Printer share problem

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May 27th, 2006, 03:44 PM
Raffaz

Printer share problem

Hi,
Im trying to set a shared printer so i can print from my laptop to the desktop pc upstairs. Ive got a wireless router setup and ive got the network up and running. For some reason though the laptop cant see the shared printer on the desktop pc. Ive turned the sharing on. I think it might be to do with me running XP home on laptop, and MCE on the desktop. Anyone got any ideas? Cheers

Mick
May 27th, 2006, 06:38 PM
3fingersalute

Microsoft has a nice guide on setting up networking in Windows XP. Here's section 8, which is printer sharing. If you need help with the basic networking, start back at section 1.

Good luck !! :cool:
May 29th, 2006, 10:09 AM
Raffaz

Cheers mate, done all that allready, still no luck. I can get everything of my laptop from desktop, just not other way round. Could it be anything to do with the desktop pc being password protected at logon, and if so how do i get round this. Cheers

Mick
May 29th, 2006, 10:23 AM
Raffaz

Just noticed i can see my desktop pc in workgroup but unable to connect. It says invalid path
May 29th, 2006, 08:28 PM
3fingersalute

What user accounts are setup on each machine?
Is the guest account enabled?
May 30th, 2006, 03:52 AM
Raffaz

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3fingersalute

What user accounts are setup on each machine?
Is the guest account enabled?

Just got 1 administrator account on each machine, the desktop is password protected, and the laptop isnt. Guest accounts are turned off.

Mick
May 30th, 2006, 07:32 AM
3fingersalute

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raffaz

Just got 1 administrator account on each machine, the desktop is password protected, and the laptop isnt. Guest accounts are turned off.

Mick

So what happens when you're sitting in front of the machine that doesn't contain the printer, and you enter \\computername into an explorer address bar? (computername being the machine name that the printer is connected to)
May 30th, 2006, 07:36 AM
PBase001

Make sure they are in the same workgroup. I believe XP Home defaults to MSHOME and MCE defaults to something different.

Can you ping the desktop from the laptop?

Can you search computer via IP address from the laptop?

Can you add new printer and use \\<MCECOMPUTER>\<PrinterShareName>

MCECOMPUTER = the hostname of your MCE computer
PrinterShareName = the share printer name that you gave the printer

Do you have Windows Firewall enable on either computer? How about any firewalls at all, like McAfee Personal Firewall or Norton Internet Security.

Disable them temporarily and give it a try.