Hi. I do a lot of digital photography, photoshop, printing, etc. About a month ago I installed SP2 and had a couple of problems but for 2 weeks everything has been running great. But tonight I needed to print some digital photos and they came out very dark and over saturated. I removed and reinstalled the driver for my printer (Epson Stylus Photo R300) and it did not help. Then I remembered that I hadn't printed anything since installing SP2. I use the Windows XP photo printing wizard most of the time unless I need special custom sized prints. For that I have several other software programs that I use. But I like the XP Photo Printing Wizard and was, as usual, using this program. I tried another program and the printer prints normal photos with other programs. So it looks like it must be the SP2 installation that has messed up the Photo Printing Wizard. If anyone has had this problem and knows how to fix it I would appreciate any info. Or if anyone else might want to suggest something I will try that too. I've gotten this far with SP2 so I hate to try to remove it but I sure wish I could use the wizard for printing. James.

James Lee, first off, lemme say that I am not familiar with the wizard or the software you refer to. That said, you get my 2¢ worth anyway (lucky you!). SWAG, sounds to me like you need to adjust the print settings. Are there options? Printer settings/software? What about a wrong driver being used? Since it seems to like the settings in other proggies, makes me think that the change reset something so there should be some way to put the settings back like before. HTH. Ed in Texas.

The wizard they are refering to is called the XP photo printing wizard that's built into XP, it's nothing special. When you view pictures in the windows XP picture and fax viewer and hit the little print icon the XP print wizard comes up. When you get to the printing options screen in the XP wizard click printing preferences and see if adjusting there will make it better. God knew I couldn't be a pioneer, that's why he gave me a computer!

Mary, Yes you right about the printing wizard. And when you click printing preferences what actually happens is your printer software program is imported into the XP printing wizard build. I have set up my Epson software with a general setting for text, web, etc., that I print on paper settings. And I have a custom setting for high quality digital photos that I print on glossy photo paper. I have my Epson software set to default for the cheap, paper setting. For printing digital photos on glossy paper I just click the custom setting (I saved it as "Photo") in the Epson software, and all the settings are automatically reset to what I want when I print photos to glossy paper. The problem is, after doing all this, the photos come out very dark and over saturated. When I import the Epson software into "Microsoft Picture It" the same "printing preferences" tab is available as in the XP wizard. I click my "Photo" custom setting and the photos come out normal (correct saturation and lighting). You may ask "why not just use Microsoft Picture It?" Well, that IS what I'm doing right now. But it is more convenient using the XP wizard than opening up Picture It, which is a very huge program. And also, because this (photo printing wizard) is something that does not work and it is only because I installed SP2. So I want it to work. I have emailed the Microsoft SP2 help & support site. They have sent me an email and asked for more info that I have sent and they are supposed to send me info on a driver update. They say that the problem with the wizard is that the Epson driver needs to be updated due to the installation of SP2. This is their actual quote - " The cause of the issue can be related to the driver for the printer for Windows Photo Wizard. Windows XP Service Pack 2 has implemented many new security features. However, these features may not be compatible with some hardware drivers. It is suggested that we install updates from the manufacturers." I will find out more tomorrow. I'm not even sure if Epson HAS any updates for this driver. James.

OK, I see. I also love the XP printing wizard. It's just so simple and easy if you want to print something quick. Strange how other programs are printing fine but the wizard is not. I also love the XP scan wizard, it's much easier than the complex program that came with my all in one. God knew I couldn't be a pioneer, that's why he gave me a computer!