Hplj4 Printer Drivers And Win7 Pro 64bit

basically, all i want to do is:
install the printer drivers for the HP laser jet 4 on a 64bit windows7 pro computer,
without having a HPLJ4 printer connected to the computer.
this way, i can then go into the properties of an existing printer, and be able
to change the print driver used -> over to the HPLJ4.

i was able to find the HPLJ4 printer drivers at microsoft update center, but windows7 won't let me install them. if i had a HPLJ4 printer connected to the computer, the drivers would install, but who even has an HPLJ4 still in use.

why the heck do i even want to do this….
the MRP [ Manufacturing Resource Planning ] software, where i work, is from 1999, and we'll keep using it for the next 100 years. [ please don't ask why ] 32bit win xp is the last operating system that we can use with the MRP software. we are currently replacing the win xp computers with win7 computers running virtual box with windows 2000 as the guest operating system. w2k runs the MRP software. printing from w2k to modern, network attached printers is not a problem either because i have a win xp computer setup with a shared printer that uses the HPLJ4 printer driver. all of the guest w2k virtual machines can see the shared HPLJ4 printer, and print to it without issue. [ the actual printer is a brother model ].

another note… the virtual machines have a direct network connection, not a shared network connection controlled by the host. the MRP software only works with a direct network connection.

however, we have one computer, out in the machine shop, and printing to the networked attached printers in the office, is not feasible, due to the long hike involved. so this one computer, 64bit win7 pro with a w2k virtual box guest, has a USB printer attached to it. it also has a USB label printer attached to it.

virtual box works pretty good until one hooks up USB devices to it, then it gets sort of flakey and will routinely lose focus… in that one can be typing in the guest OS, focus is lost, and you don't notice it until you look up and nothing you typed has registered. attaching the USB printers to the host ( and not the guest ) solves this problem, but then i need to be able to print from the guest to the locally attached usb printer. i was going to set up a shared printer, on the host, that uses the HPLJ4 printer driver, but the printer driver won't install. i need to be able to go through the whole dialog of choosing a printer driver…. choose the printer manufacturer on the left side of the dialog box, then choose the printer model on the right side of the dialog box, so i can take an existing win7 printer, make it use the HPLJ4 printer driver, and then share it so the guest OS can find and use it.

that's basically it, i hope it makes sense.
i just want to be able to install a printer driver for a printer that i do not have,
and i don't know how to do that.

thanks!!

 

All the printer manufacturers have their own idea of how to install the drivers for their devices.
However, at some point you will have to connect the printer to complete the installation.
No printer... no install.

Have you considered using a virtual printer?

 

the only virtual printer i have ever used is the one that is created by the pdfcreater program. guess i'll have to do some searching about this.
the only reason this is an issue - is that microsoft could not be bothered to include the hplj4 drivers with the win7 operating system.

i haven't touched an actual HPLJ4 printer in more than a decade. with windows xp and below, one can go to the properties of any installed printer, click on the tab that shows you which printer driver is being used. and there is a button that says "change driver used" ( something like that ). a small window pops up, printer companies on the left side, printer models on the right side. and you can then choose the hplj4 driver.

on the win7 computer, i created a 2nd copy of the installed usb brother printer. then i went to change the driver used over to the hplj4, and it was not in the list. my 2nd choice for these older computers is an hplj III printer, but that was not in the installed printer list either. HP had just a huge dominance in the early printer market with these 2 workhorse printers, that those drivers will work with any printer ( almost ) ever manufactured to this day.

i'm only there on saturdays. i'll have to think about this some more. maybe there is some other generic printer driver from HP that is in the list that will work. thanks!!

 

I used PDFCreator for many years.
I suggest you experiment with something simple that doesn't require Ghostscript.
doPDF
http://www.oldversion.com/windows/dopdf/

 

well, i did not get a chance to test things out this saturday, had to do other fun computer stuff.

but in researching different possibilities on that thar intertubewebthingy, i ran smack dab into "universal print drivers".
do one of those interweb searches for "universal print drivers" and every single printer manufacturer offers a flavor of "universal print drivers".
it's almost an oxymoron, in that "universal print drivers" should just be "universal print drivers", but each manufacturer spins it a little different.
i like xerox's take on it, it seems more universal than others.
https://www.xerox.co.uk/office/software-solutions/mobile-printer-driver/engb.html

anyway, most of them only offer support back to win xp, but looking through brother's site, they offer windows 2000 drivers.
so i nabbed me the w2k universal drivers, and i'll give those a try next saturday.

toodles.

 

well, they work, but not in the way that i anticipated.
at the brother's web site, you have to actually specify the model number of the printer
before you get to download any drivers. and, evidently, their meaning of universal is tied to the printer model..

i figured that i had to install the printer, using their universal drivers, from inside the w2k virtual machine.
but that did not work.
so i got the 64bit win7 universal drivers for the printer model, and setup a shared printer in win7 with those those drivers.
the default name ended up as "Brother 5370 printer series" [ something like that ]

now, i could go in the w2k virtual machine, add a network printer, and choose that printer, and it worked.
i guess the win7 drivers are universal in the sense that they have drivers for other operating systems.
in the w2k virtual machine, the properties and the preferences of the printer are not accessible,
but it does print just fine, so i'm happy.
[ and it's not like anyone ever messes with printer properties anyway ]