Anyone network Vista & XP?

[Matt400]

Our server is Vista and the work station is XP. Its all working ok except for one thing. . I can't get the WS to print on the printer connected to the Server.

 

[tkerrigan]

Has the printer been shared?

 

[Matt400]

Yes its shared

 

[tkerrigan]

My solution was to download and install "Network Magic", it does the whole network thing for three machines for about $24 for home use. It did Vista 64 to Vista 32 to XP Home. I think they have a professional version for business. Good luck. https://store.purenetworks.com/storefront/

 

[Matt400]

Did that help set up printer sharing also?

I have the two networked and working good except for the printer.

 

[Steev]

It's not intuitive, but try this:

ON THE XP MACHINES:
1. Open Printer and Faxes
2. Click File, Server Properties.
3. Click the Drivers TAB.
4. Find your shared printer in the list and remove the driver. Click OK all the way out.
5. Remove the shared printer in the list.

ON THE VISTA SERVER:
1. Open the Printers and Faxes
2. File, Server Properties, Drivers tab
3. Check to see an XP driver exists for the printer you're trying to share.
4. If yes, proceed to next section. Otherwise download XP drivers for the printer, then Add them in using the "add... " button on the "Printer Server Properties" page you were just at.

Here's why: when the XP machines try to connect to the server, they will try to download the driver from the server. If they can't find the driver, they will either prompt for one or use a generic one. It's always best to have the clients use the same driver as the server.

REINSTALLING THE PRINTER - ON THE XP MACHINES:
1. Find out the hostname of the server.
2. Click Start, Run...
3. Type "\\servername" and press enter
4. You should see the server come up with any shares listed, but most importantly PRINTERS that are shared.
5. Simply double click on the printer name. This should force the driver to install.
6. Try the test again.

XP is going on 10 years old now so it has quirks, but at least this means the fixes are mostly documented Kinda like our trucks... .

 

[tkerrigan]

Network Magic does printer and file sharing just by checking them off. If anything goes wrong with the network, it will repair it.

 

[Matt400]

It's not intuitive, but try this:



ON THE XP MACHINES:

1. Open Printer and Faxes

2. Click File, Server Properties.

3. Click the Drivers TAB.

4. Find your shared printer in the list and remove the driver.

I get stopped on #4 here and it says the specified printer driver is in use, cannot delete.

 

[Steev]

Try to remove the shared printer from the Printers and Faxes window, then go into the Server Properties. I may have goofed the order.

If that doesn't work, you'll want to either reboot the XP machine or restart the printer service to kick start it (start, run, type services. msc and hit enter. look for Print Spooler, right click on it and select Restart. )

 

[Matt400]

I removed sharing but get the same error message, I have a pc guy comming on Thur if nothing else.

 

[Steev]

By the way, when you right click on the printer on the Vista machine, click properties and click the Sharing tab, I see an Additional Drivers... button that lets you select different operating systems.

Sry I can't be much more help... .

 

[Matt400]

By the way, when you right click on the printer on the Vista machine, click properties and click the Sharing tab, I see an Additional Drivers... button that lets you select different operating systems.

Yes and when I ck the 86 box for XP and go to the XP printer driver I downloaded I get another error message when I try to add the driver:

The specified location does not contain the driver for the requested processor architecture

I suppose since the driver I want to add is an XP driver it doesn't like it cuz its on Vista.

 

[Steev]

Is the vista machine running 64bit? Or perhaps is it running an AMD processor?

This link can help that: How to find a compatible printer driver for a computer that is running a 64-bit version of Windows

Someone having the same error messages you're having solved it by getting the latest drivers possible from the printer maker's website:

HOWEVER, you actually solved my problem by suggesting that I visit the
vendor's site for the newest driver. This is a brand new printer, so I
thought the x86 driver on the CD that came with it would be up to date.
Apparently that wasn't the case; I went to the Dell site and got the x86
driver from there and it worked immediately.

 

[Matt400]

Its 64bit.



I downloaded the latest driver from Brother, ours is a Brother HL5240