Can't Print to Shared Printer

Yes, another user that can't print wirelessly!

My Canon MP530 is connected via USB to a desktop PC running XP Pro. The printer is set to share, which is confirmed by Network Magic.

My laptop, also XP Pro, connects wirelessly to a 2Wire modem. The Canon printer is shown as shared on the Laptop. The Network Magic troubleshooter reports that "This printer is available for printing from this computer."

Here's what happens when I try to print from WordPad: I get the Print dialog box showing the Canon MP530. But when I click Print, nothing happens. Same with Print Preview in WordPad.

Notepad isn't much better. In that case I get "The handle is invalid."

A test print using the Printers and Faxes folder yields "Test page failed to print."

The Printer Properties PORTS tab shows Canon MP530 on Port USB001, described as "Virtual printer port for USB." If I click on Configure Port, I get "An error occurred during port configuration. The operation is not supported."


Here are some of the things that I have already tried:

- Deleting and re-entering the share doesn't help.

- Windows Firewall off on both machines - no difference

- Anti-Virus off on both machines - no difference


Any suggestions appreciated!

 

do you have rights to use the printer?

 

Do you have the right drivers for the printer installed on the laptop?

and are both computers set to be on the same workgroup?

they were two problems I figured out with my own config when faced with the same.

 

Greasemonkey and Geminiione: Many thanks for the suggestions.

"do you have rights to use the printer?"
- I'm the admin on both desktop and laptop. Other than that I confess that I'm not sure how to assign printer rights.


"Do you have the right drivers for the printer installed on the laptop?"
- The driver is installed by windows when I set the printer to share. If I'm n ot mistaken, Windows copies the driver (or some reasonable facsimile!) from the desktop during the share assignment.


"are both computers set to be on the same workgroup?"
-Yes

I should point out that the Desktop is running XP SP2 and the Laptop is running XP SP3.

Any other ideas appreciated.

 

I was just checking to see whether you had the required services running in the background (apparently you do).

Are you able to print over http?
ie rather than addressing by \\computer name\printer name
add the printer again using add/remove printer and selecting the http printer option.
address the printer using the format

Code:

 http://Computer IP address/Printers/printer name

 

do you have the same password on both?

 

Thanks again.

Geminiion, I'm not using any passwords.

Greasemonkey, I tried using http://Computer IP address/Printers/PrinterName with the IP address shown in ipconfig and I also tried using the computer name. In both cases Windows displayed a dialog box that said "Windows cannot connnect to the printer..."

Did I mention previously that shared folders work fine? It's just the flipping printer.

 

makes me wonder if network magic is interfering. can you disable it and try to print? also if you go to system that is trying to print can you call up the printer properties?

 

Geminiione, I never thought of Network Magic as a possibile culprit!

I uninstalled Network Magic from both machines using an uninstaller so that all traces are removed from the Registry.

Although the uninstall process didn't ask for a re-boot, I re-booted the laptop.

Same result. This time I wasn't using Network Magic so I could see that the Add Printer process could quickly "find" and list the shared printer. It gets installed reasonably easy ... it just won't print.

Arrrgh.


Yes I can see the Printer Properties on both PCs.

 

does it show up in the print que? also have u tried just a print test page?

 

Resolved: Can't Print to Shared Printer

Resolved!

Although both PCs are running XP Pro, I used a technique that Vista folks have been using. It's counterintuitive, but of course this is Windows.

1. On the laptop, select: Control Panel/ Printers /Add Printer

2. Choose Add Local Printer. (Yes Local, NOT Network.) Uncheck the box marked "Automatically detect my PnP printer. Click Next

3. Select Create a New Port and leave the default in the drop down selection as Local Port. Click Next

4. Windows displays a small dialogue box asking a port name. Key in

\\Host name\printer name

Host name - is the name of the desktop eg User-judf5564 or Home etc.
Printer Name - is MP530 or OffcPrnt, etc.

Click OK


5. Windows will show a list of printer vendors and models. The list looks just like the Windows Add Hardware Dialog. Select your printer manufacturer and printer model from the list. My particular model wasn't shown so I clicked on Windows Update. After an interminable wait the list of models was updated. I chose the closest match and will update the driver later.

6. When offered, indicate that you want a test print.


Hopefully this will help someone else so they don't have to go through all the iterations that I tried. Many thanks to Greasemonkey and Geminiione.

 

:major
Good to hear you've got it sorted & thanks for the tip, I'll be sure to store that away in the rusty recesses of my brain

 

good to hear you got working