cannot add or see printers but they work

Strange indeed. Does the printers appear in Device Manager? Are you logged in as Admin?

Remember: "If in ain't broke, don't fix it! :D"

Try these

Are you the Administrator

Are you selecting the Entire Directory to find if it?s a Network Printer

Try Start | Run and type "scanreg /fix" (no quotes and note the space
between g and /) in the box, then click OK

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;68343

http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/NetPrinterAllUsers.htm

humm well printers on a network are objects just like folders. They can be hidden from others who browse the network looking for stuff.If this is an Active Directory network, an admin can choose not to publish the printer in AD. There are other Group Policy security properties that can be set such as disallowing install or uninstall of printer drivers, disallow installing printers, etc.

What you mention points to a hidden object and Group Policy security settings that disallow installing printers or printer drivers.

tell us more about the security/authentication setup on your lan. workgroup? domain? ad?
did you try logging with another user (with admin group membership) to make sure it is not a corrupt profile.
how do you feel about apply sp2 to xp?

has nothing to do with drivers, as your comment to my rejected suggestion said. I didn't mention drivers anyways. If it was a driver problem the printer wouldn't work which it does, you just can't see it on the network. Since you use Lantastic to assign rights, I would bet the problem is there somewhere because this is a rights problem e.g. the right to see the printer and the right to install printers, not a driver or equipment problem.

Your Print spooler is the problem.
Start > Run > enter "services.msc"
this opens the Services
Select Printer Spooler
double click on it to see the properties.

You need to stop the print spooler then restart it.

This will display Add Printer and the printers that you have

Good Luck

I also found that on the other 2 machines that are NOT sp2 the problem does not exist.

OK try this one open My Computer left click on Tools then left click on Folder Options and then View. Make sure that the Show Hidden Files & Folders is enabled and the left click on apply and then OK. That should make visible any hidden files/Folders or other things.

If the printers are still unavailable it very much sounds as if an Administrator password was typed in on the original install which you might not know or any record may not have been kept of it. Also there is another possibility as well did this unit come with SP2 installed or was it added latter? If it was an addition it may very well be a hardware issue with SP2 which has disabled the add new printer and show existing printers that are available from the control pannel in the Printers & Faxes icon?

While it is not impossible that it is a Hardware issue with SP2 the most likely thing is that an Administrator Password was added when the machine was setup and even though you have administrator privileges in your user profile you may not have total administrator privileges. This sounds like the most obvious thing to me. Can you track down who installed XP on this machine? If so you'll need to ask them for the Admin Password which is added during the install and is not related to the User Account these two passwords can not be the same as it is not allowed by Windows. If this is the case you'll have to backup all of your data and reinstall XP without an Administrator Password on the install and just rely on the Account privileges to limit the ability to affect user accounts.

If this is a business system there should be a record of the Master Administrator Password kept with the computer details in the accounts office along with product keys for Windows and any other MS programs that are installed on the unit.

Col

Well if all of the above answers didn't help you and the scanreg option is not available or working it has to be a rights issue or a minimal install of XP.

You can try going to the Control Pannel then the Add Remove Programs then Add Remove Windows Components and install any missing Windows Components "you'll need the install CD for this to install the various items."

Once these are installed reboot the computer and then try the start run and then type in SCANREG again and then click on OK and see if it runs. If it doesn't then it has to be an issue with the Lantastic network or the basic Windows installation. I would first be looking at the permissions on the network before wiping a HDD and reloading but if all else fails that may be your only option.

Col

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