need help sharing network printer

Hello...

Sounds like you've done everything correctly and it should be working.

Longshot Question: You have file nad print sharing on. But, did you specifically share the printer on the Windows 98 machine?

Action: When you try to add a network printer to the laptop, try entering the name of the printer instead of browsing for it as below. I've observed that sometimes browsing does not work but the printer share connection can be established directly like this:

\\computername\printername
\\ipaddress\printername

Does this help?

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How are the PC and the laptop getting their IP addresses? DHCP from the router? Make sure that the laptop is connected to the router when turned on, and that you are not turning on, then connecting in order to print.

Otherwise, ans 1 should be of help.

You are of course trying to print when the PC is turned on , right? I had to ask.

Hi,

Check that the printer in the W98 computer has been shared. If it has a hand will be on the icon.
If not it needs to be shared.

Have you loaded XP drivers in the XP computer when you installed the printer?

Thanks, I hope to be able to get back to location of my brother either this Monday or Tuesday. I will let you know what happens. Yes I have printer shared on win98 machine. I will try adding printer name instead of browsing for it.

Apart fron the above answers, you comment that pinging from the 98 machine to the XP machine fails. Check to see if the XP machine has a firewall installed and that the proper permissions have veen given. Your XP machine could be in "stealth" mode.

First make sure the name of the workgroup is the same for both computers. Win98 used WORKGROUP and WinXP uses MSHOME - it doesn't matter what the name of the workgroup is as long as it's the same for both computers. Second, go to the Printers window on the Win98 machine and make sure the printer is shared - right-click, properties. If that's okay, turn off the firewall on the WinXP machine, restart it then try to add the printer again. You should be good to go.

man, you guys are ingenious. I bet you have everything right. I wonder if this is bug in win98/winxp. do you have an account on the xp box with same username and password as win98 box uses to login? did you use the network setup wizard floppy created in winxp to setup the win98 box? if not, try it?
have you tried turning off xp firewall
just for informational value, have you tried sharing printer physically connected to the xp box.
does printer have nic?

Thank you all...have not been able to get back to my brothers really hope too this weekend. I really appreciate all the responses and I will report back to you all after I get to his computers and try some of the suggestions.
thanks again...

I had the same problem with a multi-server 500+ computer network. Whenever I shared a local printer on a win '95 machine, none of the win 2k's could see it or print to it. There was no fix for it, I contacted Microsoft and they confirmed that it would not work. It sounds like you have run into the same problem, I am sorry to tell you but the best thing for you to do is to upgrade the win 98 to win 2k or xp.

Just curious anybody else have the same problem as edwerg! He mentions win95 and win2k having compatiability problems. I have win98 and winxp issue. Does someone have w98 and winxp on network sharing printers? I plan to work on this issue this weekend and if edwerg is correct, sounds like I would be wasting my time. edwerg..upgrading is not an option right now..computer is underpowered for xp.

I took all of your suggestions and made a list of them to check while at my brothers.

?Both computers are in the same workgroup!

?Both computers have "print and file sharing enabled".

?The printer drivers have been deleted and re-installed on both computers.

?The printer icon is in the printer folders on each computer, and is marked as shared and as the default printer.

?I can you see the shared C:\drive and shared folders on the 98 machine from the XP machine.

?I can you see the shared C:\drive and shared folders on the XP machine from the 98 machine.

?I can see the XP computer on the Win98 computer in "My Network Places.

?I can see the Win 98 computer on the XP computer in "My Network Places.

?The Linksys router is using default settings.
?When I typed in \\192.168.1.100\hpprinter in run box on XP machine, I could see the shared drive and printer on the Win98 computer, and when I typed in \\192.168.1.101 in the run box on the 98 computer I could see the shared drives and printer on the XP computer.

?ICF is disabled on both computers.

?The browse master is the XP laptop and browse master service is turned off on the Win 98 computer.

So anyway at this point I am about to give up, but I have one more thing that I am going to try on my next visit. I am going to disconnect the printer from the win98 computer (it is hardwired via parrell cable) and then I am going to connect the printer via a USB cable to the XP laptop. Then I will see if I can print from the Win 98 computer using the shared printer. Most likely will not get to do this until early next week.

Switched to new printer, and now everything works just fine? Oh Well! Thansks all for trying. JUst one of those computer bugs, I guess. new printer is a Canon via USB.

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