Windows 7: access denied when trying to add printer from a different computer

i have a printer that is currently set up with a windows 7 machine and i am trying to add it as an option a windows xp machine. as far as i know i have allowed "sharing." on the xp machine when i go to add printer... i can see the one i want to add but when i click on it i see an "error: access denied" message in the margin of the window.
when i double click on it, a login window shows up and i've tried the login credentials for this computer as well as the xp computer. no luck

the printer is a samsung scx-4521f

the printer is connected to the 7 pc via usb.
when i attempt to enter login credentials i get the error message: windows cannot connect to the printer. operation can not be completed

Is the Windows 7 network set up as a private network? You should be able to use the printer with no credentials. I would check the printer driver. Some of these printers call Vista drivers Windows Seven drivers but there are slight differences. See if you can download something newer. If it's in the firmware only(as my Epson Stylus is) with no XP driver you may need to hook it to the XP machine or get a router or other switch that allows printer serving via a connection on the router/switch.

Chances are if it's access denied you have the network group set up as public(counter-intuitive I know) which means you need passwords. A private network assumes it's only accessible inside your local Lan. So no password security is enforced.

Make sure the driver is not a Vista driver. After a lot of messing around I could access my printer connected to my Vista machine from XP. But not if it was connected to Windows 7 since there is no real Windows 7 driver available for it. They put drivers on firmware and if you want a newer driver they expect you to buy a newer printer with some of these throw-away printers.

unless you are referring to a different setting, i've tried it with the network setup as "home" and as "work." both machines have the same workgroup name as well.

on which machine should the drivers be installed? samsung does have some "universal print driver" for this printer, which looks like it supports most recent windows OS.

Make sure you Anti-virus and or firewall is not blocking it (both machines)

Good point. It's been so long since I set up I forgot all that stuff gets in the way. Disable every roadblock at least until you get everything talking to each other. Also unless you feel the need to use WMP to share multimedia over the Lan, disable all the media file sharing business included the service. It just complicates things.

WMP wants to index everything and serve it up over the network just in case you want to play it ten years from now. It's a pita.

Just to be clear, you have the USB-attached Samsung printer defined on the Windows 7 machine as "shared"?

And both the Windows 7 and WinXP machines are defined as part of the the same "workgroup"?

As far as drivers are concerned, the Windows 7 drivers for the printer (as locally attached USB printer) are [probably] 64-bit, but you need a second 32-bit version of the driver to "ship over to the XP client" when it goes through its own "add printer" dialog to gain connection to that shared printer through the Windows 7 machine.

You can add that 32-bit printer driver as "additional driver" (for connecting 32-bit clients)on the 64-bit Windows 7 system. That way when you do proceed through the "add printer" dialog on the XP system and you eventually click on "connect", the Windows 7 system will send the 32-bit driver over to WinXP, and the case is closed. The printer will now be shareable and usable by both machines.


You need to get the 32-bit version of the Samsung driver installation package, unzip it somewhere, and then there will likely be a BIN or DRIVER folder inside somewhere, that contains the needed INF file.

You will then navigate to that folder containing the INF file through the "add additional driver" dialog on the Windows 7 system from the "Printer properties", sharing tab, push "additional drivers" button, check the "x86" box, push OK, and follow the wizard. You will eventually navigate to that expanded Samsung driver folder containing the 32-bit INF file.

I just took a look at the "universal printing driver" description on the Samsung support page, and it looks like it will support both 32-bit and 64-bit environments. But I believe that the same INF in that file probably still must be added as the "additional driver" for the "x86" environment, to support connecting 32-bit clients.