communication not available

[bob s]

I've set up a printer on my xp wired machine and shared it out to my vista
laptop.
I was able to get it to connect and print fine. But after i logged out and
then back in the printer will not work.

I get the following message "Communication Not Available"

the Printer cannot communicate with the computer

I think it might have to do with the xp share requiring a password

 

[trouble]

Unstable network sharing is usually more of a problem when peripherals or
drives are on the Vista machine. I have sadly seen many Vista installations
where file and peripheral sharing one day stops working although no
sharing/permissions settings have changed.
What may be happening is that your Vista wireless is not connecting properly
to the router, also a too common issue in my experience.
Although other Vista and XP wireless machines may have stable wireless
connections to the router some Vista units periodically cannot connect
without resetting the router. I do not know if the blame lies with Vista or
the wireless hardware/driver in the computer.
Presumably you have rechecked the XP settings for the printer and they are
correct?
Try resetting the router (unplug/replug the power) and reboot your Vista
machine. If it connects stably to the network (you can share files with the
XP machine) but you still cannot share the printer then delete and reinstall
the share on the XP machine.
Hopefully you will re-establish printer sharing. However it is a sad fact of
Vista life that for many users the sharing will not last . . .

 

[Jack-MVP]

Hi
I have numerous amount of Wireless settings with both Vista and XP, and I do
not see this behaviors when every thing is configured correctly.
Unless a person is use an old Router that is Not fully compatible with Vista
this should not happen.
In such a case, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233
"trouble", you have to check the status of the Network when this happens.
I.a. it might be that laptop disconnect from the Router's Wireless
connection and thus No sharing any more.
Some Laptops experience disconnection due to the Power Saving setting of the
Laptop' Wireless cards. Try to disable the Wireless card's Power Saving.
In general, make sure that the Software Firewall on each computer allows
free local traffic. If you use 3rd party Firewall On, Vista/XP Native
Firewall should be Off, and the active Firewall has to adjusted to your
Network IP numbers on what is some time called the Trusted Zone (consult
your 3rd Party Firewall instructions.
General example, http://www.ezlan.net/faq#trusted
Vista File and Printer Sharing-
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx
Windows XP File Sharing -
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304040
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304040
Printer Sharing XP -
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/honeycutt_july2.mspx
Windows Native Firewall setting for Sharing XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875357
Windows XP patch for Sharing with Vista (Not need for XP-SP3) -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922120
Jack (MS, MVP-Networking)

 

[bob s]

the network seems to be fine just the printer will not communicate with the
computer after i log out and back in