printer driver for windows but not available for Mac

[oswaler]

I have a printer that has a driver available for windows but not for Mac. I was watching a thread earlier about getting a printer working in Mac, and then using Bonjour as the driver to print through the Windows VM.

I have an old printer that only has a Windows driver available, no Mac driver. When I use Windows as the guest OS, will the printer work (all things being equal) or can you only print through the VM to a printer that has a Mac driver?

 

[dkp]

Before I bought my Mac I had an HP printer that had drivers only for Windows. I installed Bonjour for Windows and the printer drivers for Windows, and I used CUPS in OS X to create a printer server. I defined it as a raw device - the Mac does nothing except pass along the print stream from Windows which has already properly formatted the data. Then I discovered that the print system in OS X and which is also used by Linux had drivers that were close enough and so I installed them in OS X. In the end I was able to print fine from Windows/Parallels and from OS X.

I've since remove that printer and also the matching scanner, and I bought a wireless printer/scanner that has drivers for both OS X and Windows, and it's working great.

 

[Purplish]

Chances are there is a driver that will let your printer work on the Mac. Do a google on gimp print or gutenprint.

If you can get your printer working on the Mac side, you can use Bonjour for Windows. The advantage of Bonjour is that you can print quickly from both the Windows and Mac sides.

You also have the option to use USB printing through Parallels. This shouls work fine, particularly if you do not want to use this printer on OSX. When you attach the printer to a virtual machine, you have to virtually disconnect it and virtually plug it in to your OSX maching to switch back and forth. You can do this through the Parallels software, but it is easier not to have to mess with it, and not to have to remember which machine has the printer right now.

If you cannot find a driver at gimpprint, your best bet is to use USB printing through Parallels. See the Parallels Manual for your version to see how this works, and come back if you have any remaining questions.