Windows 7 Workgroup sharing question

[yoahgee]

I have 2 questions, I am migrating an XP workgroup to 7. I have two new 7 machines, one sees all of the other computers on the network, the other one only see 1/2 of them. On the machine that only sees 1/2 of them, if i search with a \\computername\share i can see them. Does anyone know why one machine would see all of them and the other doesn't?
The other question is that no matter what i have tried, i cannot connect these machines to a printer share on one of the XP machines, tried all drivers, changed the sharing to user controlled vs homegroup controlled. I thought the printer might be too old, but i have downloaded 32 bit, 64bit and universal drivers from HP but still no luck.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Joe S]

First Home Group only works with Windows 7 PCs. Male sure the sharing permissions are set properly on all of the PC's. Look through this post on the printer part http://windows7forums.com/windows-7...m-home-network-not-printing-one-computer.html It can be a real nightmare getting it straightened out. I had the printer on windows 7 and one XP printed and the other didn't Look at post 5 on the naming part. One more thing XP has the nasty habit of turning the windows firewall back on. So check that frequently.
Joe

 

[yoahgee]

Hi Joe,

Thanks so much for your response,

This definitely is a bit of a nightmare, i took a look at the thread you included, but it's a bit of a different problem, none the less much appreciated. I did logon to another XP machine on the network, added the printer after browsing across the network, it found it right away and printed a test page. For some reason the Windows 7 system won't find it when browsing. I'm going to keep digging. I think my problem might be that this is a 'parallel' connection share from the XP machine. Maybe other XP machines identify it and Windows 7 won't. I have seen other instances with USB shares that don't get recognized.

I have installed Windows 7 on networks that have IP printers, and i have never had major problems, other than reverting all HP printers to universal drivers. Maybe it's just old sharing technology with a parallel printer that Windows 7 doesn't like?.

Thank you again for replying