Printer problem

i connected an Epson D68 printer to my desktop computer in my home network. when i tried to print from a laptop (which is wirelessly connected to the desktop) it came up in the print spooler as Guest....the thing is although it said "printing" it wasn't actually printing....

Simple-file sharing is enabled and i can print successfully from the desktop.

can any1 help??

 

I believe s/he did.

But more information is still expected.

 

yes....they were installed on the laptop before i had installed it on the desktop.
But dont the printer drivers automatically get uploaded to the laptop if i was to access the printer through the desktop anyway?..

either way..im assuming that as the print jobs appear in the print spooler that the drivers wouldve already been installed...

 

In almost all cases, you must install drivers to use a standalone printer. The main exception is if you set up a print server (such as the Windows 2003 server service) and load the drivers on the server. Then when you connect to the server printer share, the server uploads the drivers to the client.

As you are in a peer to peer system and therefore not running via a server, you will need to install drivers. (However, see note below)

However, not all drivers are suitable for network printing. Many desktop printer drivers expect the printer to be directly attached to the PC so as to provide services like checking ink levels. Network print drivers tend to be much simpler and only handle printing.

I suggest you check Epson's web site for network drivers. It is possible that your printer is not suitable for network printing (though such prints are getting less common nowadays).

 

Have a look at this guide on the Epson site.

As you will see, you can set up the PC sharing the printer to hand out drivers, even on a peer to peer network.

 

hmmm...i have done that that already.
i was maybe thinking...i have the drivers installed on the laptop already for when i used to connect the printer directly to the printer.
now the laptop has to print from the printer that is connected to another computer (DESKTOP). when i first added the printer, the drivers were installed again......now maybe im thinking there could be a problem if the drivers are installed twice....when it is connected directly or through another computer........or is this not a problem?

i'm not sure where to start looking for the problem. all the connections seem to be fine.

 

WELL..i managed to sort out the problem. it appears, because the same printer comes up in my printers and faxes applet twice (one when it was connected directly to the printer via USB, and the other connected through the desktop pc)...i basically changed my default printer to the other printer icon.

so having solved this, i ask the question, although the printer is not shared on my laptop i still access it through the icon. in other words......the printer only needs to be shared from the computer it is directly attached to.....however when it shows on the laptop....it doesnt appear to be shared as there is no hand under the icon (or in the sharing option).

.....am i making sense?...and is it supposed to be like this...or have i just complicated things even more?

 

The hand indicates that you have set up to share the resource from the current PC. The hand does not mean "this is a shared resource ", but rather "I am offering this resource for sharing to others ".

If you are on a remote PC connected to a printer attached to another PC, the hand will not appear as you are not actively offering the share. You are using the shared resource, not offering it to others.

 

cool...have a similar problem now when i tried to connect a laptop running XP Home to the printer (as part of the network)

when i add printer in the add printer (P&F applet) i find the printer....only i appears different to how it appears on the laptop running XP Pro. i am able to connect to the printer (using XP Pro) laptop as it uses "\\Desktopcomputername\Epson" port in the properties. On the XP Home laptop when i add the printer it comes up using port "USB001....Virtual printer port for USB "....

How do i connect the XP Home laptop to the printer properly....because it doesnt print if i use that (USB001...) one?

 

SORTED!...had to add printer manually