Why can't I share my printer

[Guest]

two pc's both running XP Pro SP2, Host has 2 NIC, using ICS to share Internet
Connection, all works ok.
I have enabled File & Print Sharing on both PC's yet only the host (where
printer is connected via USB) can use the printer and neither PC can see the
shared files, what am I missing?

 

[Guest]

Could be a firewall issue, but bear in-mind that XP puts security on
printer-shares as well as file-shares. Try creating a user-account on the
printer-host that matches the one on the printing-client.

Also, not all printers will network successfully due to driver bugs. Inkjets
are often problematic in this respect. A decent-brand laser using PCL or
Postscript will usually network fine.

 

[Guest]

I understand that you enabled file and printer sahring on both machines but
did you right click on the printer icon in the printers folder to share the
printer on the computer that has the printer connected to it via USB?

You could also try to edit the host files on both pc's. Browse to your
Windows dir - sytem32-drivers-etc-hosts (right click and open with notepad)
and create and entry to associate the computer name with the ip address. For
example if your computer name is computerabc with a ip address of
192.168.1.22 you would create an entry with the ip address first hit the
space bar and enter in the FQDN of the computer. Then see if you can pin
either ip address after the entries have been created. You will need to have
static ip addresses assigned otherwise the host file information will be
incorrect as soon as it one of the machines gives up it's DHCP lease.