Printer sharing XP & Vista

[Richie]

I have a Dell PC with XP Home and a Dell A960 Printer attached to it. I also
have a new HP Laptop with Vista premium that has also had the same printer
attached to it at times so the drivers are installed on HP laptop. I recently
installed a router so I can use laptop wirelessly. That works fine. However,
I am unable to print to the host printer wirelessly. I get message saying
printer cannot communicate with computer. I tried everything I found on
Google searches. I have enabled printer sharing on both. Do I have to make
the Workgroup names the same and if so do I change the Dell with XP or the HP
with Vista? I changed the Dell once to no avail so I changed back. Do
computer names have to be same? Any step by step help would be appreciated; I
am a novice at networking.

 

[Robert L. \(MS-MVP\)]

It is better to setup both computers in the same workgroup. Can you ping
each other host name? If yes, you may want to setup local printer first and
then remap it as network printer. This search results may help.
Vista Print Issues
Fix printer sharing in Vista by installing local port first ... Many
Vista printer issues are solved by installing the printer as a Local Printer
....
www.chicagotech.net/vista/vistaprint.htm


--
Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on
http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on
http://www.HowToNetworking.com

 

[Richie]

Thank you Bob for your reply. How do you "ping"? I am a novice at some things.
Richie

 

[Mick Murphy]

Below is the way I do it between XP and Vista.
It does not matter which computer workgroup name you change, as long as the
are the SAME name.
Computer name does not matter; Thor1 and Thor2.
And don't forget file and printer sharing wizard on XP; at the bottom here!

And in Vista Network and Sharing, click on Add Network Device> browse to
XP's Printer> Add it

 

[Richie]

Thanks Mick for your advice. I amnot able to see XP's printer in Vista's
Network and Sharing, Add Network Device. Any ideas? I've tried so many things
I'm surprised I haven't stumbled upon something. Thanks again! Richie

 

[Robert L. \(MS-MVP\)]

As said, try to ping first. Run cmd and type ipconfig /all to find the host
name and Ip address. Go to another computer. type ping hostname command.

--
Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on
http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on
http://www.HowToNetworking.com

 

[Jerry]

I hope you have solved your printer problem but, this is what I did to
connect a new Vista computer to an existing server running Win 2000 and its
shared printer. I established my Vista username and password on the server
and made sure I could control the printer at the server while signed on with
the same username and password that I use on the Vista computer. On the Vista
computer I downloaded the Vista install software for the printer at the Win
2000 server. I then installed the software on the Vista computer but did not
run a test page yet. On the Vista
computer I went tot he Start button the the Network tab and turned on
Network Discovery, File Sharing and Password Protected Sharing. After several
minutes or perhaps a reboot (I forgot) I could then see all the connected PC.
I then went to Control Panel and opened the printer icon and added a printer.
The printer would not initialize so I went to Services (one of thetop icons
in Control Panel) Half way down the services list is "Spooler, printer" I
started it several times and all was well. Hope this helps.
Jerry