Vista laptop/XP Desktop printer sharing

[Not Me]

I have a Vista Home Premium Laptop, an XP Home laptop and an XP Home desktop
(and an XBox 360) connected to my Linksys wireless G router and an XP Home
desktop connected via CAT5 to the same router.
All connect to the internet fine.
The XP laptop finds and uses the printer on the desktop fine.
I had setup a share of the Canon I560 printer, connected to my XP desktop,
on the Vista laptop and it worked fine.
I don't believe I made any changes, but now it won't find the printer and I
can't seem to install a new copy.
The Vista machine will not detect the printer and won't even find the XP
desktop or laptop on the network.
The XP machines find each other fine.
All machines get their IP address from the router via DHCP.
All are in the same workgroup, or it seems so. Strangely the Vista machine
shows WORKGROUP and the XP machines show Workgroup, even if I type the name
in caps, XP still shows Workgroup and Vista WORKGROUP.
I checked every setting repeatedly as described in
http://technet.microsoft.com:80/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx
I tried to setup the printer manually (\\machinename\\printername) but Vista
still wouldn't find it.
I do not have any third party firewall or security suites installed.
I have AVG8 and Sptboy Search & Destroy as well as Windows Defender running
on all machines.
Any idea on how to meke my printer work again?

 

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

Do you receive any system errors if using net view \\xpipaddress 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

 

[Not Me]

system error 53, the network path was not found

I went through the steps again and again from
http://technet.microsoft.com:80/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx but no change.
I reinstalled the topology patch on the XP machine to make it show in the
Vista network map (KB922120).
I then ran the XP network setup Wizard as recommended in another thread.
The Vista machine does NOT show in the XP network map.
I updated the firmware on the Linksys WTR54G router to the latest available,
and made sure all the router settings were correct.
The XP desktop with the printer attached does show in the map on the Vista
laptop now, but clicking the XP machine from the Vista machine's map does
nothing and it still won't connect ot print. On another network, clicking
the computer's icon on the map opens it.

The XP machine had Norton Security (2005) on it from the factory, but it was
uninstalled long ago.
I ran the Norton cleanup tool today to make sure it wasn't interfering.
I did note that the XP machine wouldn't let me open the Windows Firewall to
check the settings today.
Due to an unspecified error, Windows Firewall settings can not be displayed.
Very interesting, I have not installed another firewall or security suite.
Hijack This, Spybot Search & Destroy, Windows Defender and AVG8 all show the
machine is clean.
Network set as private
Network Discovery ON
File Sharing ON
Public folder sharing ON
Printer sharing ON
Pass word protected sharing OFF
Media Sharing ON

Any other ideas?

 

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

The system error could be a security software or name resolution issue. Any
errors in the event viewer? Or this post may help too.
Vista: Can't see other computers
Dec 25, 2007 ... Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:44 pm Post subject: Vista:
Can't see other ... System error 53 has occurred. The network path was not
found. ...
www.chicagotech.net/netforums/viewtopic.php?p=515&sid=5619b03a6b6e07f8024ebe4c86ae726b


--
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

 

[Spike9458]

Hi there,

I had a similar problem, and here's how I worked around/fixed it. I
have a Linksys wireless router, and a Netgear Print Server that links
my laser printer to the network without having to run a separate
computer just for printing. My Vista Business could never find it
either.

What I did was assign my Print Server an IP of 192.168.1.102, and
then I ran the 'Add Printer' wizard. I ran it by selecting the button
that says my printer is not listed, then chose the 3rd option, 'Add
printer by using a TCP/IP address or hostname', and inserted the TCP/
IP address.

Every time I browsed for the printer, the search timed out without
finding it. This is kind of a blind way of doing it, but when I
printed a .pdf file, sure enough, it did print. On your desktop, click
start/printers & faxes, and right click your printer, and select
properties. Click the Ports tab and see what port it is installed on.

You can either use the IP address if it is on a TCP/IP port, or if
it's on a local port, you can use the UNC address, which would look
like this: "\\Desktopcomputername\printer name" except for the
quotes.

If you have successfully printed to this printer over your network
in the past you should be all set. If not, you need to be sure the
printer is shared on the desktop.

Give it a shot, it should work.

--Jim

 

[Not Me]

The printer did work until last week, then suddenly it can't print and the
printer won't reinstall properly.
I don't know if it was an XP update or a Vista update that broke it.
The printer shows in Vista as a network printer on a TCP/IP port with the
address of the XP computer.
But it doesn't work.
I don't have a print server and see no reason to buy one.
The printer is connected via USB to the XP desktop and works fine with the
other XP machines on the network.
MS sure could have made it a lot easier. All the changes in Vista haven't
improved the user experience a bit, I think it has degraged it.
Having to spend many hours to troubleshoot an issue that should be a
no-brainer I lay directly at MS feet.
They claim improved security, I say BS, it is just more aggravation.
I don't have any security problems with XP anyway.
It's really getting tempting to upgrade this Vista machine to XP.
Vista is certainly no improvement over XP.

--
A Professional Amateur...If anyone knew it all, none of would be here!
(e-mail address removed)
Change Alpha to Numeric to reply
Hi there,

I had a similar problem, and here's how I worked around/fixed it. I
have a Linksys wireless router, and a Netgear Print Server that links
my laser printer to the network without having to run a separate
computer just for printing. My Vista Business could never find it
either.

What I did was assign my Print Server an IP of 192.168.1.102, and
then I ran the 'Add Printer' wizard. I ran it by selecting the button
that says my printer is not listed, then chose the 3rd option, 'Add
printer by using a TCP/IP address or hostname', and inserted the TCP/
IP address.

Every time I browsed for the printer, the search timed out without
finding it. This is kind of a blind way of doing it, but when I
printed a .pdf file, sure enough, it did print. On your desktop, click
start/printers & faxes, and right click your printer, and select
properties. Click the Ports tab and see what port it is installed on.

You can either use the IP address if it is on a TCP/IP port, or if
it's on a local port, you can use the UNC address, which would look
like this: "\\Desktopcomputername\printer name" except for the
quotes.

If you have successfully printed to this printer over your network
in the past you should be all set. If not, you need to be sure the
printer is shared on the desktop.

Give it a shot, it should work.

--Jim

 

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

Thank you for the sharing your experience with us. Adding the printer as
local printer and then mapping it as network printer does fix a lot printer
issues.

--
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
Hi there,

I had a similar problem, and here's how I worked around/fixed it. I
have a Linksys wireless router, and a Netgear Print Server that links
my laser printer to the network without having to run a separate
computer just for printing. My Vista Business could never find it
either.

What I did was assign my Print Server an IP of 192.168.1.102, and
then I ran the 'Add Printer' wizard. I ran it by selecting the button
that says my printer is not listed, then chose the 3rd option, 'Add
printer by using a TCP/IP address or hostname', and inserted the TCP/
IP address.

Every time I browsed for the printer, the search timed out without
finding it. This is kind of a blind way of doing it, but when I
printed a .pdf file, sure enough, it did print. On your desktop, click
start/printers & faxes, and right click your printer, and select
properties. Click the Ports tab and see what port it is installed on.

You can either use the IP address if it is on a TCP/IP port, or if
it's on a local port, you can use the UNC address, which would look
like this: "\\Desktopcomputername\printer name" except for the
quotes.

If you have successfully printed to this printer over your network
in the past you should be all set. If not, you need to be sure the
printer is shared on the desktop.

Give it a shot, it should work.

--Jim