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

Anonymous

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

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

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

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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76 additional answers

Anonymous

2013-10-10T22:06:29+00:00

When I wrote out the instructions back in 2009, they were for adjacent operating system releases. Windows 7 is one step beyond, so the first step is to go to the printer manufacturer and see if XP 32-bit and Windows 7 64-bit drivers exist for your model. If they do, then you follow my original instructions, reading Windows 7 in place of Vista.

If there are not both sets of drivers, it is game over unfortunately..

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.
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