Accessing a printer on PC from laptop through a network

[Guest]

I have a small wireless network running in my home which consists of a PC and
a laptop with printers attached to the PC.

I would like to see the printers from my laptop so that I don't have to
continually unplug and plug in the printer to the laptop and visa versa.

I can see the printers on the laptop when they are attached to that, but
when I try and go the other way it asks for a username and password, I don't
use any log on on the PC, can anyone help please, it is driving me up the wall

Gail

 

[Anton Pegan]

Hi Gail,
Run gpedit.msc again and take a look at the following keys:

Computer Configuration/Windows Settings/Security Settings/Local Policies.
Under User Rights Assignments check the following keys:

-Access this computer from network (Guest should be in)

-Deny access to this computer from network (remove Guest and Everyone group)

Under the security options take a look at this key:

-Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console logon only
(disabled)-only if local administrators do not have passwords

-Accounts: Guest account status (Enabled)

-Network access: Do not allow anonymous enumerations of SAM accounts
(enabled)

-Network access: Do not allow anonymous enumerations of SAM accounts and
shares (disabled)

-Network access: Allow anonymous SID/Name translation (disabled)

-Network access: Let everyone permission apply to the anonymous user
(disabled)

-Network Access: Sharing and security model for local accounts (Guest only)

When you successfully connect to the shared printer, right click on it and
choose Connect.

Regards,

Anton Pegan

 

[Malke]

I have a small wireless network running in my home which consists of a PC
and a laptop with printers attached to the PC.

I would like to see the printers from my laptop so that I don't have to
continually unplug and plug in the printer to the laptop and visa versa.

I can see the printers on the laptop when they are attached to that, but
when I try and go the other way it asks for a username and password, I
don't use any log on on the PC, can anyone help please, it is driving me
up the wall

Run the Network Setup Wizard on both computers, making sure to enable File &
Printer Sharing, and reboot. The only "gotcha" is that this will turn on
the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a third-party firewall or
have an antivirus with "Internet Worm Protection" (like Norton 2005/06)
which acts as a firewall, then you're fine. If you have third-party
firewall software, configure it to allow the Local Area Network traffic as
trusted. I usually do this with my firewalls with an IP range. Ex. would be
192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct
subnet.

If one or more of the computers is XP Pro:

a. If you need Pro's ability to set fine-grained permissions, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab) and create identical user
accounts/passwords on all computers.

b. If you don't care about using Pro's advanced features, leave the Simple
File Sharing enabled.

Simple File Sharing means that Guest (network) is enabled. This means that
anyone without a user account on the target system can use its resources.
This is a security hole but only you can decide if it matters in your
situation.

Then create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users'
home directories (My Documents) or Program Files, but you can share folders
inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared
Documents folder.

If that doesn't work for you, here is an excellent network troubleshooter by
MVP Hans-Georg Michna. Take the time to go through it and it will usually
pinpoint the problem area(s) - http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm

Malke

 

[Guest]

Type NET CONFIG WORKSTATION at a commandprompt on the laptop. This will telll
you the username you are logged-on as, among other things. (Alternatively
select "Shutdown" "log off" from the startmenu and it will tell you who is
logging-off)

Now, on the machine with the printer, create an identical account with a
known password.

When asked for a password to access the printer, you now know what password
to give!

A point worth noting is that because wireless networks use dynamic IPs
(DHCP) you may find that printer-share is not all that stable. That's because
the IP address of the computer it's on may change from time to time, and that
'confuses' the sharing mechanism. If the computer never connects to other
wireless networks, then giving it a static IP address may be better.

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

Type NET CONFIG WORKSTATION at a commandprompt on the laptop. This will telll
you the username you are logged-on as, among other things. (Alternatively
select "Shutdown" "log off" from the startmenu and it will tell you who is
logging-off)

Now, on the machine with the printer, create an identical account with a
known password.

When asked for a password to access the printer, you now know what password
to give!

A point worth noting is that because wireless networks use dynamic IPs
(DHCP) you may find that printer-share is not all that stable. That's because
the IP address of the computer it's on may change from time to time, and that
'confuses' the sharing mechanism. If the computer never connects to other
wireless networks, then giving it a static IP address may be better.

A couple of questions, please, Ian.

A wireless network can use static or dynamic IPs, just like a wired
network can. I see no difference between wireless and wired in this
area. Do you?

I've never seen file sharing on a Windows network become 'confused'
because of DHCP or changing IP addresses. What have you seen, and how
did it manifest itself?
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[Guest]

A wireless network can use static or dynamic IPs, just like a wired
network can. I see no difference between wireless and wired in this
area. Do you?

Technically there is no difference, and on a fixed computer using wireless,
a fixed IP is fine. The issue arises with laptops, since a fixed IP can
only be applied globally to the wireless card, and not to individual
connections. Thus, applying a fixed IP makes the laptop unsuitable for mobile
use.

I believe this will change in Vista.

A workaround available on some routers is to use DHCP, but to reserve an IP
address for the MAC of this particular client. Thus when in the office it
will always have the same IP, but can still acquire different wireless IPs
when roaming.

I've never seen file sharing on a Windows network become 'confused'
because of DHCP or changing IP addresses. What have you seen, and how
did it manifest itself?

If you mainly work with large networks using DNS as the resolving-mechanism,
you won't, as this is quicker to update any changes in name-resolution. On
small networks using a broadcast-and-caching mechanism to resolve hostnames
it will typically take up to 15mins for a file-sharing client to recognise a
change of server IP address. Note I say typically, the delay is notoriously
variable. Issuing NBTSTAT -R will often force an immediate correction, but of
course the average user won't know to try this.

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

Technically there is no difference, and on a fixed computer using wireless,
a fixed IP is fine. The issue arises with laptops, since a fixed IP can
only be applied globally to the wireless card, and not to individual
connections. Thus, applying a fixed IP makes the laptop unsuitable for mobile
use.

I believe this will change in Vista.

A workaround available on some routers is to use DHCP, but to reserve an IP
address for the MAC of this particular client. Thus when in the office it
will always have the same IP, but can still acquire different wireless IPs
when roaming.


If you mainly work with large networks using DNS as the resolving-mechanism,
you won't, as this is quicker to update any changes in name-resolution. On
small networks using a broadcast-and-caching mechanism to resolve hostnames
it will typically take up to 15mins for a file-sharing client to recognise a
change of server IP address. Note I say typically, the delay is notoriously
variable. Issuing NBTSTAT -R will often force an immediate correction, but of
course the average user won't know to try this.

Thanks for the explanations. I work with small workgroup networks,
and I haven't seen the name resolution problem, but I'll be on the
lookout for it.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com