Shared Printer connected to an XP machine

[Jeff Strickland]

I have a HP4L connected to a XP Home machine. It is set as a Shared Printer,
and other machines on my home network can see it and print to it.

I have a Vista Home machine on the same network tht can see the XP machine,
and access the shared folders, but it can not connect to the shared printer.
When I try to connect to the HP4L, I get an error message, ACCESS DENIED. I
was thinking the error came from the XP machine -- firewall problem or the
like -- but I can't find any thing that would keep Vista out while letting
all of my other machines in -- the other machines are all XP, some XP Pro,
and some XP Home. The only machine that can not share the printer is the
Vista machine.

Do I need a printer driver on the Vista machine that works with the printer?

<scratching head>

 

[Mick Murphy]

Yes. You need a Vista compatible driver for your printer installed in vista.
Check at the printer's manufacturer's website for one.

Vista found a driver for me when I connected to the XP's printer.

I went Start>Network>Network and Sharing>Add Network device>Browsed for XP's
printer, then Vista added the Driver.

 

[Jeff Strickland]

Yes. You need a Vista compatible driver for your printer installed in
vista.
Check at the printer's manufacturer's website for one.

Vista found a driver for me when I connected to the XP's printer.

I went Start>Network>Network and Sharing>Add Network device>Browsed for
XP's
printer, then Vista added the Driver.

Add Network Device. Hmmm, I would not have thought of that. I was trying to
add a network printer from the Add Printer Wizard, and Connect Printer from
wherever I found that option.

 

[Mick Murphy]

You can do it that way too.
Just make sure you have the driver!

 

[Lang Murphy]

I have a HP4L connected to a XP Home machine. It is set as a Shared
Printer, and other machines on my home network can see it and print to it.

I have a Vista Home machine on the same network tht can see the XP
machine, and access the shared folders, but it can not connect to the
shared printer. When I try to connect to the HP4L, I get an error message,
ACCESS DENIED. I was thinking the error came from the XP machine --
firewall problem or the like -- but I can't find any thing that would keep
Vista out while letting all of my other machines in -- the other machines
are all XP, some XP Pro, and some XP Home. The only machine that can not
share the printer is the Vista machine.

Do I need a printer driver on the Vista machine that works with the
printer?

<scratching head>

Of course you need a printer driver on your Vista box... just because the
printer is hanging off another box doesn't mean you don't need a local
driver on your Vista box. (Sorry, don't mean to sound harsh...)

Sorry to say, I don't have an answer for you. I went through the -exact-
same issue with my ten year old NEC SuperScript 1260 hanging off an XP Home
box. For months whenever I tried, out of curiousity, to connect to the
printer, I got the access denied msg. Then after numerous Vista system
updates, and numerous months, I tried again and it worked, out of the blue.
Well, I was happy but had no clue as to what got it working. For all I know
it might have been XP updates, not Vista updates, that fixed it...

That said... are your XP and Vista boxes up to date, patch wise?

Lang

 

[Jeff Strickland]

Of course you need a printer driver on your Vista box... just because the
printer is hanging off another box doesn't mean you don't need a local
driver on your Vista box. (Sorry, don't mean to sound harsh...)

Sorry to say, I don't have an answer for you. I went through the -exact-
same issue with my ten year old NEC SuperScript 1260 hanging off an XP
Home box. For months whenever I tried, out of curiousity, to connect to
the printer, I got the access denied msg. Then after numerous Vista system
updates, and numerous months, I tried again and it worked, out of the
blue. Well, I was happy but had no clue as to what got it working. For all
I know it might have been XP updates, not Vista updates, that fixed it...

That said... are your XP and Vista boxes up to date, patch wise?

Lang

As far as I know. I have Automatic Updates set ON.

PS
Access to the printer is not predicated on the driver. When the connection
is allowed, the driver automatically loads. I loaded the HP4L driver into
the Vista box, and the printer showed up as a Local Printer, but it would
still not connect as a Network Printer.

 

[Lang Murphy]

As far as I know. I have Automatic Updates set ON.

PS
Access to the printer is not predicated on the driver. When the connection
is allowed, the driver automatically loads. I loaded the HP4L driver into
the Vista box, and the printer showed up as a Local Printer, but it would
still not connect as a Network Printer.

Same issue I had... as previously stated, don't know what fixed my issue and
it -was- fixed. (Although "behind my back" so to speak.) And while the
access to the printer is not predicated on the printer driver, your Vista
box will not print to your printer hanging off an XP box without the driver
installed locally. That was the point I was making. Obviously, if access is
denied to the printer, the driver won't get installed automagically.

Access denied implies the XP box is the one doing the "denying." (Although,
I admit, what appears to be logical is not always so... might be the Vista
box throwing that error...)

Lang