XP to 7 Printer sharing

[f1wade]

straight forward solution

the simplist way to make this work is to plug the printer into each computer seperatly and make sure it works and prints, if it doesnt then download new drivers for it.
on windows 7 you might need to find a 64-bit patch for your printer to work, i did.

then when it works on both machines, plug it into the one you want it connected to,
find the printer in your add printer (browse) option,
then the machine should install the drivers for you.

then it should work as the drivers from being connected directly will still be on it, and so work with them.

 

[pikalax]

Essiar: Check the IP addresses on both the 7 and the XP, then reboot both system and check the IP addresses again. Are they the same IP addresses before the reboot as they were after the reboot?

How to check an IP address:

In Windows XP
1) Log in as an administrator.
2) Click Start > Run.
3) Type "CMD" and hit Enter.
4) Type "ipconfig" and hit Enter.
5) Scroll up to find your current Internet connection (LAN or WLAN, depending on your household network configuration.)
6) Copy down the IP address.

In Windows 7
1) Press Start. In the search box, type "CMD".
2) In the left pane, right-click "cmd.exe" and select "Run as administrator". If prompted by User Account Control, allow the program to make changes.
3) Continue from step 4 above.

 

[WindowsStar]

the simplist way to make this work is to plug the printer into each computer seperatly and make sure it works and prints, if it doesnt then download new drivers for it.
on windows 7 you might need to find a 64-bit patch for your printer to work, i did.

then when it works on both machines, plug it into the one you want it connected to,
find the printer in your add printer (browse) option,
then the machine should install the drivers for you.

then it should work as the drivers from being connected directly will still be on it, and so work with them.

Yep already posted that: http://www.sevenforums.com/network-sharing/4602-xp-7-printer-sharing-3.html#post1069902

 

[Essiar]

ip?

Pikalax,
I can't imagine the IPs will remain the same since I am on a dynamic setup, not static. Anyway, I went ahead AGAIN and connected the win 7 printer directly to the XP machine, it worked fine. Then reconnected the printer to the win7 machine. Set it up again manually on the XP machine as I always have (\\win7machine\printername) and as usual it found it and worked fine. Rebooted the XP machine and not working. When attempting to print I get this:
"Windows cannot print due to a problem with the current printer setup".
In the XP control panel it shows the win7 printer as the default printer but when attempting to look the printer properties I get this:
"Printer properties cannot be displayed. Operation could not be completed".
Then I get this:
"You do not have access to this printer. Only security tab will be displayed."
I have no idea why it works great until I reboot the XP machine.
It appears that the only way to have my XP machine print to the win 7 printer is to never reboot the XP machine which of course is impossible.
Does anyone here have an XP machine printing wirelessly to a printer that's connected to a win7 machine?
Thanks!

 

[WindowsStar]

Pikalax,
I can't imagine the IPs will remain the same since I am on a dynamic setup, not static. Anyway, I went ahead AGAIN and connected the win 7 printer directly to the XP machine, it worked fine. Then reconnected the printer to the win7 machine. Set it up again manually on the XP machine as I always have (\\win7machine\printername) and as usual it found it and worked fine. Rebooted the XP machine and not working. When attempting to print I get this:
"Windows cannot print due to a problem with the current printer setup".
In the XP control panel it shows the win7 printer as the default printer but when attempting to look the printer properties I get this:
"Printer properties cannot be displayed. Operation could not be completed".
Then I get this:
"You do not have access to this printer. Only security tab will be displayed."
I have no idea why it works great until I reboot the XP machine.
It appears that the only way to have my XP machine print to the win 7 printer is to never reboot the XP machine which of course is impossible.
Does anyone here have an XP machine printing wirelessly to a printer that's connected to a win7 machine?
Thanks!

Nope, no one that I know of has this working completely without some type of problem. One tech had it all working for about 3 months we thought we had it fixed but then the same issues all over again, reboot stops it, or the printer runs out of paper etc. and it stops working.

The only true way to make this work without issues is to buy a USB to Network adaptor and add the printer directly on the network. So far everyone that was done this way has been working without issue. -WS

 

[Essiar]

usb to network

You mean like what's on this page?
USB Ethernet Adapter, USB Network Adapter, USB to Ethernet, Ethernet USB at TigerDirect.com
Just run it from the printer to the router and that should do the trick? I'm curious as to why the XP machine would never lose the printer that way as opposed to the way I have been doing it. Either way, the printer is "on the network". Hmmm....

 

[MirzaBole]

Hi Mods
Maybe you can make this a sticky -- often comes up and I posted a solution yesterday which works.
..............extract from previous post .....
Hi there
I've posted on this before but to share Printers attached to XP computers with either X-64 or X-32 versions of W7 is SIMPLE. These instructions are for the Printer attached to the XP machine (but works in reverse as well).

("Stand alone" Network printers can be done slightly similarly BTW).

assume the computers are call XPMACHINE and W7MACHINE.

1) Ensure Printer on XP machine is shared - assume it's called SHAREDPRINTER.

2) On the Network Browsing on your W7 machine ensure you can "See" the Printer share.

Now on the W7 machine do the following (doesn't matter if it's X-86 or x-64).

3) Control Panel==> add LOCAL (Yes LOCAL) printer. I know it's on a Network but hold your horses -- what we are actually doing is "Poodlefaking" the W7 machine into thinking it's running the printer.

4) Create NEW port==>Local port

5) Portname is \\XPMACHINE\SHAREDPRINTER

6) Now W7 will load a driver and you'll be able to print on the XP machine.

Simple

(For a "Network stand alone printer") at 4) chose TCPIP port
and at 5) enter the IP address.


If the printer is on the W7 machine and you want to print on the XP machine then do the same instructions on the XP machine --
port name in this case will be \\W7MACHINE\SHAREDPRINTER

Cheers
jimbo

I have iR1018 connected to XP SP3 32bit and tried to solve problem as above. But when I try to print from win7 64bit it goes thru XP SP3 32bit and comes to the printer. But then printer shows an error saying something like "change reg'd size common settings" (on the printer)

Please help because my boss will kill me since I advised to purchase more expensive PC and now I am dead unless I resolve this issue !!!! pls pls pls

 

[Essiar]

Nope but thanks anyway

Thanks Mirzabole. Just like when doing it the original way posted, it worked fine your way too, fooled the xp machine into thinking it was a local printer and it printed fine... until I rebooted. Then it failed to print. The problem either ways seems to be this...
The xp machine loses it's permission to connect to the win7 machine (which has the printer attached to it). Every time I reboot the xp machine and look at the network places, I have to re-enter the User Name and Password to the win7 machine so it can connect to it. Not sure how to permanently allow the xp machine permission to connect to the win 7 machine without re-entering the win7 user name and password after every time I reboot the xp machine. If I can solve that, it will work. Unfortunately, I'm stumped as to how to do that.

 

[WindowsStar]

You mean like what's on this page?
USB Ethernet Adapter, USB Network Adapter, USB to Ethernet, Ethernet USB at TigerDirect.com
Just run it from the printer to the router and that should do the trick? I'm curious as to why the XP machine would never lose the printer that way as opposed to the way I have been doing it. Either way, the printer is "on the network". Hmmm....

Yep, those look like them. -WS

 

[geekchick]

Jimbo, you saved me! This worked great! Your instructions were clear and easy to follow. Thank you a million times!

 

[rpprevost]

Thanks Jimbo,

Worked for me. Then stopped several days later. Forgot where I found this info. Then found my way back here. Tried it again, worked just as well as it did the first time.

I'm suprized, though, with so many people miss-reading or not understanding your instructions, no one questioned what they should do when setting up the Win 7 driver on the Win 7 client machine and get to where they're prompted to "share" or "not share" the printer. I didn't see any posts about anyone's head popping-off and bouncing around while still attached by a limply-coiled spring.

 

[pikalax]

2) On the Network Browsing on your W7 machine ensure you can "See" the Printer share.

What if I am in the situation where no machine on the network can see the XP machine, including itself? The four Windows 7 machines are x64, some with SP1 and some without, all in the HP Pavilion family with a mixture of laptops and desktops. The Windows XP machine has SP3 and is a Dell Dimension E510 with Media Center. The XP machine has several hardware problems including the "Serial ATA (SATA-2) device not found" error on boot and a front USB port that kills the computer when connected. The printer is a Samsung ML-2571N, and the connecting router is a Linksys WRT54G v4.20.7.

All the machines have Windows Firewall as the sole firewall software. Disabling the firewall did not solve the problem. Disabling password-protected sharing did not solve the problem. Resetting the router did not solve the problem. There's a whole list of attempted solutions that failed to solve the problem that is so long I don't think I can remember them all.

Attempts to connect to the XP machine from any Windows 7 by \\XPMACHINE (where XPMACHINE is replaced with the XP's name) resulted in an error message:

Windows cannot access \\XPMACHINE
Check the spelling of the name. Otherwise, there might be a problem with your network. To try to identify and resolve network problems, click Diagnose.
Error code: 0x80004005 Unspecified error

Diagnostics says "The remote device or resource won't accept the connection - Detected". Others have tackled my problem with little success (not that they were committed anyway). Maybe you'll be more successful?

 

[bbacle]

I too am having problems sharing a printer from my XP machine to Win7. Each time I attempt to login from the Win7 machine, I get a login failure error. I have set it up to not require a name & password, but it still wants it. I have had the exact same results from my Vista machine as well. It doesn't matter whether I set the Vista & Win7 machines up to require or not require a username & password. They both still ask for it.
I can go to my XP machine and see the files on the Win7 machine & the Vista machine, but not vice versa.

 

[rpprevost]

I've noticed these things:

1. On my Win 7 Ultimate machine, if I reboot, it does not hold the local port I added for the shared printer on the XP machine. (local port: \\[xpmachine]\hpdj5740). However, the Win 7 Home Premium machine holds the port setting just fine.

2. The printer switches to "Offline" when I reboot the Ultimate machine.

3. I found that if I send a job to the printer before I re-add the port and set the printer to "Online", the job gets stuck in the queue and is difficult to clear. Once I clear it, add the port, and set to "Online", then it'll work fine until I reboot.

 

[rpprevost]

pikalax,

You may have already thought of this, but check that the workgroup entry is the same for all machines, and that the system clocks on each machine are synched to the same Internet Time Server (ex: time.windows.com).

 

[pikalax]

System times are synched to nist.time.gov, and all machines are connected to WORKGROUP.

 

[rpprevost]

Pikalax,

I'd like to work with you on this. In fact, I started to write a check list for you then I thought we should probably start a new thread if we need to get get off the topic of printer sharing so that we don't highjack this thread.

 

[pikalax]

I did start a new thread weeks ago, but no one helped me there. :O

 

[jiggy]

I just joined this forum to thank jimbo45 for the solution provided in this thread. 2 new HP Win 7 laptops wouldn't connect to my old XP desktop printer even though they could see the printer. Also learned the meaning of "poodlefaking". I hope to learn a lot more down the road. Thanks again!

jiggy

 

[GGAG]

Thanks Jimbo45 for the instructions in post #5.
I have an hp printer shared from an XP Home machine. The Win 7 machine would not print. I just wonder if after one of Microsofts updates this fix may stop working.
Thanks again.