Networking a printer

[Guest]

I have a wireless network with two PC's. The first, which is running Windows
XP Professional, is connected to an HP1100 Deskjet by wire. I want to
connect the other PC, which is running Windows XP Home. I have followed
Jerry Honeycutt's instructions although I have also supplied a printer share
name. All seems to go well until it comes to the second computer, which
can't seem to find the printer. I go to Control Panel, click Printers and
Other Hardware, click Add a Printer, and then arrive at the panel titled
"Specify a Printer." If I simply hit browse, I get "Microsoft Windows
Network" in the panel but no printers. Another options are "connect to this
printer" and an example of the specification is \\server\printer. I have
tried this substituting the printer share name for "printer" =
\\server\sharename, and also simply\\sharename, but no luck. A third option
is giving the URL for the printer but I can't figure it out.
I don't think I have firewall problems since both computers have XP
firewalls that are set to allow networking. What to do?
Thanks.

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Are both PCs in the same Workgroup?

 

[Guest]

Dear Cari, Thanks for trying to help. I've adjusted the setting under
"computer name" so both now have the same workgroup name. This doesn't seem
to have changed anything. Computer #2 still doesn't find the printer on
computer #1 and although I've tried various settings for
\\computer\sharename so far no luck. If you have any other ideas, please let
me know.

Again thanks. Alan

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Do the two PCs actually 'see' each other? Did you reboot each, after
resettng the Workgroup names?

 

[Guest]

Dear Cari, The two computers now see each other and have been rebooted
several times, but when I try to select a printer for computer #2 it sees
computer #1 but not the printer attached to computer #1. So far, all
attempts to get it to recognize the printer have been futile. For the life
of me, I can't determine what element is missing.

Any help you can offer will be very much appreciated.

 

[GTS]

It is not required that workgroup names match to share files or printers.
This just groups them for network browsing purposes.

XP Pro in a workgroup setting normally uses simple file sharing and, if so,
the guest account must be enabled. To make sure, run this command on the
Pro machine net user guest /active:yes
If (for some reason) you do not use simple file sharing, you must create a
user on the Pro machine exactly matching the user name and password of the
home machine user.
(Simple file sharing is turned on or off on a Pro machine in Control Panel /
Folder Options / View Tab / (last item in list) )

If the above doesn't resolve the situation, open a command prompt on the XP
HOME PC. Type
net use \\server\printer What result or error code is reported?

 

[Guest]

Dear GTS, thanks for your suggestion. I checked it out and filing sharing is
enabled. I did some other checking and finally got the printer working.
Seems that I didn't tweak my firewall as much as I should have.

Best, Alan

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Did you remember to share the printer? In the Control Panel, doubleclick
Printers & Faxes, right click the printer and select Properties..... under
the Sharing tab, remember to set it to be shared.