Sharing fails on Windows 7 64bit cp2025dn

Question

I picked up a HP cp2025dn to replace my old HP1100 because my new computer doesn't have a parallel port on it.  I installed Windows 7 Professional 64bit on the new computer.  I would like to get this printer setup similar to the old one which is having it shared via Windows from my desktop and just print to it from my other 2 laptops.  I installed the drivers on the desktop and printing works perfect and the printer seems awesome so far.  I was able to share it and can connect to it from my Windows XP laptop but no driver will work.  I've tried the various downloads from hp.com and pointing to every single directory on the CD, but Windows says it is the wrong version.  In the sharing properties I've tried to install 32 bit drivers and again pointing the wizard to every directory on the CD and the downloaded and expanded drivers packages for Windows XP, the wizard doesn't like any of them.
I was able to successfully plug the USB cable directly into my laptop after running the CD. At that point I was hoping that Windows XP would be smart enough to see the drivers when I tried to connect to the shared printer but it failed to work.  I also installed the universal driver and pointed it to the share and with thatI get a message about printer not responding.  Doing some searches on google I found that it might be related to how the device is identified in the Win7 inf files compared to the XP inf's but have no clue what to modify to get them to match.  
Any suggestions on getting this working? 
I know this printer also has a network port but where I have my desktop there is only one jack and I really don't want to put a switch there since I use this computer to game and want it as close to my router as possible.  Before I go there I think I'd buy a printer stand and set it up in my spare bedroom which has an unused network jack in it.

Answer 1

I had the same problem when installing to my Windows 2008 Server (x64).
It turns out that many of the HP drivers access the windows kernel and corupt the print spooler.
The HP universal drivers are more friendly but simply installing one now that the spooler is corupt will not fix your problem.
I did find a way, that didn't require me to reinstall the OS.
1. In Windows 7, go to Devices and Printers, right click on "Printer Properties."
2. Click on the ports tab and delete the port you are running on.
3. Click OK
4. Right click on the printer again and remove device.
5. Download the universal printer driver (I used the PCL5) from the HP site and install the printer using that driver.
If you cannot get the old driver off the system, you may have to reinstall the OS.
Good Luck and never again use anything but the Universal Printer Driver from HP.