Cannot print from win95 to winXP

Hi,
Unless you have a proper network, you will find this task very difficult.
The smallest print job turns into a monster print file and then that has to go done the phone line.
As an IT Manager I have many staff wanting to do this but it just is not feasible ( happy to be proven wrong )

Suggest
(1) print to file
Copy to floppy or USB smart card device
copy to and print on XP machine

(2) get up a wireless lan

(3) setup a physical network

Personally I use a wireless card in my latop and cable my PC

Sorry info isn't that promising but sometimes things are not necessary worth pursuing.

Regards
Ian

Hi sccrman1010
you mentioned that you can connect to XP box, is it using the telephone line? if you can connect, what protocols you are using to connect? i think if you have a link using tcp/ip, there shouldnt be a problem. once conncted to xp box, can you post the IPconfig/all results here (if you are connecting using tcp)?
if you post some details about the connection you have made between the two machines, it will be much easier to suggest something, but good thing is that you have a link between the two, so half job is already done.

I would agree with parker on this. Putting a print job over a 56k connection (if you even getting that speed) at true 4-5KB/s transfer is going to be painful. I would agree with all his recommendations. With as cheap as networks are these days its doesnt make sense to do anything else.

I really just dont see this as being possible. "IF" you somehow connect the 95 machine to the XP machine and see the printer you still have the task of setting up the shared printer on the 95 machine. The XP driver will obviously not install on 95. If the printer is old enough you might be able to get by but I still believe connecting the two machines will not work.

My suggestion would be to buy the cheapest NIC (Network) card you can find, probably around $20, and a $2 CAT-5 "Crossover" cable. Plug the crossover cable into both machines and give the machines LAN address's of 192.168.1.x (XP being 192.168.1.1 & 95 being 192.168.1.2). As I said before you will most likely run into a driver issue with the 95 machine trying to setup the XP printer, might want to check the manufactures website of the printer and try to find a windows 95 or 98 driver.

If you have Adobe Acrobat installed on the 95 machine you could also print the file to a PDF then copy the PDF to a floppy, then print it from the XP machine.

i still beleive its going to work if he is able to connect the two machines. win95 drivers is not a big issue. He wants this issue to be solved with what he has, that is with availale resources, although having network card and connecting two machine is a very obvious thing which i dont think sccrman1010 has missed.  waiting for more info, including the printer model etc.

ill get back to you on the protocols i am using to connect the win95 in a couple hours, but the printer that i have connected to the xp machine is a hp psc 2410v photosmart. Nazirahmed is correct, i know it would be a lot easier to just buy the networking stuff, but i am trying to see if it is possible to do this without all that stuff.  Thanks for the help so far everyone!

the protocols are:

IPX/SPX compatible
Microsoft Compression
Microsoft Mutual Challenge Handshake Authentication
TCP/IP

ok. u dont need ipx/spx so remove it. make sure your both macines got same range iP address for the connection, that is the dialing machine should have an ip for example 192.168.0.2 and the server should have 192.168.0.1 while subnet mask on both should be set to 255.255.255.0.  make sure both machines are part of same workgroup. also make sure both machines have similar user accounts with identical passwords. remember, you will need to make these ip settings on dialup networking dial up icon (whatever name you have given it) on windows 95 machine and Incomming Connections icon in network places on XP.

To grant incoming connection access rights to your computer
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/allowing_access.mspx

To configure an incoming connection to use TCP/IP (this link talks about DHCP assigned IP, but it doesnt make difference if both machines are on the same subnet range)
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/ras_config_incoming_tcpip.mspx

for more info:
Windows XP Incoming connections
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/conn_incoming.mspx

Windows Xp Incoming connection clients
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/ras_clients.mspx

here is another guide for network settings, not exactly matches your case but the principales are same: you will need to make sure that your Incomming Connection icon in Network places is configured properly

How to verify your Network is working correctly
http://www.wown.com/articles_tutorials/wxplanch.html

To add additional drivers for win95 on your xp box, i hope you got the CD for the printer in had and it should include the win95 drivers.
Goto Printers folder in control panel. Goto to properties of the printer, Click on sharing tab and click on Additional Drivers, Select Intel win95/98, make sure you got the printer software cd ready, if you dont have the cd, you can always get the drivers from itnernet (hp site Support and Drivers section). But maybe you dont need.

for more info on adding additional drivers:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/print_drivers_install_additional.mspx
How to Use Windows XP to Share a Printer with Others on Your Network
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/itpro/networking/printershare.asp

once you are connected with the proper settings, try to find the Server computer from win95 machine, when you find it, double cliking on it will show you the available shares, printer should be shared on xp to be visible here with less than 12 character share name. Once you have found the shared printer on xp machine from win95, right click on it and select Connect. If that doesnt work, you can use the windows 95 add printer wizard which should be easy to follow.

im going to sound like an idiot, but you said

"the dialing machine should have an ip for example 192.168.0.2 and the server should have 192.168.0.1 while subnet mask on both should be set to 255.255.255.0"

how do you do that? don't ip addresses look like xx.xx.xx.xxx and not xxx.xxx.x.x ?  And how do you change the subnet mask.  Thanks for all your help!

Hi again,

Win95 has a file in the windows directory called xxx.pwl ( xxx is username )

this pwl file contains any win95 passwords you have used.
now it is easy for win95 windows p/w and microsoft networking p/w to get out of sync.
MAKE SURE YOU KNOW YOUR PASSWORDS BEFORE DOING THE BELOW.

go to dos, cd c:\windows ( or wherever windows is)
dir *.pwl
see what pwl ( win 95 password list )
if you have a pwl file for the user you are trying to connect as rename it and reboot
eg ren xxx.pwl xxx.pw-
personally I just go ren *.pwl *.pw-

reboot pc and when asked for password make sure it exactly matches the password XP is expecting each time you are asked.

Hope this assists your goal.
Ian

well....xx.xx.xx.xxx and not xxx.xxx.x.x ?.....No...xx represent any decimal value in between 1 and 254, im  not going into the details why, but the iP address i mentioned are correct dont worry abt that.
On windows 95
the link i am posting here talks about chanign DNS, you dont need to change the DNS but the same properties window will show you the IP settings as well, so make the changes as posted in my last post. i havnt done it on win95 for quit a long thats why i have to post the following link which shows good graphic images.
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/os/windows_9x/connectivity/dialup/2202/
also check the last portion of the followin page which actually shows how to change ip address for dialup connection
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/os/windows_9x/connectivity/dialup/733/

for xp, i have already posted the link
To configure an incoming connection to use TCP/IP (this link talks about DHCP assigned IP, but it doesnt make difference if both machines are on the same subnet range)
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/ras_config_incoming_tcpip.mspx

i did everything both of you said to do (i think).  Printers still won't show up.  I am pretty sure that i need to change something on the win95 computer. After i connect to the xp, if i click on network neighborhood (on the 95), then entire network, it says i cant access the network.

thanks for all the help

did you try to find the xp comptuer from win95 after the connection is made?(right click on Network Neighbourhood and select Find Computer or maybe Search computers). both machines should have same workgroup.  
when you creat incomming connection, you are NOT selecting Allow VPN Connection option??? should be simple incomming connection. You are connecting without any error message? when connected, can you post here the ipconfig/all of the xp machine and win95 machine as well. goto command prompt type ipconfig/all.

i couldnt understand the password files .pwl logic from  parkerig

You should always be able to at least "see yourself" (95 or XP)

if you can't "connect to the network" from the neighborhood where you'd at least be able to see yourself, check for NetBeui being installed on '95 (it's a Microsoft -> Protocol), like TCP/IP, and the IPX you got rid of.  
 
And on XP make sure that NetBios over TCP hasn't been disabled (TCP/IP properties ->Advanced -> Wins tab).  A lot of 'out of the box' broadband software disables netbios over TCP for 'security' reasons.  the default or 'on' position is fine. but 'off/disabled' will block windows based resource sharing.

OK, ive been trying different things for about an hour now and now when i try to connect, i get a error saying:  "Dial up network couldn't negotiate a compatible set of network protocols you specified in the server type section" and then it disconnects.

yes thats quit simple, make sure you have same protocls on both sides, first check your dialup connection properties what protocols you have there and then check on your xp machines what protocols you have for Incomming connection properties. make sure you have Installed Client for Microsoft Network on win95 machines, Goto Control Panel, Double click on network and make sure you have Client for Microsoft Network installed there.

yes intalling netbios on win95 and enable Netbeui on xp will definetly make it more finding comptuer names.

and i think these options are already mentioned in my previous post which contains different links

sorry, im pretty new to all this networking (as you can tell) I'll try that.

Thanks for the fast responses!

on win95, dialup connection, make sure you have have selected the right server type, should be something like PPP Win95, Windows NT...

the following link will help you configure dialup networking on win95, read carefully :)
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/desktop/homedir/win95dun.html#msn

Hi,
This looks like it is now becoming a challenge of wits between PC and Man.
Please confirm the following

(1) when you dial into your XP box you can or can't see file shares.
(2) What modem do you have on XP machine

Thanks in advance
Ian

1 no i cannot see any file shares
2 GTW V.92 Modem

now i can connect, but i still cannot view the "entire network" in network connections on win95.
but on the xp, i can view entire network, then under that microsoft windows network, the under that workgroup.  But when i click workgroup, it says either i do no have access rights (im pretty sure thats not the problem) and the the list of servers for this workgroup is unavailable.

as i mentioned earlier..make sure you have client for microsoft networks installed on windows 95, same is available on xp as well but make sure its available in network proerpties. When you start windows, do you enter any user name and password to logon to win95? if you install client for Microsoft network and make it your primary logon, it will ask you to put a user name and password and it should be same as you have got on xp, i am sure you have an account on xp which you are using for conneting to xp from win95.

ok let me see if i get what you are saying

lets say my user account on xp is abc and the password is 123
should i create another user on the 95 with the username abc and the password 123?


another question, do you know why i cannot view myself in my network places? (on both xp and 95)

great, i will try that.  Hope it works this time!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!
IT FINALLY WORKS!!!!!!

im increasing the points to 135.  thank you so much for all the help!  And thanks for being patient with me!!!

glad to help you...:) cheers

is there a way for me to share my internet connection from the xp to the 95? I tried the network setup wizard but it said and error occured and i could manually configure it.  Thanks again.

:) i dont think EE admins will like it if i answer it here...i would request to post another question so that others can participate as well, as this thread is considered dead...i hope you understand.

ok

the new question is at
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/20959735/Internet-Sharing-from-XP-to-Win-95.html