Sharing a Printer on Windows 2000 Pro

  • Thread starter Thread starter Musicman50
  • Start date Start date
M

Musicman50

Sharing a printer is very easy on Windows XP, Just simply click Simple
Printer Sharing and everyone on the network
can print to that printer, (No user name or password required by other
computers on the network)..

However on Windows 2000 I can't seem to get that "simple printers sharing"
part to work, it seems to require a user and password
for everyone that wants to print to the shared printer.

Am I missing something here?

How can I enable Simple printer sharing on a Windows 2000 computer (Without
complicated users ans passwords) ?

Thanks in Advance for any suggestions.
Phil
 
Thanks, but you completely missed my question.
The question is about sharing a printer on a Windows 2000 host computer.
I want to use "Simple Sharing" with no security check for user name or
password needed from the other computers on the network.

I hope I am missing the obvious because Windows XP Professional allows
"Simple Sharing" of its printer along with the entire workgroup, no user
names or passwords needed, just simply install the drivers needed on the
other computers.

However I find on Windows 2000 it wants to use security, and this means
making every users have a users name and password just to be able ot use it
printer..

Any way around this, or am I missing something?
 
No, I didnt miss the Q

Musicman50 said:
Thanks, but you completely missed my question.
The question is about sharing a printer on a Windows 2000 host computer.
I want to use "Simple Sharing" with no security check for user name or
password needed from the other computers on the network.

I hope I am missing the obvious because Windows XP Professional allows
"Simple Sharing" of its printer along with the entire workgroup, no user
names or passwords needed, just simply install the drivers needed on the
other computers.

However I find on Windows 2000 it wants to use security, and this means
making every users have a users name and password just to be able ot use it
printer..

Any way around this, or am I missing something?
Click to expand...
 
Thanks DL for trying help..
But its already known you have to install a printer driver on each
workstation.. (Duhhh)
 
Thanks Dave !!!

I did not think of that before, and I think it will work.
Now that I think of it, Guest account is by default disabled on Win2K.
SO I think your suggestion will solve my problem..
Can't wait till Monday to try it out.
I'll post the results..

Thanks again.. Phil



Enable the guest account and allow guest account access to said printer.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

Musicman50 said:
Sharing a printer is very easy on Windows XP, Just simply click Simple
Printer Sharing and everyone on the network
can print to that printer, (No user name or password required by other
computers on the network)..

However on Windows 2000 I can't seem to get that "simple printers
sharing" part to work, it seems to require a user and password
for everyone that wants to print to the shared printer.

Am I missing something here?

How can I enable Simple printer sharing on a Windows 2000 computer
(Without complicated users ans passwords) ?

Thanks in Advance for any suggestions.
Phil
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I am not sure that it is necessary to do anything specific with Guests.

I have printer sharing with W2K Pro that works just fine and requires no
passwords. I don't recall ever having to take any action to activate
"guests" . All I can recall doing, is going to Network and Dialup
connections (Start->Settings-Local Area Connection-properties) and then
activate File and Printer sharing.

Musicman50 said:
Thanks Dave !!!

I did not think of that before, and I think it will work.
Now that I think of it, Guest account is by default disabled on Win2K.
SO I think your suggestion will solve my problem..
Can't wait till Monday to try it out.
I'll post the results..

Thanks again.. Phil



Enable the guest account and allow guest account access to said printer.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

Musicman50 said:
Sharing a printer is very easy on Windows XP, Just simply click Simple
Printer Sharing and everyone on the network
can print to that printer, (No user name or password required by other
computers on the network)..

However on Windows 2000 I can't seem to get that "simple printers
sharing" part to work, it seems to require a user and password
for everyone that wants to print to the shared printer.

Am I missing something here?

How can I enable Simple printer sharing on a Windows 2000 computer
(Without complicated users ans passwords) ?

Thanks in Advance for any suggestions.
Phil
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Then they're probably all part of the same workgroup and you also probably
logon to each with the same username and password:

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
 
Musicman50 said:
Thanks, but you completely missed my question.
The question is about sharing a printer on a Windows 2000 host computer.
I want to use "Simple Sharing" with no security check for user name or
password needed from the other computers on the network.

I hope I am missing the obvious because Windows XP Professional allows
"Simple Sharing" of its printer along with the entire workgroup, no user
names or passwords needed, just simply install the drivers needed on the
other computers.

However I find on Windows 2000 it wants to use security, and this means
making every users have a users name and password just to be able ot use it
printer..

Any way around this, or am I missing something?
Click to expand...

There is no such concept as "Simple File Sharing" in Windows 2000. Each user
of a share must be authenticated by the machine owning the share. So,
consequently, each user will have to have an account on the machine with the
printer attached.

You may want to look into a stand alone "Print Server" box. They can be had
for 35 bucks or so. The printer when attached to the print server would then
be just another node on the network and all users could print to it without
authentication and without the Windows 2000 Pro 10 connections limit.

I have two of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833315059

and they have served me well for the last three years or so.
 
Musicman50 said:
Thanks DL for trying help..
But its already known you have to install a printer driver on each
workstation.. (Duhhh)
Click to expand...

On Win-NT that was true, but I haven't found it so on Win2K. The
workstation will pick up what it needs from the machine doing the
sharing. And I've done this with 5 or 6 different printers so far.

So, perhpas not -Duhhh
 
Yes Dave Patrick is correct again, much Thanks Dave !!..

I believe that Windows XP Professional has a "simple sharing" mode
that will enable its printer to be shared on the network without user names,
and passwords needed.
I have used it may times before, but Windows 2000 does not seem to have this
feature I guess.

My Thanks again to Dave for his idea about the "Guest" account to allow
printing through a Win2K workstation.

Phil


Dave Patrick said:
Then they're probably all part of the same workgroup and you also probably
logon to each with the same username and password:

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

Graham said:
I am not sure that it is necessary to do anything specific with Guests.

I have printer sharing with W2K Pro that works just fine and requires no
passwords. I don't recall ever having to take any action to activate
"guests" . All I can recall doing, is going to Network and Dialup
connections (Start->Settings-Local Area Connection-properties) and then
activate File and Printer sharing.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Just wanted to say for sure that Dave's suggestion of using the Guest
account for easy printer sharing in Win2K works perfectly.
All computers on my network Win98, Win2k, and XP can print to the Win2K's
shared printer regardless of User or password.

Thanks again Dave.... !!

Phil

Dave Patrick said:
You're welcome.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

Musicman50 said:
Yes Dave Patrick is correct again, much Thanks Dave !!..

I believe that Windows XP Professional has a "simple sharing" mode
that will enable its printer to be shared on the network without user
names, and passwords needed.
I have used it may times before, but Windows 2000 does not seem to have
this feature I guess.

My Thanks again to Dave for his idea about the "Guest" account to allow
printing through a Win2K workstation.

Phil
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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