Can't connect to shared printer with Vista...

[Eric]

HP Laserjet 1020, connected to a WinXP Pro host. Current drivers.

Attempts to connect with a Vista computer yields:

"Windows cannot connect to the printer. The specified print monitor in
unknown."

Works fine with all my other computers...

HP's website is worthless.

 

[Malke]

HP Laserjet 1020, connected to a WinXP Pro host. Current drivers.

Attempts to connect with a Vista computer yields:

"Windows cannot connect to the printer. The specified print monitor in
unknown."

Works fine with all my other computers...

HP's website is worthless.

Do you have file/printer sharing set up on Vista? The printer is shared
out from the XP box? The Vista username and password has been created on
the XP box? When you say "current drivers" I take it to mean that you've
installed the latest Vista drivers downloaded from HP's website. Usually
the error message you are getting means you've got the wrong drivers
installed.

Since I really don't know what you've already done, take a look at these
standard networking troubleshooting steps below. Not everything may be
applicable to you but I include it all to be thorough.

*****
This link will take you through Vista networking very well:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/network/evaluate/vista_fp.mspx

Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally
caused by 1) a misconfigured firewall; or 2) inadvertently running two
firewalls such as the built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party
firewall; and/or 3) not having identical user accounts and passwords on
all Workgroup machines; 4) trying to create shares where the operating
system does not permit it.

Here are some general networking tips for home/small networks:

1. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network
(LAN) traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing
File/Printer Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network
Setup Wizard on XP will take care of this for those machines.The only
"gotcha" is that this will turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you
aren't running a third-party firewall or have an antivirus with
"Internet Worm Protection" (like Norton 2006/07) which acts as a
firewall, then you're fine. With third-party firewalls, I usually
configure the LAN allowance with an IP range. Ex. would be
192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct
subnet. Do not run more than one firewall.

2. With earlier Microsoft operating systems, the name of the Workgroup
didn't matter. Apparently it does with Vista, so put all computers in
the same Workgroup. This is done from the System applet in Control
Panel, Computer Name tab.

3. Create identical user accounts and passwords on all machines. If you
wish a machine to boot directly to the Desktop (into one particular
user's account) for convenience, you can do this. The instructions at
this link work for both XP and Vista:

Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm

4. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center:

a. If you need Pro's ability to set fine-grained permissions, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab) and create identical user
accounts/passwords on all computers.

b. If you don't care about using Pro's advanced features, leave the
Simple File Sharing enabled.

Simple File Sharing means that Guest (network) is enabled. This means
that anyone without a user account on the target system can use its
resources. This is a security hole but only you can decide if it matters
in your situation.

I think it is a good idea to create the identical user
accounts/passwords in any case when Vista machines are involved and it
isn't an onerous task with home/small networks.

5. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users'
home directories (My Documents) or Program Files, but you can share
folders inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the
Shared Documents folder. See the first link above for details about
Vista sharing.
*****


Malke

 

[Ian Betts]

HP Laserjet 1020, connected to a WinXP Pro host. Current drivers.

Attempts to connect with a Vista computer yields:

"Windows cannot connect to the printer. The specified print monitor in
unknown."

Works fine with all my other computers...

HP's website is worthless.

I went there and found the drivers easily. You need to do a search for the
model.

Go
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareCategory?lc=en&cc=uk&dlc=en&product=439320&lang=en&

--
Ian

With patience there is always a way.

Please Reply to Newsgroup so all can read.
Requests for assistance by email can not and will be deleted.

 

[Eric]

I went there and found the drivers easily. You need to do a search for the
model.

Go
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareCategory?lc=en&cc=uk&dlc=en&product=439320&lang=en&

Been there. Those are just host-side drivers.

 

[Eric]

Do you have file/printer sharing set up on Vista? The printer is shared
out from the XP box? The Vista username and password has been created on
the XP box? When you say "current drivers" I take it to mean that you've
installed the latest Vista drivers downloaded from HP's website. Usually
the error message you are getting means you've got the wrong drivers
installed.

File and printer sharing is enabled and working fine.

The printer is on a WinXP host. Under properties/sharing, Vista isn't
listed even with the most current drivers installed.
These are the drivers that get sent out over the network from the host when
a computer wants to use the printer.

Or are you saying to install the printer drivers on the Vista computer
first? Is it smart enough during the install to connect with a network
printer? I'll give that a try...

 

[Eric]

File and printer sharing is enabled and working fine.

The printer is on a WinXP host. Under properties/sharing, Vista isn't
listed even with the most current drivers installed.
These are the drivers that get sent out over the network from the host
when a computer wants to use the printer.

Or are you saying to install the printer drivers on the Vista computer
first? Is it smart enough during the install to connect with a network
printer? I'll give that a try...

That aint gonna work. The descriptions for the drivers are for local USB,
not network.

 

[Eric]

SOB...

Googling led to how to get it working.
(Vista talking to a WinXP hosted printer share.)

While I am happy that it is working, the reason why it was failing really
raises my blood pressure.

Vista is so advanced and cares so much about you that you can't install
networked printer share drivers over the network if you have that UAC
nonsense disabled! Re-enabling UAC and rebooting allowed the drivers to be
installed. Will it continue to work after UAC is disabled again? Who
knows. All I know is that UAC is far too annoying to be used.

Makes me wonder what else has been hosed because UAC was disabled...

http://trevinchow.com/blog/2007/01/27/vista-error-the-specified-print-monitor-is-unknown/

 

[Ian Betts]

SOB...

Googling led to how to get it working.
(Vista talking to a WinXP hosted printer share.)

While I am happy that it is working, the reason why it was failing really
raises my blood pressure.

Vista is so advanced and cares so much about you that you can't install
networked printer share drivers over the network if you have that UAC
nonsense disabled! Re-enabling UAC and rebooting allowed the drivers to
be installed. Will it continue to work after UAC is disabled again? Who
knows. All I know is that UAC is far too annoying to be used.

Makes me wonder what else has been hosed because UAC was disabled...

http://trevinchow.com/blog/2007/01/27/vista-error-the-specified-print-monitor-is-unknown/

I agree UAC is something to struggle with but it was set up to protect like
most of Vista. Once you have a a knowledge of how to use it it seems less
intimidating.



--
Ian

With patience there is always a way.

Please Reply to Newsgroup so all can read.
Requests for assistance by email can not and will be deleted.

 

[Eric]

I agree UAC is something to struggle with but it was set up to protect
like most of Vista. Once you have a a knowledge of how to use it it seems
less intimidating.

Hi,

I'm not intimidated by it. I am annoyed by it. I don't need it.