asked on

windows XP printer sharing...

Sounds like something realy stupid.. i'm a programmer and I have networking knowledge but I just can't get my answer to this one...
Got some computers hooked to a home router, one of them has printer set directly on it, then shares it to the others..
The others can see it, but as soon as I try to print, gives me an error... In command prompt, from the other machine, when I do
net view I see the computer that has the printer.. but if I do net view \\pcwithprinter, I get a sys error 5, access denied..
I know this is just a security setting in win xp on the machine but I've tried many things and still can't get it to work.. no firewalls running anymore. Had Zone Alarm ( persons preference ) but I took it off.. When it was on, I enabled access to all ports, disabled firewall, enabled port 139 ... did everything.. after that it did show any denials in the logs on either machine, and still I get that error...

can someone please gime some help on this before I rip some hair off ?? lmao.. Its just that its on a friends network, and I'm not too XP oriented and have no idea whats keeping it from getting there..

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Les Moore

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

Baddog

What type of printer are you sharing on the XP machine? I have a similar setup (although I am using a switch instead of a router) and I can access my printer from all other machines without any flaws. I have not enabled the guest account, nor have I changed my NetBIOS settings.
Has this printer worked before? I recall some printers require special network printer drivers to work on the network.

BDog

joebloe3000

ASKER

Its at a friends house, I wouldn't remember exactly what it is, but I think it was an HP 3 in one ( Printer, scanner, fax ). The other printer is configured with the print driver only, its communicating on the right port. When there was a firewall the on the hosting machine, it blocked the other one, so the connection is comming. When I turned it off completely, it wasn't blocked anymore, but I still get an access denied error to the computer, not the printer. If I can get access to the computer i'll have access to the printer too. Lets say you map drivers threw the command prompt, you do net view, get the other computers name, the net view \\otherpcname then you see a list, well the computer that has the printer can do that, and can map the driver, and have full access, but the other can see it when net view is done in general, but as soon as you do net view \\pcname it gives an access error because its not allowed to have access.. so thats where the error comes from. The printer works fine, it already worked before.. But since the firewall was installed, a setting changed ( ZA does that a lot I guess because its not the first complaint I read about it... )

So its just an access denied error that I have to get rid of.

ofussyjoe

Delete the printers on the other comps. Unshare the printer and reshare again. Then go and add again. If that doesn't work, reinstall the printer on the comp and reshare.

Baddog

I recall there were some added steps you needed to do to the registry to fully uninstall ZA.

See following FAQ for ZA:

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/support/znalmInstallXPFAQ.jsp#5

I know I get the same type of errors with WinXP Pro when I installed Seagate Personal Firewall. After I removed it, everything works fine, on the local network. Am looking at configuration parameters to see if I can nail it down (been looking at info on the built-in firewall in XP)

BDog

joebloe3000

ASKER

thanks for all the answers guys... It will take some time before I can check all the solutions since its not for me, its for a friend and he lives not too close from here. But I will check them all out and give points.. Will just require time.

Thanks for your understanding