[daveefarr]

Hi everyone!
I hope someone can help me with this small issue I have. At work I have three PCs, One with a USB Printer connected to it that is set to share.

On one of the other PCs, I have been able to access the Shared Printer and install the Driver several times (I have to use different settings for projects so I have several drivers installed and renamed for the project they are used for) but on the third PC I cannot "see" the shared printer.

All PCs are running XP SP3, Windows Firewalls are disabled and the PCs are routed through an Unmanaged Switch.

I normally install the printer driver using the Printer Wizard and selecting the Port I want to print via (i.e. \\First PC\EPSON USB Printer\) and whlist the 2nd PC gives me the option to select it, the 3rd PC does not.

Any suggestions of what the cause might be please?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Dave :0)

 

[johnwill]

This is a procedure that may work for installing network printers when the normal install doesn't work properly.

1. Select: Control Panel, Printers, Add Printer
2. Choose Add Local Printer.
3. Uncheck the box marked :Automatically detect my PnP printer.
4. Click Next
5. Select Create a New Port and leave the default in the drop down selection as Local Port.
6. Click Next
7. Windows displays a small dialogue box asking a port name.
8. Key in: \\<computer_name>\<printer_name> See note below
9. Click OK
10. Windows will show a list of printer vendors and models. The list looks just like the Windows Add Hardware Dialog. Select your printer manufacturer and printer model from the list. If your specific printer isn't shown, you can click on Have Disk and browse to the folder where you have the unpacked drivers for your printer.

Note:

<computer_name> - Computer name from Control Panel, System status display.
<printer_name> - The actual name of the network printer viewed by browsing to the shared printer on the network.​

 

[daveefarr]

Hi there,
Well I have worked out the cause but don't know the solution.

Despite the fact that all PCs are on the same Workgroup, the PC with the USB Printer plugged in can "see" the other PC but the PC I am trying to link to the Printer cannot "see" the first PC.

Like a one way mirror. I've had this issue before but no one had any solutions as to how this is happening?

Any suggestions please?

 

[johnwill]

This is almost always a firewall configuration issue.

 

[daveefarr]

Hhhmmmmm..... you could be right. I had already disabled Windows Firewall but I did have Microsoft Security Essentials installed. MSE isn't meant to have any Firewall but I uninstalled it, restarted the PC and now the problem is solved?
I'm going to re-installed MSE and see if the problem comes back though...

Thanks for the advice!

 

[johnwill]

I use MSE on all my machines here, no issues that I've seen.