# Solved: Can't share printer in Windows XP Home Ed.



## jfriedlund (Mar 8, 2005)

My desktop has Windows XP Home Edition, my laptop has Windows XP Pro Edition. I'm trying to set it up so I can use my printer, via a workgroup, that is hooked up to the desktop.

I've successfully created the workgroup and can find them on each computer. From the desktop, I've enabled sharing of the default printer and it shows in "my network".

When I go to the laptop, click add printer, network printer, search, it shows the network, shows the desktop and the laptop, but no printer. If I click on the laptop it will then open further to show the printer associated with the laptop, but if I click on the desktop no printer is showing.

Someone told me they thought you could not share printers under Windows XP Home Edition, is this my problem?


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## pedroguy (Jan 28, 2001)

Printer and File Sharing

The following will set up a Microsoft Workgroup for File and Printer Sharing assuming the PCs are already networked via router, ad-hoc wireless or Ethernet (directly or using switch or hub).

In Network and Dial-up Connections (Win 2k Pro) or Network Connections (XP) right click on your connection and select 'Properties.' If not already there, install or add a check mark for "Client for Microsoft Networks, "File and Printer sharing …" and "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)."

Right click on My Computer and on the Computer Name tab make sure you have a unique computer name and the workgroup name that you want to use for all computers. Change if necessary.

Restart the PC.

You must uninstall or properly configure any 3rd party firewalls on each machine.

If using the XP SP2 firewall: Control Panel - Windows Firewall - on the General tab it should be "On" and on the Exceptions tab "File and Printer Sharing" should be selected.

The Shared Documents folder is automatically shared. Any other folders or printers you want to share, just right click on them and sharing ... . When sharing a printer, accept the offer to load other drivers if your other PCs have different Operating System(s).

When you first go into My Network Places there will be nothing there. The first time you click on 'View Workgroup computers' will probably result in great disappointment. It takes awhile (20 minutes or so) before all the computers in the workgroup get up-to-date and accurate lists of the other computers. Often you can speed up this process via Search for other computers.

When computers show up in My Network Places, double click on one to see its shares. If that includes a printer, you can right click on the printer to connect to it.

Network check list .

Network check list courtesy of Johnwill and Terrynet of the Networking Forum

Here's a networking debug checklist.

Turn off any firewalls for debugging. If the firewall is the problem, you'll have to configure it to allow access to "trusted zone" addresses. Note that some firewalls must be completely uninstalled to stop them from affecting your networking.

Start, Run, CMD to open a command prompt for the following commands.

PING each remote computer by IP address, and if successful, PING by name. Open a command prompt as described above and type.

PING <ip address> 
or
PING <computer name>

Where: 
<ip address> - is the x.x.x.x IP address
<computer name> - is the computer name

A failure to PING is almost always a firewall configuration issue. Any failure to PING needs to be corrected before you go any farther.

Note: You can obtain the IP address and computer name of a computer by opening a command prompt (DOS window) and typing IPCONFIG /ALL. This should work for any Windows version. The IPCONFIG /ALL display will provide a wealth of useful information for debugging your network connection.

Check your Services are Started on all PCs: 
•	Computer Browser
•	DHCP Client
•	DNS Client
•	Network Connections
•	Network Location Awareness
•	Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
•	Server
•	TCP/IP Netbios helper
•	Workstation

Note: You can check the services in Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services.

All of these services should be started, and their startup type should be automatic.

All computers should be in the same workgroup for computer browsing to function properly. File & Print Sharing has to be enabled on any computer you wish to share files or printers from. You also need to actually share the resource in question from My Computer, right click on the drive/printer/folder, and select sharing.

If you encounter difficulties accessing computers that are visible in Network Neighborhood, make sure the computer being accessed has an account with the same name/password as the system connecting to it uses to login.

While the default NetBIOS setting is correct for normal network configurations, it's possible for it to be altered, and it costs nothing to make sure it's correct. NETBIOS over TCP/IP must be enabled for normal network browsing.

More setup info.

The following assumes that both PCs are accessing the internet through the same router. If your network is different the answers in the first paragraph will be different.

Run the Network Setup wizard (found in Control Panel of XP). Tell it each of your computers connects to the internet via "residential gateway" and that you want to enable file and printer sharing. Create a disk at the end only if you have a Windows PC other than XP or 2k Pro or Vista.

Windows XP firewall (if SP2) will be properly configured by the wizard. You must uninstall or properly configure any 3rd party firewalls on each machine. Unique computer names and same workgroup, of course.

The Shared Documents folder is automatically shared. Any other folders (or drives) or printers you want to share, just right click on them and sharing ... . When sharing a printer, accept the offer to load other drivers if your other PCs have different Operating System(s).

When you first go into My Network Places there will be nothing there. The first time you click on 'View Workgroup computers' will probably result in great disappointment. It takes awhile (up to 15 minutes) before all the computers in the workgroup get up-to-date and accurate lists of the other computers. Often you can speed up this process via Search for other computers.

When computers show up in My Network Places, double click on one to see its shares. If that includes a printer, you can right click on the printer to connect to it.

Above are two things put together by Terrynet and Johnwill.The first talks exclusively to sharing.
The second talks to settings that must be adjusted for a functioning local net.
XP does support sharing.

Hope this helps


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## jfriedlund (Mar 8, 2005)

Thanks! I got the printer to share. I did have to uninstall Zone Alarm as I couldn't seem to configure it so it would allow the printing to go through. I am now using Windows Firewall.


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## pedroguy (Jan 28, 2001)

Great.Glad I could help.

Happy network sharing.


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