SettingWindowsPrinntSharing.

What are the OS for Desktop A & B?

Both Desktop A & B must be in the same workgroup and the network type must NOT be public.

You may need to set a static ip address for Desktop A.

Both machines are Windows XP professional.

I do not have a netowrk persay. Both machines are connected to same firewall only.

I do not hink i can get statis IP from cabel company.

How can i test the file sharing.

Do i need to install the printer drivers on B too.

start>run>\\desktop a's name<enter>

Does anything pop up? If so, double click the printer, and allow it to install...

If nothing pops up, might be a name resolution problem....

Course if the firewalls are still on, that could very well be the problem.Uninstall teh software firewalls and retest. If you have a wireless router that is secured properly, the software firewalls arent needed.....

And do that from Desktop b. If the name doesnt work, try the IP address of Desktop a...

And to start with, make sure you can at least make sure you can ping Desktop a from b. If not, the firewall is your problem....

it did work after several tries.
it kep saying
The server for the Panasonic KX-MB2060 printer does not have the correct driver isinstalled.
If you want to search for proper drive click OK.

but then the printer showed up and i sent a page and it did print.

Now, woudl this always show up on deskptop B or do i always need to login using some account.

Also, would windows 7 laptop work the same way.

Is the sharing setup for Everyone?

Does DT A and B both have the same username/password? This alone resolves alot of issues with Windows Networking....

Is Windows XP PC and the Windows 7 PC on the same subnet (say, 255.255.255.0)  (i.e. use the same gateway for Internet access)?

If yes, please try my method below:-

1. Set a fixed internal ip address (say, 192.168.0.x)  for Windows XP PC.

2. In Windows XP PC, go to "Control Panel" ->  "Add/Remove Programs"

3. Select the tab of "Add/Remove Windows Component" -> Double click "Other Network File and Print Services" -> Tick the check box in front of "Print Services for Unix" -> Click all "OK" button to close this window of "Other Network File and Print Services" -> Click "Next" button to close the window of "Add/Remove Windows Component".

4. Restart Windows XP PC.

5. After restart, in Windows XP  desktop computer, install the printer to be shared.

6. Right-click the icon for the installed printer, click "Sharing" and select "Shared as" option and give the share name of the printer. The share name shall be less than 13 characters and there shall be no space in the share name. For example, a share name can be "HP_LJ1010", not "HP Lj1020".

   Note: No need to install additional printer driver for Windows 7 / Vista in Windows XP PC.

7. In Windows 7 PC, add a printer using "Add a local printer" -> select "Create a new port" -> in "Type of port" -> select "Standard TCP/IP Port" and click "Next" button -> input the fixed internal ip address of Windows XP PC in the ip address field.

8. Follow on-screen instruction to continue. When you are asked to select the printer to be installed, click "Have disk" button and browse for the folder where the Windows 7 printer driver is located (i.e. the .inf file)

9. After adding the printer driver, right-click the icon for the installed printer and select "Properties".

10. In the "Ports" tab, click "Configure Port" button to change the setting of:-
      (i) Under the "Protocol", select "LPR".
      (ii) Under "LPR Settings", in the "Queue Name:", enter the share name of the printer and Tick the check box in front of "LPR Byte Counting Enabled"

11. Click "OK" button to close all windows.

Try to print from Windows 7 and you shall be able to print from Windows XP or Windows 7to the printer attached to Windows XP PC.

Source: https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/25106540/Printing-from-Vista-Computer-to-Windows-2000-Professional-Computer.html

Assign the IP address for Desktop A

To set a static IP address:

   1. Open Windows Start menu.
   2. Open Control Panel.
   3. Classic view: Open Network Connections
      Category view: Select Network and Internet Connections, and then Network Connections.
   4. Double-click on your active LAN or Internet connection.
   5. Click Properties.

This opens the Local Area Connections Properties window.

   6. In the General tab, highlight the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) item, and click Properties.

This opens the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties window.

   7. In the General tab, click Use the following IP address, and enter:
      - IP address. The static IP address you want to assign to this computer.
      - Subnet mask. Subnet mask used by your router.
      - Default gateway. IP address of your router's default gateway.
   8. In Use the following DNS server addresses, enter all the IP addressses for the DNS servers your router uses.
   9. Click OK.

Then:

  10. Click OK to close each window.
  11. Restart your computer.
  12. Then, check your IP address again, to make sure that the changes were applied.

Source: http://www.hotcomm.com/faq/faq_staticipxp.asp

If you enabled password protected sharing then you will need to log in to another machine prior to printing. So turn it off.
Also,try and avoid using assigning IP addresses to devices. Totally unnecessary and tends to have more problems than benefits.But if it works,leave it...

Yes, the printer share is set for everyone.
I did not enable any password for sharing.
All machines are on same subnet.
I dont know if i can setup static ip addres.. dont i have to get one from cable company first. I have everything set to DHCP.

i am left with 2 issues.

1) on windows xp machine B, i can print using desktop A but it seems i always have login using an account. Is there a way around this. DO i need to login to dektop B using same name account on A.

2) The connection from windows 7 to desktop A is not working. I keep getting device not found.
I tried adding the printer using ip and machine name but it does not seem to find it.
I turned off the firewall too to see if that was the issue.

any ideas.

You need to create a user account (same user name and password of the user in desktop B) in desktop A and you will not be prompted to enter usernmae and password when your user on desktop B print to the printer attached to desktop A.

On network and sharing centre of win 7, do you see that the active network is of home or work network?

Besides, any antivirus software / Internet security software installed in win 7?

i have norton 360 firewall and anitvirus on the windows 7 laptop.

active network shown is homw wireless network.

if i disabled the accounts on all machines would it work. i dont need a login account.

also i was trying to test file sharing in windows 7 but there is no RUN command like XP.

In xp i did like you said RUN, and then //machinename and i saw the other share.

How do you do that with windows 7 home edition. maybe the home edition does not support networking like professional edition.

if i disabled the accounts on all machines would it work. i dont need a login account. <- you still need a login account unless you have enabled simple file sharing in Desktop A.

If disable of norton 360 fireall is not successful, you may need to un-install the whole norton 360 package and custom install only the anti-virus component of norton 360.

It is just an internal ip address for Desktop A and you do not need to get one from cable company.

Where do i get an internal IP from. are not those issued by the ISP when you connect to internet?

You think the windows 7 laptop is having connection due to Norton 360 even though I have the same one installed on the XP machine which worked.

You do not think the Windows Home Edition might have to do with?

Launch a command prompt (cmd) and run the command below.

  ipconfig /all >results.txt

You can run a command by pressing the windows key + r key at the same time.

It is possible that norton 360 has blocked the file and printer sharing.

The troubleshoot routine is to check the sharing and ntfs permission -> check workgroup / domain setting -> check windows firewall exception rule -> disable Internet security -> if still no go, remove Internet security / third party firewall.

Home Version of windows has no side effect in file and printer sharing.

did you try disabling norton ?

i am running into sstrange issue.

I changed Desktop 1 to workgroup. I removed the domain and security policy as it used to be business use. I created a new workgroup called HOME.

I also created a new windows account with same user/password as the one on windows 7 laptop.

On laptop, i hit CMD and then \\MACHINENAME and i get a netowrk login id for that machine.

I enter the user/passsword which i know is valid on the XP machine but i keep getting.
Login failure. Uknown user or bad password.

How do you explain this?

First, disable Simple File Sharing in your windows XP

In Windows 7, open Local Security Policy with elevated administrator privilege. Under Local Policies, goto Security Options and look for "Network security: LAN Manager authentication level" and change the Security Setting to "Send LM & NTLM responses".

Description of this local policy is as follows:-

Network security: LAN Manager authentication level

This security setting determines which challenge/response authentication protocol is used for network logons. This choice affects the level of authentication protocol used by clients, the level of session security negotiated, and the level of authentication accepted by servers as follows:

Send LM & NTLM responses: Clients use LM and NTLM authentication and never use NTLMv2 session security; domain controllers accept LM, NTLM, and NTLMv2 authentication.

Send LM & NTLM - use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated: Clients use LM and NTLM authentication and use NTLMv2 session security if the server supports it; domain controllers accept LM, NTLM, and NTLMv2 authentication.

Send NTLM response only: Clients use NTLM authentication only and use NTLMv2 session security if the server supports it; domain controllers accept LM, NTLM, and NTLMv2 authentication.

Send NTLMv2 response only: Clients use NTLMv2 authentication only and use NTLMv2 session security if the server supports it; domain controllers accept LM, NTLM, and NTLMv2 authentication.

Send NTLMv2 response only\refuse LM: Clients use NTLMv2 authentication only and use NTLMv2 session security if the server supports it; domain controllers refuse LM (accept only NTLM and NTLMv2 authentication).

Send NTLMv2 response only\refuse LM & NTLM: Clients use NTLMv2 authentication only and use NTLMv2 session security if the server supports it; domain controllers refuse LM and NTLM (accept only NTLMv2 authentication).

Important

This setting can affect the ability of computers running Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Professional, and the Windows Server 2003 family to communicate with computers running Windows NT 4.0 and earlier over the network. For example, at the time of this writing, computers running Windows NT 4.0 SP4 and earlier did not support NTLMv2. Computers running Windows 95 and Windows 98 did not support NTLM.

Default:

Windows 2000 and windows XP: send LM & NTLM responses

Windows Server 2003: Send NTLM response only

Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2: Send NTLMv2 response only

If your system is Windows 7 Home Premium, you may change it from Registry.

1. Launch regedit from Start Search box.
2. Find the following branch.
 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa

3. Create a DWORD key under Lsa and set:

Name: LmCompatibilityLevel
Value: 1

4. Restart."

Source: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itpronetworking/thread/91fe4e10-a0d4-45db-94df-fad885d8f64f

Thank you all for the excellent troubleshooting hints.

I did disable file sharing on Desktop A, and the windows 7 laptop found the printer and prints fine without a login now. I am not sure why this seems to be causing the issue but it works very good now.

Glad to know that you have solved the problem. Cheers!