Cannot connect to Brother MFC-240c network printer from Windows 7 computer

Anonymous
2009-12-10T23:46:43+00:00

The base computer of my network that is directly connected to the internet and my router is a Windows Vista (32bit) machine. My computer is connected through the network to access the internet and the printer connected to the base computer. My computer was also running Vista and the networking worked fine.

I have installed Windows 7 (64-bit, not by option, did it automatically) on my computer, and now I cannot connect to the printer on the Vista machine. I can access the internet (although it is substantially slower than when I had vista) and the shared files on the base computer, but I cannot setup the printer. The printer is a Brother MFC-240c

If anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2009-12-11T00:21:00+00:00

I am assuming you are getting an error stating that the print driver for 64bit is not installed in the Vista machine.  You can either install a 64bit driver that has the same name as the x86 print driver on the Win7 machine and reattempt the connection, install the 64bit driver that has the same name onto the Vista machine (for other 64bit machines) but this is more difficult.

You can also configure the machine to check on Windows Update for a print driver that has the same name as the 32bit print driver.  If gpedit.mcs launches for the Windows version you have.

Computer Configuration

Administrive templates

Printers

Extend point and print connection to search windows update

If there is no matching driver name, you cannot make an RPC connection but you can create an SMB connection.  Search for Local Port.  There are many posts on this.

Alan Morris Windows Printing Team Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here: http://support.microsoft.com/search/Default.aspx?adv=1

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Anonymous
2009-12-11T00:55:27+00:00

To share a network printer being hosted by a computer running a 32 bit operating system with another computer running a 32 bit operating system, Vista or XP, you would go to Control Panel > ‘Printers’ > ‘Add Printer’ > ‘Add a network printer’.  Apologies if you consider that I am stating the obvious.

Sharing a printer being hosted by a computer running 32 bit Vista or XP with a computer running 64 bit Vista is not obvious, because if you use the above method, it will not work.

So how? First, you need to know the name of the computer which hosts the printer, and the name of the printer to be shared.

Sitting at the host computer: The procedure is the same for Vista and XP

Start > My Computer > Properties > Computer Name tab > Change button. Write down the name that you see here because this is the computer name.

Start > Settings > Printers and Faxes > Right click on the printer to be shared > Properties > Sharing tab. Write down the name that you see here because this is the printer name.

OK. Now sit in front of the Vista 64 computer:

Start > Control Panel > Printers > Add printer > Add a local printer > Click on ‘Create a new port’ > ‘Local Port’ > ‘Next’.

The port name will look like this: \Computer name\printer name

So enter the names already retrieved, ensuring that you use the same format, then click ‘OK’.

At this point, you will be presented with the ‘Add New Hardware’ process. You can either select the make and model of your printer from the lists or insert your printer installation disk if you can’t find yours. The printer will be added, and you should be able to print a test page.

Mike Hall MVP - Windows Desktop Experience http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/

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  1. Anonymous
    2009-12-24T16:59:23+00:00

    I'm sorry I was under the impression you got Access Denied when creating the Local Port.  There will be three primary access checks on the Win7 machine

    Port creation

    Driver addition (includes Print Processor and Language Monitors)

    Printer addition

    If you get to the the FINISH page of add printer then the port was created.   The Finish page will display if the driver was installed.

    Error 2 is file not found.  Did you get the same named x64 print driver installed on the 32bit Vista machine?

    Alan Morris Windows Printing Team; Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here: http://support.microsoft.com/search/Default.aspx?adv=1

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  2. Anonymous
    2009-12-26T05:00:32+00:00

    You are absolutely correct Alan, I get the "Access Denied" error message when attempting to create the local port.  Since there were so many posts on using this method, I have tried adding the printer this way (ADD PRINTER > LOCAL > CREATE NEW PORT > PORT NAME > \ComputerName\PrinterShareName.  Using this method results in the "Acccess Denied" message.

    Since I can in fact "see" the shared printers in my Network directory on the Win7 machine, I have also tried right-clicking on the printers and selecting the "CONNECT" command.  This simply gives me the "Windows cannot connect to the printer" error message.

    So...I am not getting to the FINISH page of adding the printer using either of these methods.  Again, seems that all other shares are open and working, but I am stumped on what may be keeping this addition of a printer blocked to the Win7 machine.  Any other specifics or clues that you can think of that I can check?

    P.S. ...happy holidays...

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  3. Anonymous
    2009-12-26T16:17:34+00:00

    Normally the Local Port access denied issue is when the server service attempts to call create file on the remote share.  I'm assuming you have added the Windows 7 inbox print driver to the 64bit Windows machine.  I see that the driver on Windows Update for the 230 has a different name than the inbox driver in Windows 7.  I do not know if Brother included the 230 driver with Vista.

    I'll assume you have added the driver named "Brother MFC-230C" and a printer that is targeting some local port, maybe LPT1:, and you are administrator on the machine.  Open an existing text file using notepad or just create a new file using notepad.  Print to file  (File, Print, Select the printer using the Brother MFC-230C driver, check Print to file (you are going to use this immediately so know where you create this).  

    Once you have a file formated for the printer, copy this file to your shared printer  \ComputerName\PrinterShareName

    Alan Morris Windows Printing Team; Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here: http://support.microsoft.com/search/Default.aspx?adv=1

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