I have a legacy label printer from the NT4 days that I need to get working on our newly imaged Win7 systems. Is it possible to use XP mode to host the driver for the printer, and share that as a networked printer to the host system, thus bypassing the driver compatibility issue?
Edit - It's a Seiko Smart Label Printer EZ30 (Model# SLP1100)
I don't have any documentation or drivers other than what I can scrounge up on the internet - the Seiko site has been quite helpful, but other than that I'm pretty much flying blind.
That's very uncertain territory you're running into. You might be able to install the printer in xp mode... but sharing it into windows 7 will have the same effect as installing it directly into windows 7. If there is no driver that will work in 7 for that printer, then you won't be able to print to it in 7. There's no way around it.
That being said, you might get lucky and find that it operates in some form of compatibility mode that might have a driver in windows 7. I.e. many label printers have an Epson or IBM Grapics mode that will let you use the "IBM Graphics Printer" driver or the "Epson LQ1500" driver or something similar. You'd have to flip through the manual to figure out if such a possibility exists.
I might be able to point you in a direction if you could share the printer model # and manufacturer.
The networking aspects will work, but the printer share piece will probably run into a roadblock when the client system (sounds like it may be a Windows 7 system) tries to download the driver in order to print to the printer share.