Add printer to wireless PC??

Discussion in 'Wireless' started by Weemez, May 27, 2006.

  1. Weemez

    Weemez Kilobyte Poster

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    Hey everyone!

    I've been asked by a friend to have a look ay their wireless home setup, i know very little about this area as yet but thought if i had a look i might learn something.

    This information is a bit vague im sure and the piece of paper i wrote the info on last night has left my pocket without my knowlege.

    He has a PC in the living room with an ASDL router alongside, there is a PC each in the two bedrooms upstairs with all of them sharing an internet connection and the internet sharing works fine.

    This person wants to be able to print from the two PC's upstairs to the printer that is attached to the PC in the livingroom.

    File and print sharing is enabled on all of the PC's and the firewalls are disabled at the moment.

    From the properties of the printer attached to the PC in the livingroom is says that the printer name is "donald". On the upstairs PC i go to add new printer and select "network". Two names come up... MSHOME i think coz i've lost the paper and another -------, i asume this is computers on the network that it recognises.

    In the bit above this i type name of printer downstairs that i wish to connect to "donald" i'm told that this name is not recognised.

    I do apologise for the lack of information on this, i know how essensial it is to resovle a problem, would appreciate any ideas or if anybody could recommend a site that could help me along with this.

    Cheers guys!
     
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  2. slyuen

    slyuen Byte Poster

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    This is exactly what I am doing, although some might find it easier with a wireless print server (something like a router that connects to USB printers) or the bluetooth option:

    Anyway, I prefer the cheap way so here is the idea (some you may have already mentioned above)...

    1. Form a wireless network to all PCs (same IP subnet (you don't need to set this if you are connected with the wireless router because it gives out ip addresses automatically, same workgroup, etc)

    2. on the pc that is attached with the printer, share the printer

    3. on other PCs, simply add that printer you have just shared out (start...control panel.....printers & faxes....add new printer....network printer - off you go)

    4. now you have a wireless setup that you can print from upstairs to downstairs, etc.
     
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  3. Weemez

    Weemez Kilobyte Poster

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    Thanks for reply.

    My problem is that when i go to add new printer and add the printer name that it asks for, it doesnt see this printer, i'm typing in "donald" as this is the name of the printer that is given to me in the printer properties downstairs.

    I know that there is also the option of using a ulr but i thought that it would see the printer ID as "donald".
     
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  4. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    What you are interested in is the name of the PC that hosts the printer - not any label attached to the printer itself.

    You don't mention if the printer has been shared. This must be done on it's host PC.

    When you have done this then using windows explorer on that PC the printer should appear under it.

    You will normaly (in a workgroup environment) need to install the printer drivers on all the PCs that need to use it.

    Harry.
     
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  5. Weemez

    Weemez Kilobyte Poster

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    The host PC is set to share the printer.

    So i will look for the host PC name and not the printer which makes sense.

    They are all set up on the some workgroup so i will find that printer through the host PC.

    Drivers taken note of aswell!

    Thanks Harry for your advice, much appreciated.
     
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  6. Weemez

    Weemez Kilobyte Poster

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    Sorry guys, just to confirm:

    when adding network printer to upstairs PC it asks name of printer, will i just add the name of the downstairs PC or do i select the browse option and on what looks like a tree structure that comes up below it and select what i think is workgroup names?

    Sorry for being so stupid!!
     
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  7. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    Easiest way to do this is to use windows explorer to find the printer, then double click it. You will be asked if you want to add it to your list of printers. As long as the drivers have been loaded all will work.

    Harry.
     
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  8. r.h.lee

    r.h.lee Gigabyte Poster

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    Weemez,

    Sounds like the internet sharing is working fine, but are all of the computers in the same workgroup? Without the computers in the same workgroup, you can't share things like printers. So how about setting them all up in the same workgroup?
     
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  9. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    I keep hearing of this rule/limitation. However, I've never had problems mixing workgroups when organizing random networks.

    And most of the docs I've read suggest that the workgroup name is just a convenience, with no organizational structure behind it.

    Harry.
     
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  10. Weemez

    Weemez Kilobyte Poster

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    Input is great guys ta. Not sure if the workgroups are the same. It was a company in Inverness that set it up for them so surely they would of set them up in the same workgroup but i will have to confirm that. This leads to another question!!....

    I understand what a workgroup is but how would i confirm what workgroup each one was in, is this through the properties tab on the network connections, in advanced? i think it is its just i'm on an 98 PC just now, the ones i need to connect are XP home.

    I wont be able to get into that property untill Tues so maybe i should give u guys a rest and i could post when i'm there on Tues!
     
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  11. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    System Properties -> Computer Name gives the Workgroup name.

    Harry.
     
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  12. Weemez

    Weemez Kilobyte Poster

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    Thanks again Harry!
     
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  13. Baba O'Riley

    Baba O'Riley Gigabyte Poster

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    I think the easiest option would be, after selecting "add a network printer", choose "browse for a printer", select the PC it's connected to and the printer should appear. Also, the remote PC should pull the printer drivers from the PC with the printer connected to it, even in a workgroup environment.
     
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  14. Modey

    Modey Terabyte Poster

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    Find out the name of the PC that has the printer is attached too.

    Goto the run command on either of the other two PC's and type in ...

    \\PCname

    And click OK.

    If the networking on the PC's is working as it should be, then you will see a window pop up (you may also be asked to put a username and password in - use the main account details on the PC with the printer if you do, also tick remember the password if available).

    So if all things being well, you will have a window on the screen now which will show all the shared resources on the PC with the printer. It should also show the shared printer, right click the printer and pick Connect.

    If you don't get the window to come up, or you get the user / password box and the details that you enter don't seem to work, then you are starting to get into a more complicated area of possibly editing security policies to allow anonymous access etc...
     
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  15. Weemez

    Weemez Kilobyte Poster

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    Hopfully you guys suggestions will do the trick and if as Modey says it gets a bit more complicated then i think i will have done all i can, they will have to get someone else to help.

    Thank you all very much for your help, i'll post how it goes. :thumbleft
     
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  16. Boycie
    Honorary Member

    Boycie Senior Beer Tester

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    Wee,

    Look forward to Tuesday- i should be around :thumbleft
     
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  17. Bluerinse
    Honorary Member

    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    I prefer to do this Modey's way as it is the quickest. Also if you set up the same username and password account on all three PCs and log on with that, you shouldn't get prompted for credentials.
     
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  18. Weemez

    Weemez Kilobyte Poster

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    Hey guys, im on site now.

    One of the PC's upstairs connected no problem just as it said on the tin.

    One of the other PC's upstairs cannot find the downstairs printer.

    I notice that in wireless network connection properties in the one that i cant coneect with has : NETWORK MONITOR DRIVER and MICROSOFT TCP/IP version 6 installed, these are not an option on the PC that i cant get to connect to the printer with, do you think this is the problem??

    They are all on the same workgroup.
     
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  19. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    Hm - I don't have any experience of IPv6 on Windows - so I don't know if that is what this is indicating.

    Can this PC connect to anything? Because if not, and if the TCP/IP v6 is indeed IPv6 then I'd be inclined to disable it. But check why it was installed!

    And a quick search later - yes - this is IPv6.

    Harry.
     
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  20. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    Here is how to uninstall IPv6 from XP SP2:

    Taken from this doc.

    Harry.
     
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