Here’s a fun one… Vista drivers for the Samsung ML-1210 printer (shared over a network)

By fun, I mean not so fun… Here’s the scoop. The ML-1210 was hooked up to a machine running XP. The printer was shared. Frustratingly enough, when trying to add it to a Vista machine via “Add a Network Printer”, it kept spitting out an “insufficient memory to complete this operation” message after trying to install the driver. At first, I thought the machines just needed a restart. After that, I thought maybe the driver was corrupt, after which I tried driver installations, uninstallations, and reinstallations up the ying-yang.

Then, I got angry….

So after playing with things for a good hour or so, here’s the solution I came up with… Use the drivers for a Lexmark E210. You see, from what I can tell, the Samsung ML-1210 and the Lexmark E210 are very similar. They could even be exactly the same. Most of you can probably figure out how to do it, but here’s what should hopefully work:

  • Delete the Samsung ML-1210 printer. Uninstall the “ML-1200 series” from Add/Remove Programs (Control Panel)
  • Download the Lexmark E210 drivers from the Lexmark website (the Windows XP ones)
  • Run the Lexmark E210 driver install package you just downloaded. During the installation process, it will ask where the printer is hooked up, just choose the USB port you think is correct. Muddle your way through as best you can. By the end, the drivers should be installed, and you should have “Lexmark E210” listed as one of your printers.

By this time, Windows has probably “realized” that the Samsung printer is there and will fail to install drivers for it.

  • Delete the Lexmark E210 from the Printers folder (I know, after all that work to install it, it almost seems criminal).
  • You should have an icon in the bottom right of the task bar, letting you know that your hardware failed to install (the Samsung that Windows detected). Click on it to open it up. If you *don’t* have that at the bottom left, head to Device Manager (Control Panel/System/Hardware/DeviceManager). It should be listed there. Right-click on it and choose “Update Driver”.
  • If it asks, You *do not* want Windows to automatically find a driver. You want to select your own driver, so find the Lexmark section, and way at the bottom, the E210 should be listed.
  • Once it’s been done, print a test page. Assuming it works, share the printer and try accessing it from the Vista machine. It should work.

A few more things:

  1. Those steps are done from memory. They might not be exact.
  2. If you have other computers on the network, they obviously won’t be able to print to the “Samsung ML-1210”. You will have to delete it and add the new “Lexmark E210”.
  3. It’s very possible that instead of following all those steps, you can simply change your existing Samsung ML-1210 printer’s driver. To do that, you would run the Lexmark install just long enough for it to extract the files to the hard drive (then cancel the installer), then edit the properties of the Samsung ML-1210, head to Advanced, and click “New Driver”, then “Next”, then “Have Disk”, then go to “C:LexmarkE210” and find the drivers there. Once updated, you should probably restart both the XP and Vista machines, and then try adding the network printer. The only reason I could think of that this *wouldn’t* work if the Lexmark installer adds a bunch of other junk that’s needed (in which case you’d have to proceed with the whole install).

Regardless of the method you go about doing it, those Lexmark E210 drivers should work. It was just the Samsung drivers that caused me the headache.

As a side note, if you have an ML-1210 hooked up to an XP machine and do a Vista *upgrade*, it becomes an ML-1000 Series IIRC. Not that it matters, but maybe it will help you if you have a similar problem and this fix doesn’t do it.

19 Comments | Leave a Comment

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  1. Sergey on November 14, 2006 - click here to reply
    Thanks a lot for posting this - spent hours trying to fix that myself
  2. Ron on December 11, 2006 - click here to reply
    Thanks for the post.
  3. Tristan on January 29, 2007 - click here to reply
    Bro, Just get the ML1210 Vista Drivers,
    off the http://www.samsung.com.au Website,
    Worked perfect...
  4. lunchbox on February 19, 2007 - click here to reply
    nice one, thanks for the tip - printer's working fine with vista (installed the lexmark drivers on vista and renamed the printer)
  5. Alistair Beaton on February 27, 2007 - click here to reply
    Thank you for that. I have the same problem with the Samsung driver and used the procedure in 3 above. It worked like a charm. Saved the Lexmark driver to my Software Downloads folder on my laptop, to which the Samsung is connected, then "ran" the self-extracting .exe file, which installed the driver components in C:\Lexmark\E210 then stopped, enabling me to follow your instructions from there on exactly.
  6. hanna on May 30, 2007 - click here to reply
    thanks
  7. Krish on October 6, 2007 - click here to reply
    Thanks a lot for posting this, however it didn't work for me. I followed everything and played around with the files but nothing. I'm running two laptops, one with XP and second vista.

    After 1 hour i managed something and it was working.

    I installed the driver provided on the XP machine and then went to look for the ML1210 driver for vista which was easy to find. I simply installed the new driver on the vista machine and that's it.

    The printer is connected to the XP laptop and i can now print from the vista one through my network.
  8. Cory Vigen on October 18, 2007 - click here to reply
    Wow, Matt, you are a god amongst men! Thanks so much for this info, I am setting up a new notebook for my wife, and I am VERY hesitant to go Vista, but with your step by step instructions (including instructions that go beyond exaclty what you say, ergo, canceling windows finding the samsung again) you have given ME a workable workaround. THANKS SO MUCH!!!
  9. Rolf Jansma on January 18, 2008 - click here to reply
    Thanks bro,

    This worked out great! Good solution
  10. Dr. Kamal Saini on March 25, 2008 - click here to reply
    Dear Sir, I ahave an Old Printer of Ml 1210 Samsung. This is not compatible with Window Vista. Please guisde me.
  11. Dr. Kamal Saini: You'll have to be a little more specific in what you're trying to do.

    If you have the ML-1210 attached to an XP machine and are trying to share it with Vista, the steps I listed appear to have worked for most people. Keep in mind that the initial steps are done on the XP machine (with the printer connected to it)

    If on the other hand you're simply trying to hook up the ML-1210 to a Vista machine (not shared through another computer or anything), it is compatible. Grab the latest drivers from the Samsung Website (www.samsung.com, Support, Download Center, search by Model Number - ML-1210, click the "driver" tab, then download the "Win Vista" driver --- steps as done on the canadian Samsung site).
  12. Sandbar on May 2, 2008 - click here to reply
    Just to make sure ...

    You installed the E210 XP drivers on a Vista PC to solve this problem?

    Thanks.
  13. Sandbar on May 2, 2008 - click here to reply
    Uh ... to further clarify ... my E210 is successfully installed and shared on an XP system and I want my Vista system to be able to print to it. I can't find Vista drivers for it.

    So, you are suggesting that I install the E210 XP drivers on my Vista PC?

    Thanks again.
  14. David on May 4, 2009 - click here to reply
    Nice!!!

    I have no idea why it is working, but it works.

    Thank
  15. To reply to Sandbar's comment (although I originally missed it and it's now quite old, someone else may have a similar question), you shouldn't have to install the drivers on your Vista system. Once you've installed the E210 drivers on the XP system (and then shared the printer), just head to the Vista computer and "Add a Network Printer" - it should automatically take care of the rest.
  16. Dave on October 18, 2009 - click here to reply
    Thanks worked just fine ! i spent hours downloading from samsung site with no joy.

    Thankyou
  17. Fred on November 12, 2009 - click here to reply
    Steps I did. Delete printer on XP machine. Install E210 driver on XP Machine instead of Samsung driver when prompted (just click on specific location for driver). Went to XP machine and everything worked normally! Obviously Samsung hasn't updated their driver...
    Thank you so much! I've been banging my head on the wall for about 6 months now. BTW the old ML-1210 driver will work on a Win7 Machine... but not on the Vista. Go figure!
  18. RT on January 20, 2010 - click here to reply
    Thank you! "Have disk" -> Lexmark driver helped. Vista computer found and connected to printer sucessfully!
  19. Gary Northeast on October 17, 2010 - click here to reply
    A bit late I know but thanks to Tristan for his advice re the Australian ML1200 drivers. Downloaded and installed them with absolutely no hitch. My Vista laptop now prints through the ML1210 hooked up to the XP desktop I have on the network here at home.

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