printer sharing with xp and vista

  • Thread starter Thread starter stokfran
  • Start date Start date
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stokfran

I have a desk top xp with a printer attached and I am trying to enable
printer sharing with my vista laptop. I set up the network and can see the
desktops printer in the "add printer" window but when my vista goes to
connect, a message comes up that "windows cannot connect to the printer.
Access denied." I turned both computer firewalls off and I still cant
connect. I must be missing something yet I am so close. Any help is
appreciated
 
stokfran said:
I have a desk top xp with a printer attached and I am trying to enable
printer sharing with my vista laptop. I set up the network and can see
the desktops printer in the "add printer" window but when my vista goes to
connect, a message comes up that "windows cannot connect to the printer.
Access denied." I turned both computer firewalls off and I still cant
connect. I must be missing something yet I am so close. Any help is
appreciated
Click to expand...

When you say you "set up the network", does that mean you are able to
transfer files back and forth between the two computers? If not, you
haven't properly set up your network. See the general networking
information below. If you can transfer the files and have set up sharing
correctly, then you probably need to install Vista printer drivers on your
laptop.

Here are general network troubleshooting steps. Not everything may be
applicable to your situation, so just take the bits that are. It may look
daunting, but if you follow the steps at the links and suggestions below
systematically and calmly, you will have no difficulty in setting up your
sharing.

Excellent, thorough, yet easy to understand article about File/Printer
Sharing in Vista. Includes details about sharing printers as well as files
and folders:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx

For XP, start by running the Network Setup Wizard on all machines (see
caveat in Item A below).

Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally caused
by 1) a misconfigured firewall or overlooked firewall (including a stateful
firewall in a VPN); or 2) inadvertently running two firewalls such as the
built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party firewall; and/or 3) not having
identical user accounts and passwords on all Workgroup machines; 4) trying
to create shares where the operating system does not permit it.

A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network (LAN)
traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing File/Printer
Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network Setup Wizard on
XP will take care of this for those machines.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 2006/07) which acts as a firewall, then you're
fine. With third-party firewalls, I usually configure the LAN allowance
with an IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you
would substitute your correct subnet. Do not run more than one firewall. DO
NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS; CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY.

B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup. This
is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab.

C. Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do not
need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the passwords
assigned to each user account can be different; the accounts/passwords just
need to exist and match on all machines. DO NOT NEGLECT TO CREATE
PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY SIMPLE ONES. If you wish a machine to boot directly
to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for convenience, you
can do this. The instructions at this link work for both XP and Vista:

Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm

D. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab).

E. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users' home
directories or Program Files, but you can share folders inside those
directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared Documents folder.
See the first link above for details about Vista sharing.

F. After you have file sharing working (and have tested this by exchanging a
file between all machines), if you want to share a printer connected
locally to one of your computers, share it out from that machine. Then go
to the printer mftr.'s website and download the latest drivers for the
correct operating system(s). Install them on the target machine(s). The
printer should be seen during the installation routine. If it is not,
install the drivers and then use the Add Printer Wizard. In some instances,
certain printers need to be installed as Local printers but that is outside
of this response.

Malke
 
and...I dont understand if I can see the printer I want to connect to on my
laptop vista,I must be networked,why does it say can't access. The fire wall
already is configured to let network sharing. I dont want to share files,
only the xp's connected printer. Do I need the driver for the printer and
if so,what must I do? It is a hp psc 1610
 
stokfran said:
and...I dont understand if I can see the printer I want to connect to on
my laptop vista,I must be networked,why does it say can't access. The fire
wall already is configured to let network sharing. I dont want to share
files,
only the xp's connected printer. Do I need the driver for the printer
and
if so,what must I do? It is a hp psc 1610
Click to expand...

You get the driver by going to HP's website and downloading it. Hopefully
that printer is supported in Vista. If it isn't, then you are out of luck.
Yes, of course you need to install the printer on Vista.

Even if you don't want to share files, you want to share a resource - the
printer. So create your matching user accounts/passwords per my previous
response. And don't forget to actually share the printer and set
permissions to "Everyone".

Malke
 
thanks for the help. i did get in contact w/microsoft support and they did
an excellent job helping me fix my problems and it was FREE. turns out it
was the XP printer spooler and permissions needed to be set to everyone. i
would have never figured it out and the microsoft tech had a little trouble
too. good thing they have remote access.
 
stokfran said:
thanks for the help. i did get in contact w/microsoft support and they
did
an excellent job helping me fix my problems and it was FREE. turns out it
was the XP printer spooler and permissions needed to be set to everyone.
i would have never figured it out and the microsoft tech had a little
trouble
too. good thing they have remote access.
Click to expand...

Thanks for updating the thread.

Malke
 
I have the exact same situation and problem--how do you set the XP spooler
permissions to resolve the problem?
 
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