Windows 7 Printer Drivers disappear when changing networks

[madb1rd]

My networked printer drivers disappear when going from work to home and back. I normally just go into sleep mode when closing the lid to the laptop and then move it to the new location/network.

It takes a complete reboot to get them back. This never happened in Vista.

help, thx

 

[Saltgrass]

In the Network and sharing center, there is a connect and disconnect option. Maybe next time before you put it to sleep you try disconnecting from the network.

I would think the system gets confused when being moved to another network while asleep.

 

[madb1rd]

Well, that might be so but Vista never got confused under the same conditions??? One would hope that 7 is actually an improvement.

 

[Saltgrass]

I do not have an answer to that question. Maybe you could elaborate about your advanced settings in the network and sharing center and someone could tell you.

Vista did not do Homegroups, thus some things must have been changed.

 

[madb1rd]

Hi,

I'm not sure I know what advance settings you mean? It has office 2007, one printer at work is an HP 4250, the one at home is an HP 4000. It also loses the image writer, xps writer, and one note2007 thing. I think I set it to recognize the network and thus default which Win 7 claims it can do. Other than that it is not advanced beyond default settings that I know of.

And it happens intermittently, usually going from home to work, but has happened going in reverse. I was hoping it would do it coming home so I could try your prior suggestion but, it was fine. I'm also fairly sure that it automatically disconnects from the network when it is put to sleep.

thx for any insights though

M

 

[Saltgrass]

I can't get into specifics, but the drivers and paths and whatever are different for each network. I can only guess, and that is what I am doing is guessing ,the computer needs to reset itself when you change the network and devices it sees when it wakes up.

The advanced settings I am referring to are the ones you set if you open Network and Sharing Center and click on Advanced Settings in the upper left of the window. List the settings for the network you are using which should be home or work. Since you need a Windows 7 computer to do Homegroups, some folks are being confused, thinking Homegroup is just another name for Workgroup.