Resolved Windows hosts, and printer not found on network for discovery

I am trying to share a printer (HP Deskjet 1110) which is usb connected to a PC which is connected via wireless to my home Netgear router. The other host in my house is connected to the router via RJ45.

I have set "sharing" on the target printer as well as the network card in each local host. I have "discovery" set on each host as well. The both hosts are in the same workgroup although not the default Windows "workgroup".

I'm not able to install the printer because it fails discovery and cannot find it if I manually enter the hostname and printer share name either.

I'm not really surprised that I cannot find the printer through the network since I do not even see the host listed in the network viewed from either host.

Is there a setting that I missed? I would like to see the hosts on my local network from each host to the other.

What am I, or Microsoft, doing wrong? This used to be quite simple and I'm guessing it still should be. HELP!

I see the wireless host listed in the media servers which makes it all the more confusing to me. They connect to the Internet with no problems and have coexisted in my network for a long time (not a new installation).

 

Are they using the same OS ? Win 7 can see Win 10 computer but not vice versa.

Have you tried to access the other networked system by giving the ip instead of the computer name ?

 

Since my original post I started two services that were not set correctly from the installation and now the PC's 'see' each other in the graphic network view.

Both PC's are Win 10 Version 1803. Screenshots (which this site does not allow me to upload) show that my two systems show up in the graphical network view but not in the command response to 'net view' either by name or by IP. net view command returns "System error 53", 'the network path was not found'.

Could not configure the printer using the host's IP either but I would not expect that to work.

 

Check your Netgear router. Many support network printing via a USB port. This would be much better than trying to share a printer through a PC. You avoid all the sharing hassles this way. Also, every one on the network can print without any host computer being up and running.

 

Is username & password same on both the PCs ? Win10 won't allow you to connect if you don't have any password set for user account.

 

Yes, username and password are the same on both PC's.

 

I need the usb printer to remain on the remote host.

 

I just logged on to update.

I have been able to 'see' the printer. Although Windows Defender has file and print sharing "allowed" in the Private network settings it only works when I turn the Windows Defender firewall off for the Private network on the machine serving the printer. I turned off that firewall and installed the printer and printed to it with no problems. It stops working again as soon as I turn the firewall back on for the Private network on the server node.

I downloaded and ran the "Windows Firewall Troubleshooter" but it finds no problems with the firewall. Par for the course for Microsoft troubleshooters. I have worked on computers for 40 years and can count on one hand the number of times Microsoft actually found and fixed one of their problems. Such is life in the Microsoft world.
Link: How to troubleshoot and fix Windows 10's firewall problems | Windows Central

I assume it is safe to continue running with the Private network firewall turned off so that is my "workaround" unless you have a better suggestion? What say you?

Thank to all thus far for the suggestions.

I will wait to mark this thread solved to see if anyone has a working solution for the Windows Defender issue.

P.S. I am running Avast free Virus protection on the server node but the PC uses Windows Defender firewall.

 

You should NEVER run without firewall on each of your computers even if you have an edge firewall/router.

Enable the firewall & restart both the computers to see if it solves your problem. Else you could tweak the firewall to open the LAN ports. It's normally allowed by default but something seems to have messed it up.

 

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Rebooting the two systems after turning on the Private firewall did not fix the issue, but, as you suggested, rather than leave the firewall off for the Private network, and since the troubleshooter didn't find anything, someone suggested I reset the firewall to it's default settings.

Well it was a firewall issue. I have never tinkered with the default firewall settings but restoring the defaults fixed the problem.

Thanks rsinfo, you got me on the right track.