Any obvious things to look for - sharing printer over w2000 ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mike
  • Start date Start date
M

Mike

I have several PCs on a home LAN, all but one (mine) on wifi, all otherwise
OK. I used to be able to print to the printer on one of the PCs from my PC
but it stopped after I did something (dunno what) but the other printers
still work from my PC. It doesn't even try to print anything, just puts up a
message saying there could be damaged files etc. I have reinstalled three
times. The PC the printer is attached to works fine with it.

Any ideas please? I've tried almost everything....

Thank you

Mike
 
It will probably help others to answer (I am no networking expert) if you
state some brief details, for example what Operating system is on the PC the
printer is linked to and what is your system.

2000 and XP are pretty good at fixing themselves up with printer drivers and
the like, older systems like 98 demanded that you install the printer driver
on YOUR machine as well as the one hosting the printer.

Printer drivers can contain security flaws, so 2000 and XP can be set to
prohibit users from installing them, this means if you have a corrupted
driver it may be difficult for you to replace, although to be honest it
doesn't sound as if permissions is the case.

Make sure your PC and the printer PC are in the same Workgroup - default is
Workgroup - and that nobody changed the sharing permissions on the printer
PC too.

Can you clarify what you mean by "Installed 3 times", although if both
machines have 2000 that shouldn't be too troublesome.

Charlie
 
Hi. More info...

All four machines on Windows 2000 pro

Have had it working and know what it should do. Followed all the
instructions and it just won't have it. Have deinstalled and reinstalled the
printer three times (at least!) in case the file/driver was corrupted and it
all seems OK. If I go to send a test page or a print page from my PC it
immediately comes back with the error message: Test page failed to print.
Would youb like to view the print trouble shooter for assistance? Some
driver files are missing or incorrect; reinstall the driver or try using the
latest version.

Odd thing is, the printer monitor can be seen on my PC so there's a good
connection. I'm sure it's a wrong setting not a corrupt driver.

Thanks
 
Well if you are sure the workgroup is right and can't see any reason for the
problem otherwise that does leave the possibility that the user you have
signed in as has lost the permissions to use the drivers on your machine or
that the printer host is not giving that user permission to access
something. I know the error mentions missing or corrupt but that could just
mean it cannot get to the files.

For example if your log in name is mike and you password is password check
the host machine to make sure there is a mike with password set up. 2000
allows the admin to force password changes (say every xxx days) and it may
be something silly like that. That can be found in local security settings I
think.

Is it possible for you to sign on as "You" on the printer host and if so
does it work?

Again, this is not really my field of expertise (if I have one at all) but
it's caught me a couple of times and you're right, it is usually something
stupid that you just didn't think of :)

For ages my HP Laserjet was "Access to printer denied" but worked anyway so
what the heck ? :)

Charlie
 
I'll try all those ideas. Thanks a lot

Mike


Charlie Tame said:
Well if you are sure the workgroup is right and can't see any reason for the
problem otherwise that does leave the possibility that the user you have
signed in as has lost the permissions to use the drivers on your machine or
that the printer host is not giving that user permission to access
something. I know the error mentions missing or corrupt but that could just
mean it cannot get to the files.

For example if your log in name is mike and you password is password check
the host machine to make sure there is a mike with password set up. 2000
allows the admin to force password changes (say every xxx days) and it may
be something silly like that. That can be found in local security settings I
think.

Is it possible for you to sign on as "You" on the printer host and if so
does it work?

Again, this is not really my field of expertise (if I have one at all) but
it's caught me a couple of times and you're right, it is usually something
stupid that you just didn't think of :)

For ages my HP Laserjet was "Access to printer denied" but worked anyway so
what the heck ? :)

Charlie
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