You still need some sort of drivers for whatever operating system you run on the host hardware.
I seem to be going in circles not understanding your answer. Scenario:
I buy a new computer laptop with Vista on it and a new printer that works with that computer. I want to run XP so I wipe my hard drive and install XP Home (or Pro). Am I now screwed because I have no printer driver for that laptop hardware? In other words, is the printer driver machine (hardware) specific or operating system specific or both?
Fine.
> I want to run XP so I wipe my hard drive and install XP Home (or Pro).
NO!
Leave Vista on the new machine. Just don't do anything with it except install VMware, and run XP in the VM. No need to ever see Vista except when you boot the machine cold. And the pre-packaged drivers in Vista for your Vista-only hardware do the work for you underneath Vmware. XP never has to see them.
> > Am I now screwed because I have no printer driver for that laptop hardware? In other words, is the printer driver machine (hardware) specific or operating system specific or both?
Printer drivers are sometimes OS-specific, but are rarely (in my experience never) host machine hardware-specific.
You can attach printers or other peripherals to the Vista host machine, and "connect" them into the XP VM by choice. Or if the printer is Vista-only, install it for Vista and "share" it over the (totally internal) network to the XP VM as a Windows shared printer with a more generic (XP-compatible) interface.
Now, now you’re screwed because parts of the laptop don’t have drivers under XP (because they’re newer than XP is).
So, your video might not work properly, your modem might not work, your ethernet and wireless might not be recognized, your webcam and bluetooth won’t work....
This isn’t about accessory drivers. This is about *system* drivers.