Can't Print from laptop via wireless home network
fmueller
Auckland, NZ Icrontian
My desktop PC connects to the Internet via a Linksys Wireless Access Point Router (BEFW11S4) and Toshiba cable modem. This connection is via Ethernet cable. The only wireless device I have is my wife's laptop. Connection to the Internet from both, desktop and laptop, works fine. Both desktop and laptop are running Windows XP Professional SP2.
I'd now like to print from the laptop to a HP Laserjet 4, which is connected to COM1 of the desktop, and I am not too sure how to go about that. Here is what I tried so far:
1. On the desktop, I went to Printers and Faxes, right clicked on the HP Laserjet 4, and under Properties/Sharing enabled 'Share this printer'.
2. On the laptop, I went to Printers and Faxes/Add a printer and played around with the wizard, but whatever I do, the laptop does not seems to be able to see the printer - now it can't even see the desktop any more, but it could at some stage.
3. Run the Network Setup Whizard and made sure printer sharing is enabled on both, the desktop and the laptop. Then repeated 2. but without any luck.
Grateful for any advice how I can set this up.
Many thanks
Frank
I'd now like to print from the laptop to a HP Laserjet 4, which is connected to COM1 of the desktop, and I am not too sure how to go about that. Here is what I tried so far:
1. On the desktop, I went to Printers and Faxes, right clicked on the HP Laserjet 4, and under Properties/Sharing enabled 'Share this printer'.
2. On the laptop, I went to Printers and Faxes/Add a printer and played around with the wizard, but whatever I do, the laptop does not seems to be able to see the printer - now it can't even see the desktop any more, but it could at some stage.
3. Run the Network Setup Whizard and made sure printer sharing is enabled on both, the desktop and the laptop. Then repeated 2. but without any luck.
Grateful for any advice how I can set this up.
Many thanks
Frank
0
Comments
Now, what did you name the printer in the "SHARE NAME" box? You will need this information later on when you "browse" for the printer through the network from another computer (e.g. your laptop). B4 we proceed, you need to make sure that all computers on the network that you intend to share files and/or printing between are on the same "WORKGROUP". HERE's how to do that.
Next you need to make sure that filesharing is enabled on computers between which you would like to share files. Please, see: Windows XP Simple File Sharing
The next steps are to SHARE the printer on the computer the printer is connected to. Then ADD that printer on other computer(s) on your network (e.g. your laptop) that you wish to print to that printer from. HERE's a link that will help you with this part as well.
Please, note:
Two very common mistakes users often make are to....
(1) Add the printer as a NETWORK printer to the computer the printer is physically connected to as well. In which case, you end up w/ two instances of the printer in your PRINTERS AND FAXES configuration - (1) LOCAL and (1) NETWORK occurance.
Be sure NOT to do this. You need only configure the printer to be SHARED and give it a SHARE name on the computer the printer is physically connected to.
(2) SHARE the network printer on computers where the printer is NOT physically connected. Please, be sure NOT to do this either. You NEVER want to SHARE a printer that appears as a NETWORK printer (not physically connected to the computer) as opposed to a LOCAL printer (physically connected to the computer).
You can tell if a computer is a NETWORK printer by its icon in PRINTERS AND FAXES. The icon will have an upside down "T" underneath it.
RWB - unfortunately the printer doesn't show up in my network places on the laptop.
Yeah, you are right. My bad.
HPLaserJ
They are both in MSHOME, and just for the record, the desktop is called FMUELLER, the laptop is called NICOLA.
I've done that as well. The whole C: drive is shared on the desktop. The XP firewall is disabled on both machines, and both machines run Zone Alarm. That was part of the problem, but only part. After shutting down Zone Alarm completely on both machines - feeling very uneasy about doing this - I can now see both, FMUELLER and NICOLA under MSHOME when I follow the add printer routine, but unfortunately there is no printer visible under FMUELLER.
Also, when I go to my network places on the laptop, it only shows SharedDocs on Nicola, ie not the desktop (FMUELLER).
So I guess my problem is twofold now:
1. How can I make the laptop see not only the desktop via the network, but also the printer connected to the desktop.
2. How can I configure Zone Alarm (or another free firewall that you can recommend) to provide Internet security while allowing for the printer sharing.
Many thanks
Frank
ZA could still be causing problems. I always recommend COMODO PERSONAL FIREWALL. It's a terrific firewall and it's free (not crippled - really free). When you turn it off - it's really off, too. Not the case w/ ZA and some other firewalls (Norton & McAfee for instance).
Change the name of the Workgroup you're using on all network computers. (Change it to "WORKGROUP", for instance) I've seen this solve problems w/ computers not being "seen" by one another.
After you've done this, see if the computers can see ea. other. If one or both can't see the other (or itself) in MY NETWORK PLACES,...
Get into MY NETWORK PLACES
Choose VIEW COMPUTERS NEAR ME or WORKGROUP COMPUTERS (which is available will depend upon how your folders view and Start Menu are configured)
Now choose SEARH and enter the name the computer you cannot see. Sometimes it'll show up this way. Eventually, it will show up right away (once it is "cached" on your computer)
Sounds like a sensible suggestion, and I was quite surprised to find that the whole drive was shared. However, since I didn't change that setting and the computer is brand new (built from components with the help of member of this forum), I can only presume that the network setup wizard did this. When I wanted to change C: to not shared, I received the following message:
I chose ‘no’, and then proceeded to implement your other suggestions, which led me to reboot the computer numerous times. When I just went back to have another look at this setting, C: was no longer shared!
My brother was giving me a hard time the other day for using Zone Alarm, and warmly recommended Comodo. Since you now recommended the same thing, I have gone ahead and kicked Zone Alarm off both machines and replaced it with Comodo.
I changed it to BRASCH. I also changed the name of the desktop to FRANK, for purposes of consistency.
Even though I have disabled Comodo on both machines, the laptop cannot see the desktop at all. That is in My Network Places is only one folder: Shared Docs on Nicola. If I do a search for FRANK, I get the message:
The desktop appears to see the laptop, but still cannot access any shared documents. That is in My Network Places are two folders: SharedDocs on Frank and Shared Docs on Nicola. However, when I click on the latter I get the message:
If I do a search for Nicola, I get the message:
I then ran the Network Setup Wizard again on both machines, making sure to use the new names for the desktop and workgroup. After running the wizard I disabled the XP Firewall, and checked on both machines in My Network Places for connectivity. The results were identical to the ones described above!
Grateful for any ideas what could be at fault here.
Frank
The laptop finds the desktop only when using search, and when I then click on the shared desktop folder, I am asked for a user name and password. How can I get rid of that? I am not aware of using password protection anywhere on those machines.
So far the laptop still doesn't see the desktop when I use the add printer routine, but maybe that takes care of itself once the password issue is resolved, and the shared desktop folder actually shows up in My Network Places on the laptop. Last but not least, how do I configure Comodo so I can use it and all this stuff still works?
Many thanks
Frank
PS: If I search for computers on the desktop, the laptop shows up as NICOLA in folder BRASCH. However, if I search for computers on the laptop, the desktop shows up as FRANK in folder UNKOWN.
On the desktop computer, please, do the following:
- Click on START
- Click on CONTROL PANEL
- Click on USER ACCOUNTS
- What user names do you see there?
While in USER ACCOUNTS...- Click on CHANGE AN ACCOUNT
- Click on one of the users
- Is the option CHANGE MY PASSWORD or CHANGE THE PASSWORD available?
- If it is, then there IS a password set for that user profile.
- If no password is configured, (neither of the options are there), click the back button.
- Choose another user and repeat this process.
- Do this until you have checked each one of the user profiles.
- If you do see CHANGE MY PASSWORD or CHANGE THE PASSWORD, select this option and set the password to [none]. (Leave the password field blank)
That's correct. Let's get the file sharing working, we'll worry about print sharing and configuring Comodo Personal Firewall after that. On "folder" Brasch? I'm not sure what you mean by that... Do you mean if you click on the COMPUTER named NICOLA that inside there is a shared folder named BRASH??? Not sure what you mean by "folder" in this context...Ok, there are a few things that need to be taken care of.
Did you read the articles referenced earlier re: SIMPLE FILE SHARING?You will need to either set the file sharing to SIMPLE FILE SHARING in FOLDER PROPERTIES (on ea. computer) or, if you have any profiles on the computers you want to be able to share password protected, you will need to add that user to the other computer(s) along w/ his/her user profile password.
For now, let's keep Comodo Personal Firewall turned off (on all the computers involved) until we get the file sharing straightened out (turn it back on when not working on this if you like, of course) I'll tell you later how to configure Comodo Personal Firewall so that file and print sharing works.
1. Both machines are running Windows XP Professional SP2; ie. They have identical OS.
2. Each computer has only one user profile configured, which has administrator privileges. The guest account on both machines is "off".
3. If I go to CHANGE AN ACCOUNT on either machine, I get the option CREATE A PASSWORT, which seems to indicate there isn't one at this stage. Also, I can't find an option to change a password anywhere, which seems to suggest the same thing.
Well, Windows calls it "folder", although I guess they probably mean the workgroup - remember, I called the workgroup BRASCH. To me this seems to indicate that the laptop finds the desktop, but for some reason lists the workgroup as UNKNOWN.
EDIT: The latter issue has just resolved itself. I did another search for Frank on the laptop - meaning to post a screen shot of the search result - and it now finds it as FRANK in folder (presumably meaning workgroup) BRASCH.
Many thanks
Frank
So, get back into USER ACCOUNTS and add the user from the other computer (on each computer). Be sure to add the user name verbatim as it appears on the other computer. The "UNKNOWN" workgroup is puzzling. I haven't seen that before.
Click on MY NETWORK PLACES either on your DESKTOP or in CONTROL PANEL
Click on VIEW COMPUTERS NEAR ME or VIEW WORKGROUP COMPUTERS.
Exactly what do you see there?
EDIT-1://
If Comodo Firewall is showing in the System Tray, please, do the following on both computers (if you haven't done so already)...
- Right-click on the Comodo Personal Firewall icon in the System Tray
- Choose ADJUST SECURITY LEVEL
- Select ALLOW ALL
EDIT-2://On both computers...
Done
Click on VIEW COMPUTERS NEAR ME or VIEW WORKGROUP COMPUTERS.
Exactly what do you see there?
"FRANK" is the name of the COMPUTER. It isn't a subcomponent of any folder. Rather it is a subcomponent of your WORKGROUP. The column header "In Folder" isn't really applicable in this type of search.
I'm trying to reproduce your search options configuration to be sure (my search options are different than the default search options. IOW, they've been custom configured so mine doesn't look like yours...)
Still working on it...
EDIT://
In any case, I'm more interested in what you see in MY NETWORK PLACES than the results of your search options. Let's see what's happening there b4 worring about the column headers in your search results.
What I see in MY NETWORK PLACES.
On the laptop only one folder:
SharedDocs on Nicola
On the desktop two folders:
SharedDocs on Nicola and SharedDocs on Frank
This is not so bad, however, since even on the laptop I can click on search to pop open a window - as seen in the bottom, left-hand side of my picture - which asks WHICH COMPUTER ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? (emphasis added). I can then enter FRANK where it says computer name, and I get a search result as posted. If I then double click on FRANK, I get a window asking for a user name and password to connect to FRANK.
Frank
EDIT: I just tried a few other things:
1. I actually assigned passwords for users Nicola and Frank on the desktop, and tried to log in from the laptop using these passwords. That didn't work, and I removed the passwords again.
2. Subsequently I tried to log in from the laptop again, and where I had previously been prompted to supply user name and password, the user name was now already filled in (and could not be changed) as Frank\Guest. I was still asked for the password though, and couldn't log in.
3. I switched the guest account on on the desktop, and tried to log in again. Where I ad previously been prompted to supply user name and password, I now get a message:
This is perfectly reversible, that is if on the desktop the guest account is switched on, I get the message as in 3. If the guest account is switched off, I prompted for a password for user FRank\GUEST
Not sure if this info is at all relevant, but wanted to pass it on just in case.
At any rate, many thanks for your help, Pterocarpous!
Frank
Did you add the users to each other's computers? (Please, see the steps outlined in Post # 10)
Please, consult THIS ARTICLE for instructions on how to perform the preceeding and following tasks.
I sure did. I do everything you tell me :bigggrin:
DONE - and voila - it works! :celebrate
Please note that the default on my machines was to share SHARED DOCUMENTS, not MY DOCUMENTS. Even if I enable sharing only for MY DOCUMENTS, I can still see the SHARED DOCUMENTS folders in MY NETWORK PLACES on both machines. I just get an error message - or sometimes a system crash - when I try to access SHARED DOCUMENTS on the other machine for which sharing is disabled. That's why I chose to share both, MY DOCUMENTS and SHARED DOCUMENTS on both machines. Here is what I now see in MY NETWORK PLACES on both machines:
Documents on Frank appears to be the same as SharedDocs on Frank. I wondered where this unexpected 5th folder might come from, and found that on the desktop under C:\Documents and Settings\All Users the SHARED DOCUMENTS file had the shared name DOCUMENTS while under C:\Documents and Settings\Frank it had the shared name SharedDocs. I changed them both to SharedDocs now (they both had that shared name on the laptop all along), but Documents on Frank still shows up in My Network Places - maybe just a caching issue?
Now where we have got this sorted, I'd really like to get the printer sharing going. Last but not least, if I could trouble you to show me how to get rid of the second user account at boot up on both machines, that would be awesome!
Many thanks
Frank
EDIT 1: Just went to START/PRINTERS AND FAXES on the laptop and the HP Laserjet 4 is already there! I printed a test page and it came out perfect. I then opened Word and tried to print a document from there. I can see the printer in Word, but unfortunately when I actually print from that program, the print job never shows up in the print queue on that computer - which of course means it never goes to the printer either.
EDIT 2: I can't print from other programs either - tried Notepad and Firefox.
EDIT 3: All is well. I just switched the HP LJ 4 offline and than online again, and all print jobs came out fine.
EDIT 4: I just went through all of your instructions again and double checked that the printer is not shown as a network printer on the desktop; ie only one occurance in Printers and Faxes, and it isn't shared on the Laptop. Many thanks for these tips!
So what remains to be done is:
1. Configure Comodo
2. Get rid of the second account on boot up on each machine
Would be fantastic if we could get this completed tonight!
C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\ALL USERS\DOCUMENTS See my previous statement. I don't recommend you give two directories the same share name on the same computer - in fact, I don't think your operating system will let you get away w/ it. Okee Dokee. Go back earlier in the thread and follow the link to show you how to share a printer and to add a network printer. It should work ok now that file sharing is sorted out.
As for getting rid of (hiding) the 2nd user from the login window...
Go HERE and download TWEAKUI.
Install the app.
- Open TWEAKUI
- Highlight LOGON
- Select which user(s) you would like to see at the login window
To go a step further, if you'd like to login to your desktop w/out being held up at the login window, do the following....- Click the [+] sign next to LOGON near the bottom (left-hand column)
- Click AUTOLOGON
- Put a check mark in the box beside LOGON AUTOMATICALLY AT SYSTEM STARTUP
- Type in the user name of the user profile you would like to login to automatically (w/out being held up at the login windows)
- If the user has a password (no, right?) you'd enter that here as well
Go back to the computer the printer is installed on. Check the print sharing configuration again. Make sure the printer's share name that the other computer detected is indeed the current share name.Test printing to that printer from the computer it is connected to.
1st, I need to know what your LAN's IP range is.
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1
Printing is all working perfect! You are a genius, and if it wasn't so terribly cold in OH, I'd plant a Pterocarpus in my garden tomorrow first thing
Frank
Done on the desktop. Screenshot below:
Shouldn't this be 192.168.1.1 instead of 192.168.1.0 though?
Unfortunately the laptop has gone to work with my wife - I simply enabled Comodo before I gave it to her because she can't use the home network at work anyhow. The rules look exactly the same on both machines though. I checked last night.
Hopefully I will be able to check this out tonight and report back. Some nights she doesn't bring the laptop back, but I can definitely have it on Wednesday, because that day she doesn't give any lectures and doesn't need it. I'll let you know if things are working ASAP.
At any rate, many thanks for your help! I've had this router for a number of years and never managed to set up the stupid network. Part of the reason might have been that previously I had both my older desktop and my wife's old laptop on different OS. Now that I had both machines on XP pro, I thought setting up the network would be a piece of cake, but without your help I would have been stuck again!
Greetings
Frank
I called the computers FrankDesktop and FrankLaptop, and everything works perfectly now as long as the Firewall is turned off. That is in MY NETWORK PLACES on both machines I can see:
I know, using the term 'desktop' both as a computer name and a file location is quite confusing, but this only occurred to me too late, and I can't be bothered right now going back and changing that. At any rate, it works, and I can access the files in all those folders from both machines. Even printing from the laptop works like a charm.
Now here is the catch, as soon as I re-enable the Firewall - with the IP mask that Pterocarpous suggested on both machines in place - I can no longer access the files in those folders from the respective other machine, but get a message as follows:
If I do a search for the computer name on the respective other machine, the computer is still found, but obviously access is denied by the firewall. I am assuming that the rule we added to the NETWORK MONITOR of COMODO doesn't work as expected, but I don't know enough about it to come up with a rule that would work. Can anybody help?
Many thanks
Frank
I installed Comodo last night on 2 computers on a network, replacing Zone Alarm.
I used the Wizard within Comodo to configure the network and now printing/file sharing works like a charm.
This is what I did:
- Opened Comodo
- Selected Tasks in the Menu to the left
- At the bottom you'll see Wizard, click on Define a new Trusted Network and follow the instructions.
I did this on both computers with Comodo.Hope that works for you.
I went back and looked at your snapshot of your Comodo Network Monitor configuration. (Post # 22)
Please, do this on each computer on the network:
(1) Delete rules 2, 3 & 5.
(2) Move rule 6 to the top of the list and change it to IN as opposed to IN/OUT. (the order the rules appear in makes a difference)
The Wizard you spoke of is new w/ their latest release. I have an older version that has been updating but doesn't have the newest bells and whistles. The network wizard is a nice addition - makes it more friendly for the novice or person new to firewalls. Glad they added that.
FRANK:
You'll need to make the changes that I gave you then follow Trogan's recomendation of defining a trusted zone.
EDIT://
I checked the Tasks window Trogan and lo' and behold, there was the Define a New Trusted Network wizard! So, I guess mine is up-to-date after all. (could o' been there all along and I just never used it...
Again, many thanks! My home network now runs like clockwork.
Frank
They could further improve that program by making the wizard a bit more obvious to find. Tucked away at the bottom of the page where it is the people who really need it - like myself - are unlikely to find it.
I'm actually quite happy with Comodo. There has been some good comments about it in the security community and the fact that you get a full licence for Free is an added bonus.
Another great feature is the Wizard, as we have seen here, is a wonderful addition and makes life easier for everyone. I had a headache trying to configure Zone Alarm...that's not to say it was not a good Firewall.
I might as well suggest Comodo to people I help. And if they ask me how to configure it, I'll just point them to the Wizard.
Yea she's got me on the bandwagon too. Like you, I just killed ZA on both my computers.....about 4 hours after I upgraded to their latest version 7.0.
It's very configurable and logs well. I've got some holes poked in it that I could never get in ZA. And to the extent that I can't get 4 VPN's to 4 different IP's taking addresses from 4 different subnets, its easy to turn it off and connect, then come back up. With ZA, even when you turned it off, some of it was still on.