XP has some ways of helping you with the drivers issue.
. If you setup a network printer, under XP you can preload drivers for non-XP versions of Windows (It is under the properties tab, Sharing).
. use Explorer and go to \Windows\System32 and sort the entries by file type. Scroll down to the VBS entries. Look at all the ones that begin with "p". For example, on "p" VBS that is native to XP is that you can "push" driver sets to XP and non-XP computers with the script prndrvr.vbs:
Prndrvr.vbs
Adds, deletes, and lists printer drivers. Used without parameters, prndrvr.vbs displays command-line help for the prndrvr.vbs command.
To install a printer driver
Syntax
cscript prndrvr.vbs -a [-m DriverName] [-v {0 | 1 | 2 | 3}] [-e Environment] [-s RemoteComputer] [-h Path] [-i FileName.inf] [-u UserName -w Password]
Parameters
-a
Required. Specifies that you want to install a driver.
-m DriverName
Specifies, by name, the driver you want to install. Drivers are often named for the model of printer they support. See the printer documentation for more information.
-v {0 | 1 | 2 | 3}
Specifies the version of the driver you want to install. See the description of the -e Environment parameter for information on which versions are available for which environment. If you do not specify a version, the version of the driver appropriate for the version of Windows running on the computer on which you are installing the driver is installed.
. Version 0 supports Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Millennium Edition.
. Version 1 supports Windows NT 3.51.
. Version 2 supports Windows NT 4.0.
. Version 3 supports Windows XP and Windows 2000.
-e Environment
Specifies the environment for the driver you want to install. If you do not specify an environment, the environment of the computer on which you are installing the driver is used. The following table lists the driver environments that are available and the versions that are available for each. Environment Available versions
"Windows NT x86" 1, 2, and 3
"Windows NT Alpha_AXP" 1 and 2
"Windows IA64" 3
"Windows NT R4000" 1
"Windows NT PowerPC" 1
"Windows 4.0" 0
-s RemoteComputer
Specifies the remote computer on which you want to install the driver. If you do not specify a computer, the driver is installed on the local computer.
-h Path
Specifies the path to the driver file. If you do not specify a path, the path to the location from which Windows was installed is used.
-i FileName.inf
Specifies the file name for the driver you want to install. If you do not specify a file name, ntprint.inf is used.
-u UserName -w Password
Specifies an account with permissions to connect by using Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) services to the computer on which you want to install the driver. All members of the Administrators group for that computer have these permissions, but the permissions can also be granted to other users. If you do not specify an account, you must be logged on under an account with these permissions for the command to work. For more information on WMI, see Related Topics.
/?
Displays help at the command prompt.
Remarks
This command starts a script that is located in the systemroot\system32 directory. You must type this command at a command prompt with that directory as the current directory, or you must type the full path to that directory at the beginning of the cscript command.
If the information that you supply contains spaces, use quotation marks around the text (for example, "Computer Name").
Example
To add version 3 of the printer driver named "Color Printer Driver 1" to the local computer, which offers a Windows NT x86-based environment, type:
cscript prndrvr.vbs -a -m "Color Printer Driver 1" -v 3 -e "Windows NT x86"
. if you point at an installed network printer, it will try and get the printer driver from that printer server machine. This is the default behavior of XP.
. The "g" option in printui.dll offers other possibilities. See Bruce Sanderson's discussion:
. Finally, both the Win2k and Windows2003 Resource Kits offer additional printer utilities. Cleanspl.exe is a favorite of mine and works perfectly under Windows 2k and XP: