"Ian Kenny" said:
Hi all
I've set up a small network at home with 2 XP laptops and one Win98SE tower.
I have a printer plugged into the 98 machine (because I want to keep the
others portable and also it has a parallel port) but I can't print to it
from the XP machines. I can see the printer in the 'network places' but get
a 'cannot communicate with the printer' error when trying to print. I've
got XP drivers for the printer on the XP machines and Win98 drivers on the
98 machine. My network runs through a combined adls/router/gateway box. I
assume that the mixed OS thing is causing me the problem. This is the only
problem with the network, everything else, eg file sharing, works fine.
Anyone have any ideas how I can sort this out without buying a copy of XP
for the tower?
Thanks
Ian
Mixed OS versions shouldn't cause any problem. Try un-installing and
re-installing the printer on XP, using the "Add a printer" wizard to
install it.
If that doesn't solve the problem, follow these steps:
1. Permanently disable XP's built-in Internet Connection Firewall on
local area network connections -- it's for use only on a direct modem
connection to the Internet. Disable and un-install all other firewall
programs while troubleshooting. When un-installing a firewall
program, use the un-install procedure provided by the manufacturer .
Don't use Control Panel | Add or Remove Programs, which might not
completely un-install it.
For more information, see:
Windows XP Internet Connection Firewall
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp/ic_firewall.htm
2. Use only one protocol for File and Printer Sharing. If the network
needs more than one protocol, unbind File and Printer Sharing from all
but one of them. Details here:
Windows XP Network Protocols
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp/network_protocols.htm
3. Make sure that NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled on all computers.
Details here:
Enable NetBIOS Over TCP/IP (NetBT)
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/troubleshoot/netbt.htm
4. Run "ipconfig /all" on XP and look at the "Node Type" at the
beginning of the output. If it says "Peer-to-Peer" (which should
actually be "Point-to-Point") that's the problem. It means that the
computer only uses a WINS server, which isn't available on a
peer-to-peer network for NetBIOS name resolution.
If that's the case, run the registry editor, open this key:
HLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netbt\Parameters
and delete these values if they're present:
NodeType
DhcpNodeType
Reboot, then try network access again.
If that doesn't fix it, open that registry key again, create a DWORD
value called "NodeType", and set it to 1 for "Broadcast" or 4 for
"Mixed".
For details, see these Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:
Default Node Type for Microsoft Clients
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;160177
TCP/IP and NBT Configuration Parameters for Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314053
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)
Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
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