Printer Sharing Vista

[Mattyn]

Hi All
Been tearing my hair out trying to get my HP Wireless Printer Upgrade
Kit to work across my network. The printer concerned in an HP LaserJet
1010. It connects to my PC easily both through USB, and through the
wireless upgrade kit when using it as a stand alone wireless adapter.
When trying to connect it to the router, (Netgear DG834PN), it fails
when applying the network settings, saying either the SSID is
incorrect (it def isn't) or the AP is not there.

Therefore I cannot connect my laptop to the printer. Both PC and
laptop work on the router wirelessly, with no issues, along with a PS3
(via homeplugs) and a Wii (wirelessly). I also have an HP Photosmart
C450 Printer connected wirelessly and working from both PC and laptop
with no issues.

So I decided to bin the wireless upgrade kit, as the PC is on nearly
all the time. So i thought I would attach it via USB, then share it to
the laptop!

Now how the devil do I do this. I have clicked all the share buttons
for the printer on the PC where the printer is attached, but it will
not be found (either PC or printer) when searching from the laptop.

Please help. Please please please!! Many thanks in advance

Matt

 

[trouble]

Networked printers often do not show up on the network in the way that
computers do but they are there none the less.
This is often because the printer's network address is determined by the
printer's networking device rather than assigned by the router.
I suspect your HP device is a wireless USB print server and not a network
print server but I am guessing. If it is indeed a wireless USB server the
laptop will not be able to connect anyway unless the desktop is turned on.
If you have the desktop connected to the printer via a USB cable and it is
working properly then it should be shareable, but you are using Vista which
has the worst networking of any Microsoft OS ever. Win7 does not seem quite
so bad.
If you have right clicked on the printer properties through your desktop and
enabled sharing for the printer you should be able to connect to it with
your laptop if the laptop can see the desktop on the network. Make sure that
the desktop is setup to allow sharing of files and printers, which is
usually turned off by default. I suspect this is your problem.