Can't install Dell 720 printer driver for Windows Vista Basic

Question

I have a new Dell Inspiron 1501 laptop running Windows Vista Basic (32-bit). I have tried to download the driver from the Dell web site (R149368.exe) and the Dell clean up utility (R166313.zip). I get all the way to the point in the install where it asks me to plug in and power on the printer. When I do so I get a complaint from Windows that it cannot find a driver for the printer (so it is being detected) but the next button on the driver install is always grayed out. I have spent a few hours with Dell technical support (both printer and desktop divisions). They even connected to my laptop using Dell connect and tried what I did multiple times with no luck. I also figured out that the Dell 720 printer is the same as a Lexmark z600 so I tried that driver and it had the exact same behavior. I did notice that the files created by the R149368.exe has a Windows/XP sub-directory but I didn't see any Windows Vista directory. Could there be a problem with the driver? Has anyone had any luck connecting the Dell 720 printer to their Vista Basic system? thanks Richard

teacups · Answer

Hi  I don't know if this will help, but I have a dell 922 printer and also Windows Vista Basic computor.  When I ran the download for the zip upgrade (clean up utility)  that is where I had a problem also.    That clean up utility has a message on mine that said it had to extract all the other files involving dell printer. Maybe if you don't run the clean up utility upgrade.    My printer is running fine now and I only have the the first download.  I hope I am making sence.   Good Luck

rsayde · Answer

I was able to solve my problem. I found a post on the Microsoft forums that helped. I believe the problem was that USB printing support was not installed on the computer. The solution suggested on the MS forum was to follow the manual install of the drivers and enter c:\windows\system32 as the search directory. When I did that it first warned me about an unknown driver, but I installed it anyway. That is when the USB printing support showed up in the device manager. After that it offered to download and install the 720 print driver.

teacups · Answer

I am glad that you finally solved your issue.   It has taken quite a while.  Isn't it amazing how much time we spend on getting our computers and printers to run correctly. You should be congratulated on your diligence.

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