Windows 7 Drivers for Printers
So, a new version of Windows looms upon the horizon, and with it comes the usual inundation of driver upgrades for the plethora of printers currently on the market. Windows 7 appears to be a sort of compromise between the user-friendly interface of XP, and the security and robustness of the newer Vista.
Having been designed on nearly identical architecture as Vista, most drivers should apparently work quite acceptably, but all the big names in printing are producing upgrades for their ranges of printers, so perhaps they know something that I don’t! Let’s take a look, shall we?
Brother
Brother are offering driver updates for many of their newer printer models, and are promising eventual compatible drivers for all their current models, implying that Brother-users will be able to integrate into the new operating system quite seamlessly… unless of course they use a model not classed as ‘current.’ The American version of the Brother website has released a schedule of driver updates, so chances are we’ll see these at a similar time on this side of the pond.
Canon
Canon are, according to their US website, partnering with Microsoft for the launch of 7, telling the public that many of their newer models are already being designed with it in mind, which is all good news for their users.
In addition, they’ve already released a rather long list of their existing products (including cameras as well as printers) that are compatible with Windows 7, a list that I believe is updated semi-regularly (it was last updated about three weeks ago). More information can be found in an article over at Canon all to do with Windows 7 Compatibility.
Dell
Dell are primarily a computer company, and as such are understandably preparing for the coming of Windows 7; it appears though that they’re focusing more on their range of PCs and other hardware, leaving their printers out in the cold. Though their website is less than clear, I eventually managed to find this page, which lists the printers currently with both specific and compatible drivers. It’s not as impressive a list as either Brother or Canon, but, hey, they’re trying.
Epson
Like Canon, Epson are partnered with Microsoft for this launch, and since May have been ‘actively promoting’ Windows 7, including support for the new system on most of their newer releases. For their existing customers they’ve got a nice, easy to use, dropdown menu page with a list of all their products that will have compatible drivers; for those of us who are more easily confused, they’ve also got a decent FAQ page to help us navigate the change.
HP
Similar to Dell, HP are a computer company that branched out into printers some time ago (I’m pretty sure they were market leader at one point). However, unlike Dell, they’ve put together a rather clear page on the subject of Windows 7, which took me all of five seconds to find (unlike the ten minutes I spent trawling through Dell’s support section, but I digress). Links of that page will take you to rather comprehensive lists of which printers will work (separating them into categories of, broadly speaking, ‘Already included,’ ‘Added by Microsoft update’,’ and ‘Downloaded from HP,’) and forums to discuss any problems that arise. Looks like HP are looking after their users quite well at the moment.
Kodak 
As of yet, I don’t think Kodak have released any driver updates or downloads for making their printers work with Windows 7 (I stumbled across some calls for help on a forum or two that suggest that Vista drivers don’t work with the beta that was released). This is obviously less than ideal news for those with Kodak machines, but I imagine they’ll bring something out closer to the new system’s release date.
Konica Minolta
In all honesty, the Konica Minolta website defeated me – I couldn’t even find their printers on there at first, let alone any talk of Windows’ new operating system; this was obviously less than ideal, so gritted my teeth and dove in again, and found some printers hiding under their business heading. After some more determined searching I found… nothing. Let’s hope that they release some compatible drivers soon, otherwise they might find their customer services flooded with users unable to print from Windows 7.
Lexmark
After the trials that Kodak and Konica were in researching compatibility for Windows 7, it’s nice to see Lexmark are somewhat simpler to handle. Though confusingly under ‘Windows Vista Compatibility,’ there’s a link to several Windows compatibility charts (and other brands like Linux and Apple), split into ‘Business’ and ‘Home Office and SMB,’ making it quite easy to find your printer (using the Ctrl+F search). Even easier, you can search for your printer in the included search bar; all-in-all Lexmark have prepared for the Windows 7 upgrade, and have made it easy for customers to see when their printers will be accommodated.
OKI
Though I honestly don’t know what it means, OKI are apparently a ‘Gold Certified Partner’ of Microsoft, and are ensuring that all of their ‘most popular models’ (nineteen printers, from the looks of things) will be compatible with Windows 7. There’s a reasonable set of dropdown menus that can be used to find out if a specific printer has a Windows 7 compatible driver, though it’s a little long winded.
Ricoh
Looking over the Ricoh website there are no obvious mentions of Windows 7, and any driver compatibility issues; in fact, the closest I found was a rather out of date looking link to a very bland page that’s about drivers for Windows Vista. If Ricoh are preparing for Windows 7, they’re hiding it well.
Samsung
Though it might just mean I missed something obvious, Samsung don’t appear to have any sort of dedicated Windows 7 support page, however some of its printers do now have drivers that work with Windows 7; these can be a little difficult to find though, having to go through their support page’s set of drop down menus to select a certain printer model, before hitting a link to the Driver section (which I missed the first two times), without any guarantee that your printer will have a suitable one. The hunt might take a while, but drivers for Samsung printers are out there.
Xerox
Xerox have followed the trend of dropdown menus for finding if your printer has a suitable Windows 7 driver; for the average home user, who only needs to check a single printer, this is quite adequate, but for business users who need to check multiple printers, Xerox have made a list too!
Hopefully I’ll get a chance to update this page when more news comes out, but in the meantime, that should help you to make the transition.
- Huw
