dazed

Alan, thanks for the reply. Sorry I didn't supply all the details... I apologize for the “communication breakdown”.


Allow me to summarize before supplying those details:


I'm trying to connect to a Kodak 5100 printer currently running on Vista Ultimate 32 bit, from Vista Home Premium 64, over a home wireless network.


If I try to connect the typical way ("Add network, wireless or Bluetooth Printer" on the 64 machine) it finds the printer but states "Windows cannot connect to the printer. Make sure that you have typed the name correctly and that the printer is connected to the network". If I try the "Create a new port" idea I get "Access denied".


The printer works fine on the local machine of course, and it works over the network on a different Vista Home Premium 32 bit machine (Note I had to use the "create a new port" trick to get it to work though on the other 32 machine). Network file sharing works fine on all machines. Printer sharing is on. By the way, all machines are new OEM Vista machines fully patched all running Avast A/V. Problem has been since day 1 (when I bought the 64 bit machine)


Here is the configuration details:


Printer: Kodak AIO 5100 firmware up-to-date


Attached via USB to:


HP Pavilion (2GB, Dual Core 6420 CPU) running Vista Ultimate 32 6.0.6001 SP1


The “problem” PC I'm trying to attach the printer to via the network is:
HP Pavilion (4GB, Quad Core Q6600 CPU) Vista Home Premium 64 Bit (6.0.6001 SP1)


The machine that connects fine over the network is a Gateway laptop running Vista Home Premium 32, btw.


At this moment, there are no printers at all installed on the 64 bit “problem” machine. What drivers are currently on there were installed via the Kodak CD and/or shipped with Vista or perhaps updated via Windows Update; so I assume they are the 64 bit drivers; but to be honest I can't tell what Kodak names the drivers.


The driver on the “server” (32 bit Ultimate) is unidrv.dll, modified 1/19/08, in C:\windows\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3


Unfortunately, your detailed questions were assuming the printer was physically on the 64 machine, but here are the answers:


Since one 32 bit machine can print to the shared printer, how did you install the 32bit driver on this client? All drivers (at this moment in time) came from the Kodak installation CD or were shipped with Vista. Any drivers workarounds I tried have been removed, btw.


Since you removed the 64 bit driver in your troubleshooting efforts, this also requires one to first delete the printer. Did the printer get shared after you added the printer again? Because the situation is opposite of your assumption, the printer never was deleted because it never successfully connected. I was also trying the 32 bit drivers (on the 64) in my troubleshooting efforts, in desperation. Those are removed and the drivers directory is as it was.


Is there any error on the 32bit client if you just attempt to add the connection? No, 32 to 32 works fine


Keep the share name simple. Kodak will do unless you have a bunch of Kodak printers shared from the same machine. The default share name with the whole model name is too confusing. Yes, I did that a few weeks ago, changing “Kodak 5100 AIO” to just “Kodak” thinking it would help. This is the only printer on the network.


At this point, another apology may be required. My original post was in response to your post from 4 weeks ago, when you were explaining a way to connect “... but I have plenty of x64 machines sharing printers to 32 Vista.” I see now it appears you have the printer attached to the 64 bit machine, not the 32 like I do, so I probably shouldn't have followed those steps anyway. Sorry for that.. I interpreted the title of this thread (X64 can't print to a shared X86) to mean the printer is being shared from a X86... but then again, I be dazed. Thanks for all the attention!