Change printer drivers

I am new to this forum and using Parallels. I am running Windows 8 under Parallels 8 on a 2012 Mac mini. One of the main reasons that I purchased Parallels was to print photos using a program called Qimage. I can open and run the program just fine and my Epson R2880 printer shows up. However, it is associated with an HP driver. If I try to print in Qimage, when I click on printer properties, the printer options and paper choices are all HP. I downloaded the Windows drivers and now I see the Epson options. But when I go to print, I get a message "different device from specified" and nothing prints. Any ideas? Thanks!

 

can anyone help??

 

You have to connect the printer directly to the virtual machine via USB, the user guide has instructions on how to connect a USB device directly to a VM.

 

Thanks but I'm confused. The user guide says that
"You can connect a USB printer directly to Windows. In this case, the printer isn't available to Mac OS X. If you want to use the printer to print both from Mac OS X and from Windows, see Share a Mac Printer (p. 88)."
In my case, the printer IS available to Mac OS X and showed in Windows but with the wrong printer preferences. I tried adding a usb printer as outlined in the user guide but that was not successful (it showed up correctly but I got an error message when I tried to print. So I unchecked the "add all mac printers" option and removed all printers. Then after restarting the virtual machine I was able to successfully add both of my printers and they print just fine - with the correct drivers.

Thanks for taking the time to reply - that got me on the right path!

 

ARRGGHH!! Still cannot print!

Yesterday all looked good. Today after I started my mac mini, the printer still looked good as far as showing the Epson driver, but when I go to print I get a message that the printer is unavailable. I can print to my Epson R2880 from the mac - just not from Windows. I am able to print to my HP laser printer from Windows but not from the Epson. I am running Windows 8 and Parallels 8. This is very frustrating. ANy help would be greatly appreciated!

 

This happenned because the printer is now connected directly to the mac.

To be more clear in relation to my previous post, connect the printers directly to the Windows VM, this means going to the USB menu on Parallels and selecting the printer to connect directly, ONLY THEN you will be able to use the printer on Windows natively with its own drivers, to use on the Mac you have to deselect again (that's way it says the printer won't be available on Mac OS, this is intended, imagine this as unplugging the USB cable from one computer and plugging to the other, and vice-versa).

To have work simultaneously on both sides only via printer sharing but in that case the printer is emulated on the Windows side as an HP Laserjet. You might also turn off Add all Mac printers in configuration for a more native printing support on Windows.

First I think you have to visualize how this actually works. There are two modes, one where the printer is present at the same time on both sides, in OSX it uses native drivers, in Windows it's emulated as a HP Laserjet which forwards to the mac side.
The second mode is like unplugging teh USB cable from one computer to the other if both where physical and not one of them a virtual computer, in reality Parallels creates a bypass to Windows and Windows takes control over the printer.

There's no need for "AAAARGH" and venting any frustration, I also try not to vent mine, it's all very simple, nothing is broken, just please take your time to get to know the product and how it works.

 

Specimen,

Thanks for the reply! Your explanation was very clear and now I think I understand. I'll try again. Sorry for expressing my frustration.

 

JohnWood has no need to apologize for a mild vent of frustration. Specimen (male or female; i'm using male pronouns) as a self-proclaimed product expert owes JohnWood an apology--as Parallels owes us all an apology for incomplete, ambiguous, confusing documentation.
The key piece of info Specimen makes available: shared printers must use HP LaserJet emulation. This information is nowhere (at least that I can find) available in Parallels documentation. Most crucially, it is absent from the primary help topic: "Share a Printer Connected to Your Mac". Nothing to indicate that shared printers lose advanced functions, like duplexing, print control, ink management, and so on, and instead get managed by a driver never designed for their innards.
More: that topic is an example I'd use in my documentation classes to illustrate misleading, incomplete documentation. It begins with step 1--where? "Click the Parallels icon in the menu bar..." Menu bar in which window? Which application?
Specimen's advice to take "time to get to know the product and how it works" is....ahh, I ran out of adjectives. The painful part is that Parallels' docs are sort of typical.

 

1. Male.
2. Product Expert is a title attributed by Parallels.
3. I didn't ask for anybody's apology, the user apologized by his own will.
4. I have nothing to apologize to anybody in this thread.
5. I have zero responsibility for Parallels products or documentation, I don't work for Parallels.
6. It doesn't say anywhere that Shared Printers can emulate advanced features of printers.
7. Having the kind of support you imply would be technically very difficult to implement, different printers from different brands and even on the same brand talk differently with the computer, this would require a per-model support basis.
8. Finally, I don't understand why I am personally the target of insult when I'm helping people out for no obligation other than my willingness to help.

 

DocLocke - thanks for your concern but it's cool. I agree that the documentation leaves something to be desired, but that's why this forum is so helpful.

Specimen - thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I have found that the simplest way to use the printer with the native drivers is to not turn it on until after Windows is running. Then I select Windows when prompted to what OS I want to connect it to. Simple and works every time!

 

Glad you have it sorted, mate!

You can always use the devices menu from the top bar of Parallels and attach/detach USB devices while the VM is running.