Windows 7: Homegroup - problem with sharing printers

porton · 28 Apr 2013

I have 3 desktop computers, 2 with an attached printer, 1 without. I want the 2 printers to be available to all 3 computers. Is this just a matter of turning both printers into network printers? If so, how do I do this, please?

I have somehow (without knowing how!) already done this with one of the printers but it only appears with "(Network)" after its name on one of the computers. If I try to add it as a network printer on the other computer, I get asked to supply a driver for it - which I don't understand because surely it only needs a driver on the machine to which it's connected.

Confused...

DocBrown · 28 Apr 2013

Welcome porton,

Make sure the printers are marked as shared on the computer they are attached to.

Yes the other computers need to load the drivers for the printers that they will be shared with over the network.

Windows will usually be able to search for the need drivers. But in rare ocasions, I have had to physically connect the printer to the network computer to load the correct drivers. Hope this helps.

porton · 28 Apr 2013

Quote: Originally Posted by DocBrown

Make sure the printers are marked as shared on the computer they are attached to.

Done, thank you.

Quote: Originally Posted by DocBrown

Windows will usually be able to search for the need drivers. But in rare ocasions, I have had to physically connect the printer to the network computer to load the correct drivers. Hope this helps.

This is where things might get messy... I have only just installed Windows 7 on one of the machines (the one with the Xerox printer attached) and this was using the upgrade from Vista version of Windows 7. When I used Windows Update to find the correct driver for this printer it didn't come up with the right one (and neither did my own searches for one). In the end I bought Driver Detective and this found a driver that worked! The problem is that I have no idea where on my machine the driver lives and it's not practical to hook the printer up to the other computers (it weighs a ton!).

Thanks for your help so far!

porton · 28 Apr 2013

Just tried to add the Xerox to one of the other computers but Windows Update couldn't find a driver for it... And, as I said, I don't know where to look for it on the machine that has this printer attached to it.

DocBrown · 28 Apr 2013

Can you move the network computer close to the Xerox Printer & connect or use a temporary long printer cable ?

porton · 28 Apr 2013

I've found the Xerox printer driver folder (so no need to connect computer and printer now!) and copied it to the network machine that I want to be able to use it. I've tried adding this printer as a network printer and Windows Update couldn't find a suitable driver. So I tried the manual install, supplying the location of the .inf file. but this raised the error "Windows cannot connect to the printer. Operation failed with error 0x00000214".

DocBrown · 28 Apr 2013

Yes, I have seen that message before, also. Is the Xerox printer connected by a Parallel cable or USB cable ?
Seems to me I had to add a printer port, I think in Device Manager. It been a while since I did this.

porton · 28 Apr 2013

It's a USB connection.