I have been going nuts trying to network two computers at home using a work group, which I thought would be relatively simple. The goal is to share a USB printer on the laptop(XP Pro) so that both computers can have access to a printer. Here is a description of the two computers

The laptop- Dell Inspirion , running Windows XP Pro McAffee Antivirus
The Desktop - Dell , VISTA OS, McAffee antivirus



I have connected the computers above with a Linksys E3000 router

Here is what I have done to network the computers

1. Created the same workgroup name on both computers using a 7 character name consisting of alpha characters.
2. Used the network wizards on both computers
3. Disabled both the Mcafee and windows firewalls
4. I downloaded the update for Windows XP LLTD, but the update said it was not needed. because the service is newer than the update.

When I am on the VISTA computer I cannot see the shared printer on the XP Pro system because the diagnostics state that port 445 is blocked. But when I modify the hosts file on both computers with the IP address and host name, I can see the shared printer on the XP computer with the VISTA computer. The network map on the "Network and Sharing" Icon is wrong , the Xp Pro computer is at the bottom of the network map, but it is not connected to anything.
So what am I missing here? why is creating a network using a workgroup so elusive?

Originally Posted by kaspar

I have been going nuts trying to network two computers at home using a work group, which I thought would be relatively simple. The goal is to share a USB printer on the laptop(XP Pro) so that both computers can have access to a printer. Here is a description of the two computers

The laptop- Dell Inspirion , running Windows XP Pro McAffee Antivirus
The Desktop - Dell , VISTA OS, McAffee antivirus

I have connected the computers above with a Linksys E3000 router

Here is what I have done to network the computers

1. Created the same workgroup name on both computers using a 7 character name consisting of alpha characters.
2. Used the network wizards on both computers
3. Disabled both the Mcafee and windows firewalls
4. I downloaded the update for Windows XP LLTD, but the update said it was not needed. because the service is newer than the update.

When I am on the VISTA computer I cannot see the shared printer on the XP Pro system because the diagnostics state that port 445 is blocked. But when I modify the hosts file on both computers with the IP address and host name, I can see the shared printer on the XP computer with the VISTA computer. The network map on the "Network and Sharing" Icon is wrong , the Xp Pro computer is at the bottom of the network map, but it is not connected to anything.
So what am I missing here? why is creating a network using a workgroup so elusive?

Hello kaspar, and welcome to Vista Forums. Sorry for your troubles.

I have a home network (a workgroup) with XP, Vista, 7, and Linux computers at various times. Before I can share files between the computers, I have to create a folder and then set the 'share' and permission settings. Still things get goofed up sometimes.

But a printer is different. Did you state the make and model of printer? If you did I missed that. Before you can access a printer with Vista, even on a network, that model printer must have a Vista printer driver it can use. I have found it helpful to plug the printer (USB) into my Vista (or 7) computer and see if I can install a working driver. If the printer driver successfully installs, I can then plug it back into the XP computer and usually connect to it over the network.

I have two printers currently on my network. The HP1600 is 7 compatible and so will print directly from my 7 computers via the network from the XP computer. However the Canon S600 is too old for Vista or 7 so I have to copy any file I want printed to the XP computer in order to use the Canon to print.

If you like, you can let us know what printer you are networking and we can go from there?

Cheers!
Robert

Hello,

Thank you for replying to my E-mail. I will try what you suggested to see if the problems I am having go away. Stay tuned for further details. Thanks again!

Originally Posted by kaspar

Hello,

Thank you for replying to my E-mail. I will try what you suggested to see if the problems I am having go away. Stay tuned for further details. Thanks again!

My pleasure!

Robert

Hello,

I connected my printer (HP-952C) to the Vista computer in the basement and the driver was automatically installed successfully. So I took it back upstairs and re-connected it to the laptop upstairs running Windows XP-Pro. So hopefully some progress will be made with being able to share a printer in my home network.
The next step will be to modify the hosts files on both computers to comment out the entires for each computer to see if I can still find the shared printer. Stay tuned for further details.

Regards,

Kaspar

Hello,

Modified the hosts file on both computers to comment out the line (s) that define the IP address to the host name. I then re-booted both computers before I proceeded with figuring out what is gone on with my network problems.
Once the computers were rebooted the Vista computers was not able to find the XP-Pro computer with the shred printer because port 445 was blocked. So I uncoomented out the line in the hosts file on the Vista computer for the laptop computer and I was able to find the laptop and the shared printer. I have also observed that the network map on the Vista computer shows the XP-Pro laptop but it is not placed on the map.
So any ideas about what is going on?

Hi Kaspar,

Here are some articles and forum threads on printer sharing between XP and Vista that may be of help:

Network Map in Windows Vista does not display computers that are running Windows XP

File and Printer Sharing in Windows Vista

Printer sharing between XP and Vista (specifically posts 2 and 5).

Printer Sharing between xp and Vista - Windows Vista Network

How to Share Files & Printers in XP & Vista | eHow.com

printer sharing between vista and xp


If the issue is networking as opposed to sharing, then the following may help:

Here's a tutorial on how to setup a home network (including a wireless one) - check out the additional links for further information that may be of great help: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Setting-up-a-home-network.

Here's an article on troubleshooting wireless network connections (again with helpful links): http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Troubleshoot-network-connection-problems.

Here's a long guide on wireless internet connections in Vista: http://www.techwarelabs.com/guides/misc_mod/vistaconnection/.

Here's an article on how to setup wireless internet connection in Vista: http://www.clpgh.org/usingthelibrary/technology/wireless/WindowsVista.pdf.

I hope this helps.

Good luck!

Hello,

Thanks, I will read the articles and hopefully my networking issues will be resolved.

Regards,

Kaspar

Hello,

Lets try one thing at a time, the LLTD which is supposed to allow a VISTA computer to see a Windows XP Pro computer. Found the package and when I was not able to install it because the version of Windows XP-Pro is newer that the LLTD package. So what am I suppose to do?