Need Generic Injet driver to use shared Win2000/A920 Printer on a 98 PC. Since Dell only supports 2K and XP there's got to be a generic driver that will work!

I posted a workaround on this forum about using the Lexmark Z605 driver. Tech support said that it was not possible to share "cross-platform" (meaning across codebases: Any one of Win95, win98, winME was not compatible with winXP, winNT, or win2000.)

I have successfully made a WinME (It should also work with win98) box share the Lexmark Z605 driver across with a winXP box. Here's what I did:

1. Enable network sharing on the XP machine (the one the printer is connected to.) Share the printer, and determine the network share name. Hint: \\Your-computer-name\printer-share-name

2. Install the Lexmark z605 driver software on the remote computer (windows ME). When it prompts during installation for the printer port, choose "FILE:". Installation will finish.

3. On the ME machine, go to Printers in control panel, and choose the printer driver that was just installed (Lexmark Z600 series). Right-click, choose Properties, and click on the Details tab. Click "Add Port", and click "Network". Now enter the name of the printer share on the XP machine, or click "Browse" to find it.

(Mine looks like this: \\DELL\LexmarkZ, where I called my computer "DELL" and the printer is shared with the name "LexmarkZ".)

Click "Spool Settings", and check "Print directly to the printer", and OK.

Start the LexMark Z600 Solution Center on the ME machine (Dell calls their version "Dell Printer Solution Center", but it looks like the same program, with a different "skin" containing Dell logos.)

Click Advanced. (Lower left corner.)

My printer was shared using windows file sharing, and there is a Networking button. I clicked on that, and unchecked "Enable Peer-to-Peer support". I was given a warning, but I clicked OK anyway.

4. Go to the XP machine, and double-click on the Printer icon in control panel, so a window appears to show what's in the print queue.

5. Try to print on the ME machine to the Lexmark printer. You should see it arrive in the XP print queue, and printing should begin.

I have tested this, and it works fine using the Lexmark Solution Center on both machines. I'll verify shortly if it works with the Dell Printer Solution Center and Dell AIO Printer A920 driver.

Watch for the update!

I have confirmed that I can send something into and through the print queue on XP with the lex z605 driver. However, I can't verify that it's the same as what an a920 driver would print, because I don't have 2 XP machines, and there isn't a Dell driver for win98/ME for the a920 for me to compare with.

It turns out that the Dell Printer Solution Center doesn't have the Networking section under "Advanced", but it doesn't seem to matter as long as Peer-to-Peer is disabled on the 98/ME machine that's using the Lexmark driver.

Of course, if I could get someone with an actual (physical) a920 to try the lexmark driver and tell us if it works, that'd be great!