I decided to upgrade to Windows Vista some time ago for its official DX10 support. I actually like its searchable Start Menu, file navigation and bigger Quick Launch bar icons too but anyway... Presumed it would come with drivers for my old Canon BJC-4100 because WinXP had included them but just when I needed to print something off at home, I found there is no support for it! There's no Vista drivers available either because of the age of the printer.

Fortunately if you've got an old parallel port (LPT) printer that was detected automatically in Windows XP then, you'll most likely be able to re-use those drivers to get the printer working in Vista. You'll need the WinXP install disc.

First you must disable User Account Control (UAC) or you will end up with the error message, "Printer driver not installed. Access is denied" when trying to install the drivers. To do this, go to Control Panel then User Accounts. Click on "Turn User Account Control On or Off" and uncheck the box. Restart your computer.

Now you're ready to install the drivers.

1. Go back to Control Panel, Printers.
2. Click "Add a Printer".
3. Click "Add a Local Printer".
4. Leave the "Use an existing port" as "LPT1" and then click "Next". Now click "Have Disk".
5. Insert your Windows XP CD.
6. Click "Browse" and go to the "I386" folder on the CD then open the file named "DRVINDEX.INF".
7. Finally find your printer from the list and you should be able to install it now.

Don't forget to re-enable UAC again unless you hate all those permission prompts and already have a system level firewall running.