Hi Mods .
People seem to be having problems with sharing / networking printers all over the place so here's a general method that work 99% of the time to connect almost any mix of OS'es (Windows) and printers including "Network" printers -- perhaps you can make this a sticky.
First part - using a printer which is attached to another (remote) computer.
For the purpose of this example we'll call the remote computer REDSQUIRREL and the LOCAL computer (i.e the one you are actually using) BLUEBOAR.
We'll call the printer on the remote computer REMOTEPRINTER.
Before you start ensure you have FILE and PRINTER sharing enabled on the remote computer and have defined the share name for the printer as REMOTEPRINTER. Right mouse click on Printer and use SHARE. Strictly speaking you can use different workgroups but for a home network make all computers belong to the same workgroup.
Ensure you can access the shares on the remote computer as well --if you can't then it's no point going further.
So ensure your computers are set up correctly - first and that the printer functions correctly on the machine it's connected to.
Windows 7 7022 users Note there is currently a slight glitch in networking if you don't have the same user id and password on all the machines. The initial logon screen you get when trying to access say a shared disk doesn't appear so you have to do this little trick to get it to work (or you'll get the infamous message "WINDOWS can't access \\REDSQUIRREL) using the names above
Right mouse click on Network then click Map network drive and now type in\\REDSQUIRREL\SHARENAME or \\REDSQUIRREL\IPADDRESSwhere IP address is your IP address on the LAN of the remote computer such as 192.168.0.11. You should now see the logon screen -- logon with the user name and password for your account on the local machine. Now you'll get the share and if you click the machine icon for that machine you'll get the rest of the shares without any more prompting.
This is a slight hassle but I prefer NOT to have the same user id / password on all machines.
Now once you've got network connectivity functioning OK we get to the real nub of the problem.
As you know you can't for example load a 64 Bit printer driver on to a 32 bit OS and the 64 Bit OS doesn't like unsigned drivers so what we actually do is to "Poodlefake" the local machine to think it has the printer actually attached to it so all you need is the printer driver on the LOCAL machine whatever the remote OS is.
Using the example above proceed as follows
1) ADD LOCAL Printer (Yes not a typo --add LOCAL printer --not a NETWORK printer)
2) Choose printer Port ==> click Create a new port
3) scroll down to type of port Local Port and select NEXT
4) For the port name enter (using our example above) \\REDSQUIRREL\REMOTEPRINTER
5) Now you should get a prompt for the printer driver to install (ON THE LOCAL MACHINE). You'll probably find yours in the hardware list --scroll down to the make and manufacturer. Otherwise get the driver from a Disk, or Windows update. Windows 7 has had a load of new printer drivers added.
6) now print test page -- works a treat even if your local machine is XP and your remote computer is running VISTA or W7 64 bit versions.
This method works fine whatever way round.
second part using a Network / Wireless printer.
These printers are those that are connected to your local network via a LAN cable or wireless. They aren't physically attached to any computer.
Same methodology applies -- you need to get the driver installed on the LOCAL machine.
steps 1 and 2 as before
1) ADD LOCAL Printer (Yes not a typo --add LOCAL printer --not a NETWORK printer)
2) Choose printer Port ==> click Create a new port
3)scroll down to standard TCPIP port.
4) enter printer's IP address
5) and 6) as above.
Hopefully this advice is of use to people struggling with setting up shared / network printers with different (Windows) OS'es. -- If the remote printer is on a LINUX machine then you can do the same with SAMBA but that's another topic for a different post.
Cheers
Jimbo
People seem to be having problems with sharing / networking printers all over the place so here's a general method that work 99% of the time to connect almost any mix of OS'es (Windows) and printers including "Network" printers -- perhaps you can make this a sticky.
First part - using a printer which is attached to another (remote) computer.
For the purpose of this example we'll call the remote computer REDSQUIRREL and the LOCAL computer (i.e the one you are actually using) BLUEBOAR.
We'll call the printer on the remote computer REMOTEPRINTER.
Before you start ensure you have FILE and PRINTER sharing enabled on the remote computer and have defined the share name for the printer as REMOTEPRINTER. Right mouse click on Printer and use SHARE. Strictly speaking you can use different workgroups but for a home network make all computers belong to the same workgroup.
Ensure you can access the shares on the remote computer as well --if you can't then it's no point going further.
So ensure your computers are set up correctly - first and that the printer functions correctly on the machine it's connected to.
Windows 7 7022 users Note there is currently a slight glitch in networking if you don't have the same user id and password on all the machines. The initial logon screen you get when trying to access say a shared disk doesn't appear so you have to do this little trick to get it to work (or you'll get the infamous message "WINDOWS can't access \\REDSQUIRREL) using the names above
Right mouse click on Network then click Map network drive and now type in\\REDSQUIRREL\SHARENAME or \\REDSQUIRREL\IPADDRESSwhere IP address is your IP address on the LAN of the remote computer such as 192.168.0.11. You should now see the logon screen -- logon with the user name and password for your account on the local machine. Now you'll get the share and if you click the machine icon for that machine you'll get the rest of the shares without any more prompting.
This is a slight hassle but I prefer NOT to have the same user id / password on all machines.
Now once you've got network connectivity functioning OK we get to the real nub of the problem.
As you know you can't for example load a 64 Bit printer driver on to a 32 bit OS and the 64 Bit OS doesn't like unsigned drivers so what we actually do is to "Poodlefake" the local machine to think it has the printer actually attached to it so all you need is the printer driver on the LOCAL machine whatever the remote OS is.
Using the example above proceed as follows
1) ADD LOCAL Printer (Yes not a typo --add LOCAL printer --not a NETWORK printer)
2) Choose printer Port ==> click Create a new port
3) scroll down to type of port Local Port and select NEXT
4) For the port name enter (using our example above) \\REDSQUIRREL\REMOTEPRINTER
5) Now you should get a prompt for the printer driver to install (ON THE LOCAL MACHINE). You'll probably find yours in the hardware list --scroll down to the make and manufacturer. Otherwise get the driver from a Disk, or Windows update. Windows 7 has had a load of new printer drivers added.
6) now print test page -- works a treat even if your local machine is XP and your remote computer is running VISTA or W7 64 bit versions.
This method works fine whatever way round.
second part using a Network / Wireless printer.
These printers are those that are connected to your local network via a LAN cable or wireless. They aren't physically attached to any computer.
Same methodology applies -- you need to get the driver installed on the LOCAL machine.
steps 1 and 2 as before
1) ADD LOCAL Printer (Yes not a typo --add LOCAL printer --not a NETWORK printer)
2) Choose printer Port ==> click Create a new port
3)scroll down to standard TCPIP port.
4) enter printer's IP address
5) and 6) as above.
Hopefully this advice is of use to people struggling with setting up shared / network printers with different (Windows) OS'es. -- If the remote printer is on a LINUX machine then you can do the same with SAMBA but that's another topic for a different post.
Cheers
Jimbo
