# Solved: Windows 7 Will not connect to Network Printer



## JoeyG (Mar 17, 2010)

Hey guys, I'm trying to connect a new laptop windows 7 (64 bit) to a shared network printer thru a XP Home computer. I see it, we're all part of the work group however when I connect it does not supply me with the correct driver and says I must use one manually with a .INF extension. I go to CANON's Website and download their Driver for the (Canon PIXMA 6000D) on both the 7 and XP yet, nothing happens. I also manually search the folder when the error pops up as it suggests and it refuses to see the drivers. I suspect because they are in an executable format and not the .INF which it requests. However there only seems to be .EXE drivers available for this printer to communicate, and not the requested .INF.. I have networked printers before and 7 Is usually really good with automatically extracting drivers.. But this time I am STUCK.. Any ideas? ......THANKS


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

This is a procedure that may work for installing network printers when the normal install doesn't work properly.


Select: Control Panel, Printers, Add Printer
Choose Add Local Printer. 
Uncheck the box marked :Automatically detect my PnP printer. 
Click Next
Select Create a New Port and leave the default in the drop down selection as Local Port.
Click Next
Windows displays a small dialogue box asking a port name. 
Key in: \\<computer_name>\<printer_name> See note below
Click OK
Windows will show a list of printer vendors and models. The list looks just like the Windows Add Hardware Dialog. Select your printer manufacturer and printer model from the list. If your specific printer isn't shown, you can click on Have Disk and browse to the folder where you have the unpacked drivers for your printer.

*Note:*
_<computer_name> - Computer name from Control Panel, System status display.
<printer_name> - The actual name of the network printer viewed by browsing to the shared printer on the network._​


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## JoeyG (Mar 17, 2010)

THANKS.. I did it, but I misstepped on one thing, However, it still worked!! it connected and extracted the driver, and worked.. I am so glad.. I don't mean to be a pain but, I'm one of those guys that try to know exactly how it worked. And network printers always puzzle me, for Do they get the driver from the computer that the local printer is connected to? and if that driver is not compatible, can you download a driver to the remote printer directly and then connect?, will it recognize it and still use that driver to the remote printer?, or must the driver be on the computer hosting it? And then when you attempt to reconnect it gets the drivers.. I installed drivers on both the host and remote computers and it wouldn't use them the first couple times but eventually did. But I just don't know which driver the network computer actually uses to communicate with the network printer.. THANKS FOR YOUR THOROUGHNESS..


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Well, network printers can get their drivers from the machine with the printer if that machine has the correct driver, or you can install it locally.

For reasons only known to Microsoft I would expect, sometimes printer sharing just seems to be a bit balky.  I came up with my alternative method when I had a printer that wouldn't install properly.

*You can mark your own threads solved using the







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## JoeyG (Mar 17, 2010)

THANKS.,. THAT MAKES SENSE TO ME.. I will definitely KEEP THIS IN MIND IN THE FUTURE... BIG HELP!!


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