Windows 7 Network printing problems

I found a solution on another forum. Logically it makes no sense to me, but it worked so….

Go to Control Panel ****. Choose printer ****. Then choose Add Printer ****.

ChooseAdd a local printer. ****Click on Create a new port. ****

The default in the drop down box is Local Port ****. Do not change that. Click Next ****.

A dialogue box will appear asking for you to enter a port name.

Type in the \computer name\printer name.

My computer's name is kidscomputer and the printer name is HPPrinter so I typed in \kidscomputer\hpprinter

Yahoo! It worked. Go figure! Hope this helps someone else so they don't spend the hours or days like I did on it!

Your "access denied" error indicates that you don't have file/printer sharing set up correctly.

Set up file/printer sharing:

Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally caused by 1) a misconfigured firewall or overlooked firewall (including a stateful firewall in a VPN); or 2) inadvertently running two firewalls such as the built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party firewall; and/or 3) not having identical user accounts and passwords on all Workgroup machines; 4) trying to create shares where the operating system does not permit it.

In Windows 7, go to Control Panel>All Control Panel Items>Network and Sharing Center. Click on "Change advanced sharing settings". You don't want to use Homegroup unless you have all Windows 7 machines. If you do and you want to use Homegroup, see Windows 7's Help & Support. Otherwise, in the Advanced Sharing:

Turn ON network discovery

Turn ON file and printer sharing

Turn ON sharing in the Public folder sharing section

Turn ON password protected sharing

A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network (LAN) traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, turning on Windows 7's File and Printer Sharing as above will take care of this for you. If you aren't running a third-party firewall or have an antivirus/security program with its own firewall component, then you're fine.  With third-party firewalls, I usually configure the LAN allowance with an IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct subnet. Refer to any third party security program's Help or user forums for how to properly configure its firewall. Do not run more than one firewall. DO NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS; CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY.

B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup. This is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab.

C. Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do not need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the passwords assigned to each user account can be different; the accounts/passwords just need to exist and match on all machines. DO NOT NEGLECT TO CREATE PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY SIMPLE ONES . If you wish a machine to boot directly to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for convenience, you can do this:

Start>Search box>type: netplwiz [enter]

Click on Continue (or supply an administrator's password) when prompted by UAC

Uncheck the option "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer". Select a user account to automatically log on by clicking on the desired account to highlight it and then hit OK. Enter the correct password for that user account (if there is one) when prompted. Leave it blank if there is no password (null).

D. If one or more of the computers on your network is XP Pro or Media Center, turn off Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab).

E. Create shares as desired. In Windows 7 I usually share out the user's Desktop and the Public directory.

F. After you have file sharing working (and have tested this by exchanging a file between all machines), if you want to share a printer connected locally to one of your computers, share it out from that machine. Then go to the printer mftr.'s website and download the latest drivers for the correct operating system(s). Install them on the target machine(s). The printer should be seen during the installation routine. If it is not, install the drivers and then use the Add Printer Wizard. In some instances, certain printers need to be installed as Local printers.

How to install a printer that is connected locally to another computer if the driver installation routine doesn't help:

Go to the computer to which the printer is connected. Write down the computer name which you will get from Control Panel>System>Computer Name. Now in Control Panel go to Printers. Find the printer in question, right-click it and then left-click on Properties. Write down the Share Name. Naturally you must have already set up File/Printer Sharing on all involved computers and shared out the printer.

Now go to the remote computer to which you want to add the printer. Control Panel>Printers>Add Printer

Choose Add a local printer. Click on Create a new port. The default in the drop-down box is Local Port. Do not change that. Click Next. A dialogue box will appear asking for you to enter a port name. Type in the \FullComputername\SharedPrintername

ex:  \mycomputer\HPDJ (this is why you wrote down the computer and printer names in the first step)

Click Next. Under the Manufacturers list, select the correct printer manufacturer and the correct printer model from the Printers List. Under "Do you want to use this printer as the default printer select "Yes" (if you do!) and click Next. When asked to print a test page, select "Yes", then Finish.

MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!