Network Sharing with XP, Vista and 7?

I have an old Dell Dimension 3000 running XP, a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop running Vista and now an Acer Aspire AS5738PG-6306 notebook running 7 and I want to be able to network all of them together over our FiOS wireless internet so that everybody can use our ONE printer, a Dell AIO 922.

Problem is I do not know if Vista and 7 can communicate with XP like this and since our printer is six years old, it does not support wireless so I NEED that XP desktop to manage this, but that means if XP and Vista and 7 cannot communicate together, this won’t work.

So, if this is possible I would really appreciate a point to the right direction on this (preferably with detailed instructions).



Thank you in advance!

Thought this might be of use, pulling my hair out trying to share printer attached to pc running win xp with my HP laptop running win 7 till I found this, posted on another forum back in 2007 initially for vista but worked first time with my win 7.
Cottar

This is a great workaround to your problem...

Connecting to a Shared Printer on Windows XP via Windows Vista

Problem:
Your Windows Vista PC cannot connect and print to a “shared” printer, which is directly attached to a Windows XP PC, via your network.

Solution:

• Unplug your USB cable from the back of the Windows XP PC and plug the USB cable directly into your Windows Vista PC.
• The Windows Vista drivers for your printer should be automatically loaded and your printer will be installed on your Windows Vista PC. If this was successful, skip right to step 3.
  
  • If step 2 is not successful…

i.Download the Windows Vista printer driver for your printer from the manufacturer’s website.
1.If your printer’s manufacturer has not created a Vista driver yet, retry step 2.
ii.Install the driver on your Windows Vista PC. During installation, you’ll be prompted to connect the printer to your PC. Choose the option to proceed with installation without connecting the printer.

• After installation is complete, open the Printers icon in the Windows Vista Control Panel.
• Right-click on your printer that was just installed and choose Properties.
• Navigate to the Ports tab.
• Click Add Port, then select Local Port, then click New Port.
• For the Port Name, enter the exact network path and share name of your printer. (ex. - \\HOMEPC\Printer2)
• Click OK and make sure that this new port is selected with a check in the checkbox.
• Click Apply and then OK to close the printer properties.
• You should now be able to print from your Windows Vista PC to a shared printer located on your Windows XP PC.

Thanks guys. I managed to get the three of them networked and all shared up, but unfortunately I am having absolutely no luck with the printer.

Vista said: “local print spool service is not running”, and 7 returned: 0x0000000d.

I tried the steps provided start to finish but it just will not cooperate. >_<

Okay, well if this isn't irony... the printer will now print off of my 7 Notebook directly hooked up, however it refuses to work on the Vista (even considering it IS a Vista driver - same for the 7 64bit as there is NOT a 7 driver).

The 32bit Vista driver is straight from Dell, but won't work on the Vista 32bit, unlike the 64bit Vista driver I have running for the 7 64bit notebook.

So... what should I do? I accidentally installed the 64bit Vista driver onto the 32bit Vista laptop (but uninstalled/deleted it) and now I guess I totally messed it all up otherwise it would be working like my 7 on the 64bit Vista driver, right?

Edit: It says "this option is not available because the printer is currently not communicating".

Okay, wait a second. I just tried printing a Word Document from the 7 Notebook while the printer was connected physically to the XP desktop, but instead of saying "communication not available" it said: "Windows cannot print due to a problem with the current printer setup" and then listed a slew of probable causes - none of which are relevant. However, it's a step closer.

The "port" I'm using is set to \\MASTER\AIO 922 so I know that works now, but there's just something else I'm not seeing preventing the Notebook from printing off of the XP network.

The Notebook lists TWO printers: Dell Photo AIO Printer 922 and Dell Photo AIO Printer 922 (Copy 1). The first brings up all of the options and such, but the (Copy 1) only brings up the print queue. Any ideas? Is that possibly why this Notebook cannot access/print to the XP?

Also, the printer name is different on the XP than on the 7. I have the XP set to "share this printer" but I DO NOT have the 7 set like that, nor the Vista. Are any of those the problem?

is the XP machine home or Pro is the Vista laptop 32 or 64 bit

Desktop is XP "Home Premium" 32bit.
Laptop is Vista "Home Premium" 32bit.
Notebook is 7 "Home Premium" 64bit.