Epson 1290 Status Monitor for shared printers (Windows 7)

[brian_mk]

I am wondering if the problem could be that Win 10 will not use the Epson 64bit XP driver because it is not digitally signed.

 

[brian_mk]

I managed to add a new remote printer using the WIn 10 Epson Stylus Photo 1290 (M) driver by manually adding a TCP/IP port with the host IP address of the XP machine and port 9100.

However, printing a test page does not work. I can't find any useful diagnostic information.

Attempting to use the Win 10 'Toubleshooting Wizard' was no help at all:-
I get the message 'An unexpected error occured. The troubleshooting wizard can't continue'.
Very helpful - Not!

 

[The Hat]

@brian_mk, Cut out any difficulties you may have trying to share your printer over a wired network.

Just plug in and no drivers to install, they just work, use with one computer and up to four devices, or reversed it and use up to four computers with many USB devices..

http://www.usbgear.com/US-67.html
http://www.smarthome.com/usb-2-0-manual-share-4-port-switch.html

 

[brian_mk]

That suggestion only makes sense for a local printer that is physically located close to the client PC. The maximum USB cable length is only a few meters.
In my case the printer is not even in the same room as the client. I want to connect to it over a wireless network.

The point is that configuring a shared networked printer should work on Win 10. After all, it worked on Win 7 and Win XP.

 

[The Hat]

My suggestions were just to make things a little less stressful or complicated, and a USB cable setup will work any where in a house or business and can run 15 metres many times over using a powered Hub.
This method works with any O/S including Mac’s and is far more reliable than Wi-Fi..

 

[brian_mk]

I've now figured out how to get this to work using the Epson 64bit XP driver...

As I suspected, the root cause of the problem is that the Epson 64bit XP driver is not digitally signed.

You can still install and use it, but you first have to disable driver signature checking in Windows 10.

The procedure to do this is described here:-
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...ment-win/a53ec7ca-bdd3-4f39-a3af-3bd92336d248

You can download the Epson 64bit XP driver from here:-
http://esupport.epson-europe.com/Fi...fEheFSw9e0Fu27+ok6h8aVMwS5SD7GYU003D&id=24533

Unzip the driver. This will create a folder named epson24533eu.
Inside that folder under ENGLISH/WINXP64 is the E_GF12JE.INF file needed to install the driver.

From Control Panel, select Devices and Printers and select 'Add a printer'.
When Windows 10 starts looking for printers, Select 'The printer that I want isn't listed'.
Choose 'Select a shared printer by name' and navigate to the shared printer on the remote host.
When asked to choose the driver, select 'Have Disk...'.
You can then browse to the epson24533eu/ENGLISH/WINXP64 folder containing the E_GF12JE.INF file.
It should then install the driver after first warning that it is not digitally signed.
This worked for me.

I still haven't figured out why I can't use the native 'Epson Stylus Photo 1290 (M) for a remote shared printer.

I tried sending an email to Epson UK support. This is the unhelpful response I received:-

"In response to your email, unfortunately we do not support or guarantee the use of sharing our units through PC's so are unable to advise you on what troubleshooting steps to take. It is never our intention to disappoint customers in any way and I would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused due to this."

As I said before, Epson support are as much use as a chocolate teapot.

 

[The Hat]

@brain_mk, that’s good that you’ve managed to get your printer working in Win 10 and XP over the network, but you have forgotten just one thing.

Now that both computer are talking to the printer but you have left yourself wide open to an attack from hackers who can access both computers over the same network, your system is no longer secure, XP is a lame duck..

 

[brian_mk]

You seem to be suggesting that wireless networks are insecure.
What makes you think that?

I used to design software for switches and routers, so I know a bit about how networks operate.

My wireless network is configured such that new devices cannot connect unless their MAC addresses have been registered.
WPA and TKIP provide encryption security over wireless that is good enough for most users unless you require very high security such as a bank.
Even if someone did manage to connect to the network, PCs have firewalls.

 

[The Hat]

It’s a matter of when and not if your attached, turning off singed drivers on your Win 10 machine is equivalent to lowering your shields to allow a shuttle into your ship, the problem with that is so can others enter the very same way, you are in fact defenceless, and I didn’t even mention having an XP machine on the same network.

On the subject of Bank security, most times that’s a joke because they refuse to spend the money to upgrade their O/S and an awful lot of them are still using Win NT to run their networks..