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(More customer reviews)There clearly seems to be much confusion regarding whether this product works with Vista. Hopefully I can help clear that up shortly.
I hadn't found this cable on Amazon yet when I purchased it. A number of reviews for other USB Parallel port adapters on Amazon referred to this cable as the one to buy instead of the particular brand they were reviewing. Since I couldn't find it on Amazon however (Amazon's search didn't turn it up for me on many attempts), I bought it elsewhere. I finally found it (and these reviews) quite by accident on Amazon only after buying it elsewhere (Amazon, are you paying attention? This is more evidence that your search capability could use some improvement). For that reason, I hadn't seen the reviews on Amazon (below) which say that this cable DOES NOT work with Vista nor had I seen Belkin's comments that it is NOT Vista compatible.
Thing is.....it is working fine with my old printer and my Windows Vista Home Premium system!
There are a number of possible explanations for the inconsistencies. First of all, Belkin's customer service may be flat wrong about the product being incompatible with Vista and they just don't know how to install it properly. More about that a little later in this review. It wouldn't be the first time a customer service department doesn't have good knowledge about their products. I've been running into that a lot recently with new products it seems.
Another explanation may be that Belkin has upgraded the cable to work with Vista (it that's true, they still haven't upgraded their documentation however because mine makes no mention of Vista). My model number is a F5U002v1. Another reviewer on Amazon pointed out that the "v1" may stand for a Vista version of the cable (the older designation is apparently F5U002). I have no way of knowing if that's true or not but it certainly sounds plausible.
There is clearly much confusion in the documentation regarding this product however. I bought mine in August of 2008 and as I mentioned earlier, it is working fine with my Windows Vista system (even though there seems to be plenty of documentation and experiences indicating that it shouldn't be). I have two printers. One is a new Dell printer which has only a USB connection and connects to my CPU through a USB port. The second is an older IBM 4029 laser printer which only has a parallel port connection. That is the printer I have connected through the Belkin parallel port cable to another USB port on the CPU.
I was only able to get it working under Vista however because Vista already included a driver for my IBM 4029 printer (look under Vista "Control Panel" then to "Printers" then "Add Printer" then "Add a Local Printer" and look under the list of printers). Under "Add a Local Printer" it will say "Use this option only if you don't have a USB printer (Windows automatically installs USB printers when you plug them in)".
Note that this message apparently ONLY APPLIES to printers with native USB cables, such as my newer Dell. With this Belkin adapter cable and an old, parallel port cable you will still need to "Add a local printer" as if it didn't have a USB port.
If your parallel port printer type is listed under the "add a local printer" list, Vista includes a driver for your printer and you don't need any additional software from the printer manufacturer. If your printer is not on that list however, try selecting "generic printer" and look on the installation diskette that comes with your printer to see if it has a driver that it says will work with Vista (or look at your printer manufacturer's website to see if they have a Vista compatible driver available for download).
Chances are good that you can at least find one on the printer manufacturer's website. If you have driver software from BOTH the manufacturer's web site as well as one pre-installed on Vista, you should always choose the one provided by the manufacturer's web site. This is because while the windows native driver may work, the one from the manufacturer's site may support extra features or fix some known glitches.
So, to summarize... you do need to have *BOTH* a Vista compatible printer driver (as mentioned previously either already in the Vista "add printers" list or from the printer manufacturer) *AND* this Belkin Cable. The documentation for the cable doesn't really do a good job of pointing that out.
Once you have both, the trick to installing it is:
A:
Plug in the parallel port end of the Belkin cable to your printer and the USB end into your computer. Vista should display a message something like - "Vista has installed your device and it is ready for use". You are NOT DONE yet however. Your still have to go to part B:
B:
Go to "Control Panel", "Printers", "Add Printer", "Add Local Printer" and select "use an existing port". A drop down list of port names such as "LPT1", etc. will appear. Select the proper "Virtual Printer Port" from the list. It will probably be "USB001" unless you have more than one printer attached via a USB port. Mine is "USB002" because I have two printers and the parallel port printer was the second one attached to a USB port.
Once you have done that, go to "next", select your printer from the list and install the driver according to the instructions and/or the comments I made earlier. Once that is done, your printer should appear as available in "printers" and you should be able to select it and print to it.
I hope these instructions are helpful. Note that my comments ONLY APPLY to installing a printer under Vista!!! Installation instructions for previous versions of Windows are included with the cable and are also available on Belkin's web site. I have rated this cable as 4 stars instead of 5 for two reasons. One is because the documentation is so poor and does not address use with Vista.
The other is because the installation CD-ROM included with the cable (for use in installing on earlier editions of Windows) is too small (less than 3") to fit in my CD-ROM drive (which is vertically mounted). It is not the full size CD-ROM pictured and had I needed it, it would have been useless to me.
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Belkin F5U002V1 USB Parallel Printer AdapterCompatible with Windows 95 rev. B, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, and Windows XP, the USB-Parallel Adapter from Belkin attaches your parallel printer through a USB port, and leaves your parallel port available for parallel scanners or cameras. It installs effortlessly and delivers proven faster printing. This adapter also supports Hewlett-Packard DeskJet Resolution Enhancement Technology. What's in the Box USB-parallel adapter and 6-foot Belkin Pro Series USB device cable.
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