Printer Sharing

[RadRacer]

I have a Toshiba Laptop running Vista, and a Sony Vaio desktop running XP Home. I just got a Kodak 5300 AiO printer, and hooked it upto the desktop, thinking I could share it over my home network to my laptop. But, my laptop doesn't detect it? The drivers are the same for XP and Vista; I enabled printer sharing; they both have unique networks names; both computers are on the same network. I got on the laptop, went to the printers folder, and clicked "Add Printer." The box popped up, I hit Wireless/network/bluetooth, and then it went into search mode. It can't seem to find the printer though. I have restarted the desktop, thinking it may need it after setting the printer to shared. Still shows up on the desktop as being shared, yet the Laptop can't find it. Suggestions?

[countrydude]

I don't know much about this but I have shared a printer before.

You enabled printer sharing in the network but did you go into the control panel and actually click to share this printer thats installed on your xp machine?

A little thing that got me was that my comps were not even connected cause of my firewall.

Is the printer a wireless printer thats connected to your xp machine?

My guess is that once you have connected your printer to the xp machine and started sharing it then on your laptop you should be able to find it without searching for a bluetooth device. when you click "add printer".

Maybe im wrong.....but thats my guess. Hope you figure it out.

Craig

[shdwsclan]

On, the host computer, make sure you have printer sharing properly set up.

Printer and File Sharing has to be correctly set up.

Make sure both computers are part of the same workgroup, such as HOME. It is recommended that you choose a unique name for your workgroup though.

Make sure the printer in the host computer is actually being shared.
Go into the printer properties, and under the sharing tab, make sure "share this printer" is checked.

In the client computer make sure its set to home network. Vista like to set up its firewall to the network detected, such as home, work and public.

A bi-directional print server would solve the problem. Unfortunately, they are rare, and expensive. The NSLU2 would do the trick, as it does in my case, but require true computer knowledge, like the kind you get when you finish you CS degree....

[countrydude]

well i'm working on that CS degree right now : )

[bla!!]

Easier way to find the printer is just do start --> run
type \\xpcomputername and press enter

Once up, you should see the printer in the shared items list. You may have to authenticate before seeing the list.

Then double click the printer and it should add it to your vista computer.

[EricB]

Originally Posted by bla!!

Easier way to find the printer is just do start --> run
type \\xpcomputername and press enter

Once up, you should see the printer in the shared items list. You may have to authenticate before seeing the list.

Then double click the printer and it should add it to your vista computer.

I tried that on an xp machine (it seems like a nifty feature), but it didn't work