how to connect a printer through a vpn

First of all let me confess: i work every day on computers-rebuild dig out viruses etc,.  But I do very little networking and hardly ever do vpn.  That being said, I am a little in the dark as to what I am doing.  
You are understanding me right.  and we do have routers on both sides.  No one has said anything about IPSec but I am assuming that also is in place.  
they had a brother printer and it was connected and working through the VPN but now we can't seem to get the hp laserjet to connect.

I will be glad to send some screenshots if that would help.
I am now at my office connected remotely to to the computers at the place of business where the two workstations and the printer is.

Ok, is this where you are talking about? if so, which one do I choose?
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Here is the next screen. Use existing port?
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The selection is: Hostname or Ip address:
and
Port name:

Do I put in the Hostname or IP address bar like this \\192.168.1.71?
and what do I put in the Port name?

yes i assume it is static.  now am I ready to click next?
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Here is the result.
I am positive the address is correct.  it is well memorized.
One thing i noticed this morning that as long as the local workstation is not connected to the server and I do a ping it sees the printer fine.  as soon as I connect to the server the local workstation can no longer ping to the printer.  Is this normal?
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in order for me to be able to ping to the printer again I have to close out the VPN and restart the computer

Here is a little HowTo that tells how to set up a network printer under these circumstances.
It works .... just works!

I'm a peer-to-peer networking guy and likely viewed as a Neanderthal to many.  Don't be misled by their unkind thoughts.  :-)
I don't like to use print servers because they represent a single point of failure and only make life easier for network admins.
I prefer to set up the printers on the workstations just as it appears you're doing.
As far as I'm concerned, doing anything else adds complexity and, often, confusion.  When one breaks, they can all break.

Now, as far as using VPN goes, if you can reach a computer on the same subnet as the printer then this should work in setting up the printer on a remote computer.
I can see that you have computers that reach the Server over the VPN.
But, can the Server see those computers as well?  I can only imagine that it should but it's a good test.
If the server can see those computers then it should be able to see the printer.
In that case, it must be able to ping the printer's IP address on the remote subnet.
If all that's the case then the instructions should work.

Best-Way-to-set-up-a-Windows-Network.pdf

now it is prompting me to choose a printer from the list.  let me see what i can do with that...

in order for me to be able to ping to the printer again I have to close out the VPN and restart the computer

That does not make any sense. Are you perhaps using PPtP VPN instead of IPsec?  Do you have Split Tunneling enabled?  That is normal for IPsec VPN.

I think you said the printers have static IP addresses. Make sure these printer addresses are on the local subnet. They probably are, but check.

Now I am at the screen that says "installing printer"  We are doing way more tonight then the last 3 days thanks to you
Ok, now I am at this screen.  What next?
Yes, I believe I am using a remote desktop. I give you a screenshot..
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I think looking back here the printer is on a workstation in which case it should be shared. I normally keep all printers on a network by themselves. Then they are not shared.

I opened up the old brother printer that was replaced and it wasn't shared.  
It is shared on the workstation.
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Was it on a network connection by itself?  Most likely.

I meant the new hp printer is shared on the workstation

If you are trying to work remotely without using the remote workstation - that is, just printing to the remote printer, it should probably be on its own network connection and then set the drivers to that network address (which I thought is what you were doing many steps back here).

I think you said the printers have static IP addresses. Make sure these printer addresses are on the local subnet. They probably are, but check.
how do I check if they are on the local subnet?  (I know i sound dumb, but i hardly ever work with this kind of things.)
and yes I think it is on a connection by itself.  the server is connected to other branches and each branch has it's own printer. I took looked at two other printer properties and neither one of them are shared. So it seems like this printer should not be shared either since no other branch will use this printer.
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Let us not be confused between network printers connected via Ethernet or wireless and printers that are connected (via USB) to ONE computer.  A network printer should never be shared by any of the computers that it's being installed onto.  There's no need as the printer is available on the network with NO sharing by any old random computer.

Network printers will always have an IP address of their own.  You could use SoftPerfect Network Scanner on the network local to the printer to get all the devices IP addresses.  Version 6.1.4 should work for you free.  You should see the local router, the two computers and the printer as separate devices.  

The instructions I sent should suffice to do the entire job for network printers.  
Try it with one of the local computers near the printer.

In the mean time, can the Server ping the printer or not?
Some printers have a control panel with which you can access the network settings.]
Or, you can often have it print a configuration report that will tell you the IP address.

Simply, if the first 3 octets of the address are the same then the devices are on the same subnet:
192.168.1.xxx are all on the same subnet.
192.168.2.yyy are all on another subnet.
etc.
They *might* be different like this:
10.1.0.xxx
vs.
10.2.0.yyy
But either way, the first 3 are the same for the same subnet in most networks... just not all.

I would like to say that I learned a lot on this.  however the company suddenly called in someone else to finish the job without telling me anything and would not answer or return any of my calls, so I guess they got it going  one way or other.  Thanks so much for your help.

all things considered, in the event that you have a print server on the system, and your outside clients are VPN'd in, they ought to have the capacity to ping to the address of that print server. In the event that they can, you can guide them through the Add Printer Wizard, have them physically design another Standard TCP/IP port, and afterward include the print drivers. After that you ought to be ready.