Computing.Net - See shared folder but NOT printer

Subject: See shared folder but NOT printer

Original Message

Name: njtt
Date: January 8, 2008 at 00:53:16 Pacific
Subject: See shared folder but NOT printer
OS: WindowsXP/Me
CPU/Ram: Various
Model/Manufacturer: Various

Comment:

I have a home wireless network with the following:
#1. Netgear wireless router
#2. Desktop PC running XP pro, and with inkjet printer on parallel port
#3. Desktop PC running XP Media Center
#4. Laptop PC running XP Media Center, and laser printer on USB
#5. Laptop PC running Windows Me (not powerful enough for XP)
It was a bear to get the Windows Me machine (#5) to talk to the others, but I finally got it to work except for one thing: it cannot see the laser printer on #4. The Me machine does see computer #4, both in My Network Places (where it also see the shared folder on #4), and in the Add Printer wizard, but in neither case is there any sign of the printer that is there.
Please note, everything else works: the Me machine CAN see (and read from, and write to) the shared folder on #4 (and on all the others); all the other computers CAN see, and print to, the laser printer on #4 (so printer sharing IS turned on on #4); the Me machine CAN see (and print to) the inkjet printer on #2; the XP machines CAN all access shared folders on each other, and on the Me machine.
My daughter would dearly like to be able to print directly from her Me laptop to the laser printer. Can anyone tell me why the Me machine cannot see the laser printer and suggest what, if anything, might be done about it.
Thank you
Nigel Thomas

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Response Number 1

Name: Curt R
Date: January 8, 2008 at 07:34:00 Pacific
Subject: See shared folder but NOT printer

Reply: (edit)

Did you create an account on #4 for #5?
Did you add that account to the ACL (share) for the printer and give it printing permissions?
If not, do so and try again. If you still can't see it, try adding the printer on #5 anyways. It's entirely possible it's a glitch in ME (not MS's best OS by a long shot) and that you can still add that printer even if you can't see it.

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Response Number 2

Name: Jennifer SUMN
Date: January 8, 2008 at 13:01:14 Pacific
Subject: See shared folder but NOT printer

Reply: (edit)

I'm with Curt. Check the printer permissions.
Life's more painless for the brainless.

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Response Number 3

Name: njtt
Date: January 10, 2008 at 17:53:48 Pacific
Subject: See shared folder but NOT printer

Reply: (edit)

Thank you. The accounts were already set up OK so I went ahead and figured out the path for the printer (by seeing how it showed up on #2) and typed that directly into the Add Printer wizard, and it worked! Amazingly, the laser printer still does not appear on #5 either in My Network Places or the Add Printer wizard (although the inkjet on #2 does show up there as expected), but it added in the Printers folder and actually does print. I guess, as you say, this is some weird glitch in Windows Me.

Nigel Thomas

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