Installing printer on LAN

[Jack Sheet]

Hi all
I have 3 PCs connected to a cable NAT router. All the PCs are on Windows XP
Pro SP2.
I started with one desktop pc with printer attached, which was there prior
to installing any networking.
I then acquired a notebook and the NAT router, and installed them together.
That was about a year ago and I cannot remember how I did it but I
successfully got the laptop to print to the printer attached to the desktop
provided that all the equipment is switched on.
I have recently acquired a second laptop, and eventually managed to get the
new one to talk to the printer, but only after some teething troubles.
OK, problem solved, but I would still like some understanding of the
remaining matters of confusion - hence this post, if anyone can shed light.

ISSUE 1:

On the new laptop I went through the wizard for adding new printers and
asked it to "Browse" for available printers. The Browse did not find any
available printers. When prompted I chose a "network printer, or a printer
attached to another computer". The next dialog box listed under Shared
Printers the narrative "Microsoft Windows Network" but no printers. I could
not (initially) get any further than that.
(Not expecting any success I went back to the first screen and tried "local
printer attached to this computer" and my pessimism was justified - no
success there either).
So my next step was to examine the configuration on the other laptop, which
successfully prints, and manually entered the details in the input box on
the second screen of the "network printer ...." dialog box of the wizard,
and that worked fine.
So: If I can manually enter the printer details, and that works, why could
the Browse function not find it and allow me to select it by mouse-click?

ISSUE 2:

I don't know if it is relevant to issue 1, but the appearance of the left
hand (folder) pane in Windows Explorer has a different appearance when
comparing the two laptops, when browisng "My Network Places".

On the earlier laptop the tree structure appears
--My Network Places (icon = world behind computer)
----Entire Network (icon = world with ring round it)
------Microsoft Terminal Services (icon = world)
------Microsoft Windows Network (icon = world)
--------MsHome (icon = three connected computers in triangle)
----------JackSheet (icon = computer)
------------Printers abd Faxes
------Web Client Network (icon = world)

On the new laptop the tree structure appears
--My Network Places (icon = world behind computer)
----Entire Network (icon = world with ring round it)
------Microsoft Terminal Services (icon = world)
------Microsoft Windows Network (icon = world)
--------Workgroup (icon = three connected computers in triangle)
------Web Client Network (icon = world)

There are no branches off "Workgroup" and if I click on it then the system
hangs for a minute or so (mouse in hourglass) followed by message "workgroup
is not accessible ....." I cannot seem to change its name to MsHome (not
sure if that would have any effect).

Sorry for the long post. I would have split it into two posts but for the
possibility that the two issues might be related.

Thanks for any light.

 

[Roberto]

Hi all
I have 3 PCs connected to a cable NAT router. All the PCs are on Windows
XP Pro SP2.
I started with one desktop pc with printer attached, which was there prior
to installing any networking.
I then acquired a notebook and the NAT router, and installed them
together. That was about a year ago and I cannot remember how I did it but
I successfully got the laptop to print to the printer attached to the
desktop provided that all the equipment is switched on.
I have recently acquired a second laptop, and eventually managed to get
the new one to talk to the printer, but only after some teething troubles.
OK, problem solved, but I would still like some understanding of the
remaining matters of confusion - hence this post, if anyone can shed
light.

ISSUE 1:

On the new laptop I went through the wizard for adding new printers and
asked it to "Browse" for available printers. The Browse did not find any
available printers. When prompted I chose a "network printer, or a
printer attached to another computer". The next dialog box listed under
Shared Printers the narrative "Microsoft Windows Network" but no printers.
I could not (initially) get any further than that.
(Not expecting any success I went back to the first screen and tried
"local printer attached to this computer" and my pessimism was justified -
no success there either).
So my next step was to examine the configuration on the other laptop,
which successfully prints, and manually entered the details in the input
box on the second screen of the "network printer ...." dialog box of the
wizard, and that worked fine.
So: If I can manually enter the printer details, and that works, why could
the Browse function not find it and allow me to select it by mouse-click?

ISSUE 2:

I don't know if it is relevant to issue 1, but the appearance of the left
hand (folder) pane in Windows Explorer has a different appearance when
comparing the two laptops, when browisng "My Network Places".

On the earlier laptop the tree structure appears
--My Network Places (icon = world behind computer)
----Entire Network (icon = world with ring round it)
------Microsoft Terminal Services (icon = world)
------Microsoft Windows Network (icon = world)
--------MsHome (icon = three connected computers in triangle)
----------JackSheet (icon = computer)
------------Printers abd Faxes
------Web Client Network (icon = world)

On the new laptop the tree structure appears
--My Network Places (icon = world behind computer)
----Entire Network (icon = world with ring round it)
------Microsoft Terminal Services (icon = world)
------Microsoft Windows Network (icon = world)
--------Workgroup (icon = three connected computers in triangle)
------Web Client Network (icon = world)

There are no branches off "Workgroup" and if I click on it then the system
hangs for a minute or so (mouse in hourglass) followed by message
"workgroup is not accessible ....." I cannot seem to change its name to
MsHome (not sure if that would have any effect).

Sorry for the long post. I would have split it into two posts but for the
possibility that the two issues might be related.

Thanks for any light.

In order that all computers can share resorources they must belong to
the same network, you have MSHOME & WORKGROUP.
Change all machines so they all use the same name, it doesn't realy
matter what name you call your LAN.

rgds
Roberto

 

[Jack Sheet]

**- SNIP -**

In order that all computers can share resorources they must belong to
the same network, you have MSHOME & WORKGROUP.
Change all machines so they all use the same name, it doesn't realy
matter what name you call your LAN.

rgds
Roberto

Thanks Roberto. The only network on Laptop 1 (the one that works properly)
is "MsHome".
The only network on Laptop 2 (the recent addition) is "Workgrroup" (I did
not enter this, it came pre-installed)

I seem to have solved this problem by going through the "create a new
network" wizard and calling the new one MsHome, and then the browse for new
printers picks it up. Irritatingly the "Workgroup" network is still there
as well, and I cannot see any way to delete it, but it doesn't seem to be
doing any harm (yet!)

Thanks for helping.

 

[Roberto]

**- SNIP -**


Thanks Roberto. The only network on Laptop 1 (the one that works
properly) is "MsHome".
The only network on Laptop 2 (the recent addition) is "Workgrroup" (I did
not enter this, it came pre-installed)

I seem to have solved this problem by going through the "create a new
network" wizard and calling the new one MsHome, and then the browse for
new printers picks it up. Irritatingly the "Workgroup" network is still
there as well, and I cannot see any way to delete it, but it doesn't seem
to be doing any harm (yet!)

Thanks for helping.

No worries !, glad it's all working , the unwanted "workgroup" will
eventually dissapear after several reboots there is no way of
manually deleting it

rgds
Roberto