On occasion I get a chance to get out and do some networking that involves tcp/ip printing. In this instance, I was adding two new XP Pro workstations to a 2000 domain and was finishing up by adding a few non-local printers (or as MS calls them, print devices). After choosing "network printer ..." from the ADD PRINTER WIZARD I was easily able to browse to the printers in question. However, when actually choosing them I was immediately prompted for username/password and then rejected (even if I used a local admin or domain admin account). According to the path identified in explorer, these two printers were mapped to the only Win 98 machine still on this network - immediate confusion

After a little tinkering, I found out that I could jot down the IP address of the TCP/IP ports as taken from any of the other machines which were already printing to the devices before I arrived and then use that same information to create a "local" printer on the two new machines ---- I was successfull. But that "workaround" certainly didn't feel right. If I have to go around to every new machine and add a "local printer," then exactly WHEN would I use the "network printer" option from the ADD PRINTER WIZARD. After all, these were "network printers" that were connected to an ethernet cable and were sitting alone in a mail room. Does anyone have a CLEAR understanding of the process

Thanks
Chad

Chad_S wrote:
> On occasion I get a chance to get out and do some networking that
> involves tcp/ip printing. In this instance, I was adding two new XP
> Pro workstations to a 2000 domain and was finishing up by adding a
> few non-local printers (or as MS calls them, print devices). After
> choosing "network printer ..." from the ADD PRINTER WIZARD I was
> easily able to browse to the printers in question. However, when
> actually choosing them I was immediately prompted for
> username/password and then rejected (even if I used a local admin or
> domain admin account). According to the path identified in explorer,
> these two printers were mapped to the only Win 98 machine still on
> this network - immediate confusion.
>
> After a little tinkering, I found out that I could jot down the IP
> address of the TCP/IP ports as taken from any of the other machines
> which were already printing to the devices before I arrived and then
> use that same information to create a "local" printer on the two new
> machines ---- I was successfull. But that "workaround" certainly
> didn't feel right. If I have to go around to every new machine and
> add a "local printer," then exactly WHEN would I use the "network
> printer" option from the ADD PRINTER WIZARD. After all, these were
> "network printers" that were connected to an ethernet cable and were
> sitting alone in a mail room. Does anyone have a CLEAR understanding
> of the process?
>
> Thanks,
> Chad

The wizard just offers an all-in-one printer installation helper. I
have done network printer installs both ways, having found I could
change a local printer into a network printer almost accidentally with
the ports tab in the printer properties.

Q