HELP: Cannot share Printer on Network

[Jimmy Hsu]

I have difficulty sharing my Printer over my Home Network. I have a
desktop, running Win XP Home Edition and 2 notebooks connected wirelessly to
the desktop using a 2Wire 1800HW ADSL Modem/Router (with Firewall) at
10mbps. The desktop is connected to the Modem by a Ethernet cable.
Browsing the Internet with the notebooks was not a problem.

I set up Printer sharing following instructions form Microsoft's site at:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/honeycutt_july2.mspx

For Printer sharing, I clicked Control Panel, Printers and Other Hardware,
Printers and Faxes. Under Printers and Faxes, I clicked my HP printer's
icon and, then clicked Share This Printer.
I opened the printer's Properties dialog box, and clicked on the Sharing
tab, then clicked Share Name, (Printer4).

However, when I went to my notebook and clicked Add a New Printer, I didnt
see the HP printer's name at all. Browsing for the network printer also
didnt work. The notebooks did not detect the printer.

Grateful if you can help. Thank you

 

[David Vair]

First are all of the systems in the same workgroup? That will make browsing the network eaiser.
Second are you running any software firewalls on the systems that may be blocking them from seeing
each other?

 

[Jimmy Hsu]

I'm not sure if they are all part of the same Workgroup. The instructions
on Microsoft's site didnt mention how to set this up. How do I do this. I
am a newbie.
The Win XP firewalls for both my my desktop and notebook are turned on
Grateful if you can advise what I need to do. Thank you again
..

 

[David Vair]

If you right click My Computer and select properties then select the Computer Name tab you will see
the name of the workgroup. Make sure they are all in the same workgroup name. Use the change button
if you need to change of the names.

In the filewall you need to make sure file and printer sharing are allowed to pass through the
firewall. In the control panel select the Windows Firewall, on the exceptions tab be sure that the
files and printer sharing box is checked on all systems.

 

[Guest]

David,

I have a problem similar to Jimmy's. There's a SHARED printer on my Windows
ME system that my XP system cannot "connect" to (a hardwired Linksys router
network). Note: I did connect to another printer on the ME system which was
removed today, but the new printer on the ME system now won't connect.
IMPORTANT: my XP system CAN access all the shared drives on the ME system and
"sees" the new printer -- it just won't connect!!?? Question: I haven't
loaded the new printer's drivers on my XP. Could this be the problem? I
know I must have the new drivers on my XP unit to USE the printer, but I
don't think I need the drivers to simply CONNECT or ADD the printer. What do
you think?

 

[Jimmy Hsu]

It worked! Thank you very much and Happy Chinese New Year. .

 

[Guest]

Quick Note: my problem was fixed with a simple printer NAME change. Seems
like Windows XP doesn't accept printer names with spaces in them! Where does
it say that!! Anyway, it's fixed........