beevo

I should mention also that you can get these machines (with 2gb) for around £65-70 delivered in UK (link below as example - no affiliation or commercial interest to me) and even if it comes with windows 7 or whatever you can install a dual boot to XP (see youtube for tutorials) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/eMachines-eM350-Laptop-Netbook-1-66ghz-2gb-WiFi-Webcam-Windows-7-/172221250948?hash=item28192fbd84:g:VcYAAOSw3mpXGgYD

Hi Neil_j It is now nearly 3 years since I made my post above. I should say that in the end the solution I opted for was to buy a second hand netbook (Acer-Emachines EM350) running windows xp and use that as a dedicated computer for the R300 printer. Any CDs I need printed I do on that XP netbook connected directly to the R300 via USB (I don't allow it access to the internet due to security risks now that XP is no longer MS supported) In the end this was the easiest solution. Because I'm not just printing the odd CD here and there, I'm printing batches of CDs sometimes over a hundred at a time. It is most disappointing that Epson suggest MS should already have the R300 drivers installed and MS say Epson are to blame. The only solution offered by Epson was a 'work-around' to print 'manually' and the problem with that 'solution' is you have to do it for each and every CD you print, you can't set it up and print a batch of 10 or whatever. So bottom line, buy a cheap 2nd hand XP machine and use it as dedicated CD print server. What you'll spend in money you will save in frustration, time and fist shaking at Epson.

Thanks again for all who read through my rather long post and any help offered. @ Andromeda43 Like I said in my original post. I have contacted EPSON support and they haven't got back to me. I've also mentioned that I've downloaded the very latest software utilities - including Print CD - which is version 2 - still no joy. I hope in the near future Epson will make a driver that works so I can print directly from Windows 8 as that would be a help. Thanks again for your thoughtful attention.

OK SO - PROBLEM SOLVED. Because I had already installed the printer drivers to lpt1 on the xp guest os, That windows had a record of them. So I installed a new local printer printer. My printer couldn't be found on any port so I made a new port and named it \\nameofhostcomputer\nameofprinter it then gave me a list of drivers to choose from I chose EPSON on the left and then the drivers for each posible printer showed up on the right. I was disappointed not to find the EPSON STYLUS PHOTO R300 in it's proper alphabetical place. BUT on scrolling down to the bottom it was the last printer listed. I can't believe after so many hours I have finally got this to work - albeit via a VM Virtualbox running XP pro! So so glad I can get on with my work now. I don't know who to shake my fists at; EPSON or Microsoft!!! Maybe both. Thanks for your help. I hope this post helps someone else with the same problem.

Thanks submix8c for your prompt reply. Well, like I said; on the XP VM I already have the drivers installed and working. I should be specific; The setup.exe is the driver set up for the EPSON R300 ON THE XP guest! I'm assuming the the XP 'install network driver' wizard is going to install them again but this time for the network printer. If so, how do I find it - what will it be called and is there a place already where the .inf file is and can I just copy that to the spools folder you mentioned? THanks

Thanks first of all for the most informative site. I've never been here before and it's full of interesting stuff. I'll do my best to keep this as short as I can but it's a bit complicated. I've just bought a quad core desktop with W8 on it. I need to install drivers so as to print to my Epson Stylus Photo R300. The default drivers are fine for printing normally to paper. But when you use the Epson Print CD software, when it comes to printing you get the message: "The EPSON printer driver dealing with CD printing is not installed". I've been to ESPON site and downloaded different utilities and drivers from w8 back to win xp. I've even tried installing them in compatibility mode (xp sp2 xp sp3) and then also running the "Print CD" program using the same compatibility mode. I get the same error message. I've tried the solution offered by EPSON for the same problem when OS is VIsta - it says to 'click OK to the error message, choose tray 2, choose manual install, choose a4 for page size, in properties choose CD for the type of media' etc. however my printer then tells me to remove the CD tray and it simply wants to print to paper as normal. Soooooooooooooo. (told you we would take a while to get here - sorry) I've installed XP pro on a VM Virtual box and the drivers and utilities for the Epson R300 including "Print CD" and the program runs fine BUT as it couldn't find the printer connected to the host on W8 I had to set that up manually on LPT1. I've tried various suggestions on the net to allow my USB host connections to show through on the guest machine but that didn't work. So in order to print to the printer from within the guest XP OS, I tried adding a network printer. Sure enough it shows the printer and when I go to install it, it says; the drivers for the host printer are wrong and asks me to search for a .inf file. Frustratingly I HAVE the drivers needed but it is a .exe file sitting on the desktop! I've spent about 10 hours in total now trying all kinds of drivers to get the printer to print to CD. I've contacted EPSON but they've not replied as yet. So Can anyone help me here: I need to either get the drivers to work on my W8 OR If anyone can tell me how to get my printer on the USB host W8 to be 'seen' on the guest XP OR perhaps simpler??? if anyone can tell me how to get the host XP 'add network driver' routine to use the drivers setup.exe file instead of looking for a .inf file - Or perhaps tell me how to make a .inf file that will load the exe file - then I can use that for the network printer set up - that would be great. Please don't suggest a dual boot I need to have access to the W8 system at the same time. Thank you so much for your time. I just joined today and my profile says I use XP pro (but that's just the guest VM) I'm actually using W8 but there was no option on the form to choose that.