Patent ID: 6957437

Claim:
A method of configuring a computer for installation of a peripheral device, the method comprising: preparing a print server to retrieve a first device identification from a memory of the peripheral device, the print server, the peripheral device, and the computer being connected via a computer network, wherein the print server is directly connected to the computer, and the peripheral device is indirectly connected to the computer; comparing the first device identification to device names on a list of names associated with device drivers, the list and the drivers being stored in a memory of the computer; selecting for use an associated device driver if the first device identification matches one of the names, wherein at least a portion of a routine for the preparing, comparing, and selecting operations is stored in a memory of the computer, and at least a portion of the routine for the preparing, comparing, and selecting operations is stored in a memory of the print server; determining whether the peripheral device and the corresponding selected device driver have a previously identified installation problem using historical information stored in a database of the print server; retrieving countermeasure information required to resolve the identified installation problem from the database; and providing the countermeasure information to a user to enable installation of the selected device driver.