Connecting to shared printer on XP machine

Saucydee

New Member
Let me explain what I have!

I have an XP PC (can't remember off hand the exact version, will add when I can go back to other side of house and check it). This machine is hardwired to a Westell Router the ISP gave us. Connected to this PC is a printer that I have shared. I have 2 Vista laptops, a Windows 7 laptop and another XP laptop (media center edition) that are connected to the router via wifi. I have another printer connected to the XP media laptop that is shared and I can print to it from the 4 laptops.

Neither of the windows vista laptops, w7 laptop nor media center laptop can connect to the xp PC. I've tried pinging IP or pc name but neither gets a reply. They are all connected to the same workgroup, have run the sharing wizard on the xp machines but now I am stumped!

In order to install the shared printer on the vista machine I had to install the printer as a local printer but then select another port and type in \\computername\printershare to install it. Any other way just wouldn't work. I was able to print to this shared printer on this pc in the past but then jobs started getting stuck in the queue. We just got a new color laser jet this week so had to try it again!

I am hoping someone can help me resolve this once and for all!
 

My Computer

If you had to do that virtual port trick to install the printer then it sounds like you have Vista Pre SP1. Have you tried installing SP1 on the machine? That issue, at least for wired networks, was fixed in Service Pack 1.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion m9515y
    CPU
    Phenom X4 9850
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Some Radeon Cheapie with 512 MB Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    CRT
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    750 GB SATA 3G
    2 SIIG Superspeed docks w/WD Caviar Black Sata II or III
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