Cannot find printer?

Hey, recently we just purchased a new laptop. I have a network of three computers. The router is on my computer (the Emachines). I have wireless internet going to my Dell Desktop and also the Laptop. The printer is connected to my computer (the Emachines). The Dell and my computer can use the printer fine, but the printer won't show up on the laptop. Any help?

 

I'm going to need little more information. But this is basic steps for how to share a printer.
1. Go to the computer that is physically connected to the printer and open the printer settings. ("Start - Printers and Faxes" on XP)
2. Right click on the printer you want to share. Click on "Sharing"(XP).
3. Enable printer sharing by clicking the check box "share this printer" and give it a name.
4. Go to remote computers and go to Start - Run. On the "Run" window, type in the emachines IP or dns name.
5. A new window will pop up and you should see the shared printer. Right click on the printer and click on "connect"(xp)

that's it. on xp.
if you can not see this you need to post all your OS, network protocals and security settings.

 

Could you explain that step a bit more?

 

Pardon me for butting in, but if a machine on the LAN other than the one the printer is connected to can use it, then it's already being shared. Did you run the New Printer installation wizard on the laptop and specify a network printer?

(Step 4 and 5 don't seem to do as suggested.)

 

I believe you want to do a START | RUN | \\ip address of emachines | OK
ex \\192.168.1.105

 

Yea that is what I'm confused with, the printer just showed up in the folder for the dell. And how do I run the New Printer installation wizard? I clicked on "Add Printer" in the Printers and Faxes menu but it failed to locate a printer.

I tried putting in the IP Address of the Emachines and got "Windows cannot find '192.168.2.102'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start button, and then click search."

 

I thought so too. that's why I said,

Also, in workgroup, if you have network monitor protocal installed, your winxp machine will find the shared printer and install it automatically. This is probably why urmom doesn't know how to use dnc path or ip address...

in order to find out the emachine's ip address, go to emachine's command prompt (start -run -type in "cmd") and type IPCONFIG /ALL
Make sure you have "file and printer sharing" service installed on your laptop.

make sure your laptop and emachines are in the same ip range, subnet, dns and workgroup name.

 

Are you sure you put the "\\" in front of the IP address \\192.168.2.102

 

I got it to work. I just needed to put the \\ in front. Then I followed Pari's steps. Thanks.

 

Hi,
I am having a problem finding a printer on a W2k machine from an XP machine.
both machines have the printer software loaded and win2k printer is shared.
I see the W2k machine from the XP machine but not the printer.
Please advise.

 

Go to the W2K machine and click START select RUN and type CMD
when the command window opens type NET USE
Is the printer share listed?
What is the share name?

 

the printer share is not listed. sorry

 

Sorry wrong command.....type
NET SHARE

 

if you see your printer listed after trying jconstan's instruction, it may mean your security settings are mismatched.
Maybe, you unchecked "list in directory" box when you enabled share on the printer?
Are you in a AD Domain or just a Workgroup?

 

Hmm I have one more question. How can I make it so that I can see my network files? I share files in the network folder between my Dell and Emachines. How can I make it so that I dont have to type \\192.168.2.102 every time in Run.

 

A couple of ways. Go to your network connections and select TCP/IP and select properties. Go to ADVANCED and go to the WINS tab. Check the box that says "Netbios over TCP/IP".

Method two.
Build an LMHOSTS file with the IP addresses and computer names of your system. Place the file in \winnt or windows\system32\drivers\etc as a text file called LMHOSTS.

Also make sure both systems are not named the same and are in the same WORKGROUP

 

I think urmom is asking how to use the shared resources without going thru opening the other PC's unc all the time.
Here is what you can do (this requires, other pc to have a static IP since it could change if DHCPed):
1. Open the other PC's shared window as usual by typing - \\192.168.0.xxx
2. When you see the "folder" you want to access all the time, right click on it, and click on "create shortcut". You could place this shortcut on your desktop so that you can reach your PC by double clicking on it.

Also, you could "Map" it. Let me know if you want this direction.

If you don't want to deal with "static IP", find out the DNS name of your other PC, and run \\"name". If you can see the resource, do the same as above instruction.
If you can't, then we need to resolve your dns and/or network settings.

Have fun.