Adding a Printer Driver to your PC

To add a driver for a specific printer to your laptop or desktop, follow the steps below.

  1. Open the Printers window by clicking the Start button and selecting Settings, then Printers.
  2. When the Printers window appears, double click Add Printer, shown highlighted below.

  1. The Add Printer Wizard will appear; select Next >.

  1. In the next window, select Local printer if you want to connect to a printer directly connected to your personal computer;
    select Network Printer if you want to connect to one of the RCS public printers.
    Press Next >    .

  1. If you selected Network printer in the step above, you will now be asked to type the complete printer definition in the Network path or queue name field. (If you selected Local printer, proceed to step 6.) The printer definition is always defined by the server name \\sambasrv\ followed by the RCS printer name, in this example tr2018lw, the printer in Troy 2018. (You may want to look at a list of public RCS printers.)
    Press Next>.

At this point, Windows will attempt to connect to the specified RCS printer. If successful, you may be asked to enter your RCS password. (If the connection is unsuccessful, a warning is displayed, but the installation can still continue.)

  1. Next, you need to specify the driver for the selected printer. The Apple LaserWriter 16/600 PS driver is recommended for almost all campus black & white one-sided printers. (To take advantage of a particular printer’s unique features, such as color printing, you must specify the driver for the specific printer model.) Select the appropriate printer and press Next> to continue.

The driver will most likely be found on your hard drive. If you are asked to insert the Windows CD, the files you need should be on the CD that came with your computer. They are most likely located in the root of the CD or in the Win98 directory.

  1. You are next asked to select a name for the printer. By default, the printer type is used for the name as shown below. It is recommended that a more descriptive name be used such as the RCS defined printer name (for example, tr2018lw). If you want this to be your default printer (the printer you use most), select Yes as shown below. Press Next> to continue.

  1. Finally, you will prompted to print a test page. If you want to test whether your installation was done correctly, select Yes and then press Finish.

 The printer is now installed and can be selected from within application programs in Windows 95/98.

Return to the Printing page.

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Please send comments and suggestions to consult@rpi.edu