share this printer check box.
5. In the Printer name box, type a name for the printer that the client computers will use.
6. Click OK.

To add the printer to a Windows 11 client, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Settings, and then click Bluetooth & devices.
2. Click Printers & scanners.
3. Under Add printers & scanners, click Add device.
4. In the Find a printer dialog box, click Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer.
5. In the Find a printer dialog box, click Browse for a printer.
6. In the Browse for Printers dialog box, select the print server and then select the printer.
7. Click Next, and then follow the instructions in the wizard to complete the installation.

Please note that you may need to install the printer driver on the print server, even if the printer is not compatible with Windows Server 2003 R2. The print server will use the printer driver to convert the print jobs to a format that the printer can understand.