Unable to access shared printer

OK Paul

Sounds like sharing is working.

What results did you get by:

Rt click My Network places
search for computers and fill in the name of the computer that has the printer

first this should find the computer (named) then after the printer

when you click this printer it tell you the driver for this printer is not installed on this computer and that if you continue it will install it. So proceed.

If the above fails.

You should uninstall that printer from the Desktop computer. Reboot and reinstall and share as under a different name. Less than 8 letters no spaces.
example lex5150

Mike

 

. You cannot search for something that is not there;
. Nor, use it remotely.
. There is no 8 letter rule for a printer name
. There is no 8 letter rule for a sharename

 

Paul

There is no 8 letter rule, nor spaces rule, there are a few special character rules.

My prefrence in dealing with large networks as I do it is easier to keep it short and simple. I apply this my rule to all share and computer names.

Helps in scripts and bat and cmd files and command prompt.

Name it what ever you want!

And you can search for what is not there. Otherwise how do you even know if it is or not. Jeeze!!!!

You can search for anything, just may not find it!

Mike

 

Mike,
My efforts to find the printer by browsing as you suggest have failed so I think its time to try your other suggestion of uninstalling the printer, rebooting etc. Just one question first please : when you say uninstall the printer, the only ways I know of doing this are to rt-click on the printer icon and select delete or by selecting "delete this printer" from the task list in the left explorer pane. But is there another/better way of doing this to make sure it really gets uninstalled completely.
Thanks, Paul

 

Do it from the printers folder!

Delete it.

Reboot to be sure an then go and just reinstall like you did before.

And before SOMEONE says we don't need to change the share name. Please do that as somehow the name may be in confict.

What is the name and model of this printer. If it is multi function (printer fax copier scanner etc in one) those do have a few issues on a network. Takes extra steps sometimes.

Confirm this you can find the computer but not the printer??

Mike

 

@mflynn,


The problem is that there is no sharename, not a conflicting name. The user has to add a sharename for a locally attached printer. This is not true for a "real" network printer that acts as a stand-alone hostname on the LAN. The user cannot just right click a physical printer, and use the Sharing and security context menu to add a new printer share.

Until the user adds a new printer with the add a new printer applet under Printer and faxes, this discussion will continue to go in circles.

Second, you cannot create conflicting sharenames. On a single computer Windows would not permit you to do so. Even if you duplicated the sharename on two different machines this matters not to windows networking.

 

Dang I've been wrong for the past 27 years.

But that does remind me!

Paul when you do share the printer do not use the wizard. There is prompt to

If you understand sharing etc Just enable sharing, and answer yes you want to enale anyway. Choose that one.

And I hope you are at least grinning or laughing and not upset!!!

Mike

 

A remarkable achievement considering that the Netbios name-based networking component of Windows under TCP/IP is not even twenty years old.

 

Printer mapping has been pretty close to that!

You know I am not good with math!

Imagine my best Eddie Murphy Bucweet laugh!

Mike

 

Hey Paul

I hope you are having as much fun as we are! Probably not!

Anyways if you decide to leave it or can't finish it right now let me know because when you do. I am gonna git outta Dodge for the day.

Mike

 

No, i'm not upset, just a little confused......

Anyhow, to confirm, I used the "add printer" wizard both to add the printer to the machine to which it is wired and also to try to add it to the machine which is trying to find it on the network. In the first case, its a local printer on that machine, so I installed it as such, then selected sharing and gave it a share name. In the second case its a network printer so I tried to install it as such - following the procedure described elsewhere in this thread - and that's where I failed. Like I said, I'm going to try deleting the printer from the machine its attached to, reboot and try re-installing it.

By the way, much though I appreciate all the help, there is no way anyone should let this stand in there way of going and doing other (more important)things. Enjoy !

 

Don't overlook the obvious, check your Firewall settings on ALL machines.

Paul, Printer sharing is so easy I can't believe you're having all this grief. I just have to right click my printer icon and click on Sharing and tag the "Share this printer" and click OK. That's how it's supposed to work. No extra Network configuration has ever been necessary when I do it. I just accept the default assigned share name since I notice it's always an eight character truncation of my full printer name. The full printer name is hp deskjet 845c series and the share assigned name is hpdeskje. I never challenge that so I can't say if it would accept a long filename or not, don't really care since it works as is. Maybe I'm just lucky.

HTH

 

In the first case, (printer locally connected) you need to add it as a network printer. Windows understands that the printer is in fact locally connected. But it wants the workstation offering the printer as a shared device to use network printer queues and not local ones.

This is what you will share. This is the basis of my earlier comment that you cannot map to something that is not there, nor can you set share level access controls.

For similar reasons, this workstation should set as its default the Network and not local printer icon as the default printer. This is to avoid a local print job from possibly interfering with the network printer queue.

For other XP clients the shared printers will automaticly populate the Printers and Faxes screen (once properly created and shared).

You need only right click and Map to the printer to use it. They will also appear in My Network Places.

Check the setting in Control Panel, Folder Options, View
It should show a checkmark to 'Automaticly search for network folders and printers.'

 

Thanks Bill. Now that sounds really interesting.... In the past when I've wanted to share a local printer, I've simply installed it as a "local printer attached to this computer" and then enabled sharing and given it a share name - and voila, it could be shared over the network. But you say I should actually install the locally connected printer as a "network printer ". If I interpret you correctly, this would mean clicking "a network printer or a printer attached to another computer" from the first menu in the "add printer menu" even though the printer is actually attached (wired) to this computer ! If I do that, then what would I select on the next menu called "Specify a Printer" ? Since the printer would not already be installed at that point, its hard to see how I could specify one....
Thanks again, Paul

 

Paul,
I do not want to join an argument here but you must really read what others have written. There are fundamental differences between a shared printer and a network printer, and from what you have written it sounds like you are confused about the difference.
To have a network printer, you must either have a special printer that costs, or you need a print server that can be used with most current printers but not combo printers. The fact that you have a wireless network does not change any of these facts.
It sounds like you want a shared printer arrangement. This means the printer is working on a computer to which it is attached with a USB cable, and you want to share this printer with other computers on your wireless network.
If you designate this printer as one to be shared, and you go into the printer info in the control panel of the other computers and attempt to add a shared printer using the printer wizard, you should have no problem setting this up. The printer will NEVER appear on your network because it operates through a computer that appears on your network. That is why you need the computer to be powered when you want to use the printer from another computer on your network.
I do not know how I can state this any clearer. Try it my way and it should work unless your OS is broken in some way or you lost your printer drivers. I have performed these operations several times on several wireless systems and it is a cinch to set up. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to get it to work!
If you have a printer which does faxes, copying and printing - I do not believe you can share that printer. You must look in the user's manual or call the printer manufacturer to see if it can be done.
Good luck and good day!

 

Hi ackerberg (sorry, dont know your name).....

I don't think I am confused, at least I don't think I was until I did indeed read all the various posts I've received from people trying to help me out on this. In the first instance I did EXACTLY as you describe, just as I always have done on other networks. Like you say, its not rocket science, and on those other networks it has always worked just fine for me. But on this network it doesn't. If you look at my other posts, you'll see I've got file/folder sharing working just fine but not print sharing. Right now I suspect the best option is to try deleting the printer, rebooting and then re-installing it, as a number of people have suggested. However, your comment about multi-function printers is interesting. Is it commonly the case that printers like that can't be shared - any ideas why not ?
Thanks, Paul

 

Paul,
What is the model and name of the printer you are trying to share? Is it a combination fax, copier, printer? If it is, it will not share. You also should check that the printer can be shared.

 

I hope you can clarify this for me. The first sentence I cannot make sense of. XP will Auto discover, and make an entry on the workstation hosting the printer. You will see it marked "Auto ". It will do this in My Network Places and the Printers and Faxes applet unless the auto discovery feature was disabled through Folder Options, View. It does not treat the Host workstation of the printer any differently than it does any other network client.

If the workstation hosting the printer is not on, you obviously cannot print. But neither My Network Places nor the Printer and Faxes applet will remove a discovered printer because the printer host computer is not powered on. Microsoft is ambiguous about the aging factor involved. From what I have seen the suggestion is that these Auto created printer objects should age from both My Network Places and the Printer and Faxes applet after approximately two weeks. My own experience is that they tend to hang around a lot longer than that, but of course can always be right-click deleted at any time. If re-discovered, the entries will reappear.

It will not remove any entry on a workstation where the printer was set as the default printer. Whether the host workstation is powered-on or not. It will in fact spool the print job on the local workstation and then report an error in printer status, and attempt to print the job when the workstation hosting the printer comes on line.

 

Ok Paul I am out of here after I go over the steps. This simple but I have had problems when something else on the computer caused the issue.

If I have done this once I have done it 100 times.

1. On the computer that has the printer cabled to it.
start-settings-printers
delete the printer by rt click delete

2.reboot

3. reinstall the printer

4. once installed (and tested) dbl click printer then clk the word printer in top left

5. then click Sharing, put dot in share this printer
if you get a message about sharing here choose ( I understand Sharing etc just enable sharing)

6. in share name type a name like HP4000 click apply then OK
printer name should be bold now and not grayed out.

Close out of printer. Leave printer folder open if you want.

NOW to the network computer that you want to print FROM:

1. Browse to the computer that has the printer physically attached and if computer is found then dbl click the computer may need to select View workgroup computers .

Then choose workgroup

then choose the computer that has printer

It should open up and show all shared folders and printers. If it does not then you have a basic problem with sharing or a permissions issue.

Like this Dbl click My Network places

then microsoft windows networking or at this point you may need to select View workgroup computers.

if you have more than 1 workgroup then pick the one that has the computer you are trying to find.

Then you should see "computer" you are searching for.

dbl click it

should see all folders and printers shared from it

if the printer is not there at this point then stop because we have other issues to deal with.


2. if printer is there dbl click it. It should the tell you that it will need to be installed. So let it.

Mike

 

Bill,
I have had both shared and network printers on my wireless network. When I look inside the router to the attached device list, I have never seen a shared printer - although the network printer does appear.
If you are able to see a shared printer in your wireless router's attached list of devices, more power to you.
I'm not trying to be argumentative, but simply giving the facts as I know them.
This is a lively thread. That's good!