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Access denied, unable to connect

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by wkaberline

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I have a Windows XP Pro Workstation with an Epson Color 880 shared. I have two Windows 2000 Pro machines that I want to be able to print to the shared printer. One of the W2K machines installed the printer driver without the error. The other is a Laptop that has the error displayed when you view the printer status, but I still can print from the laptop. I have searched Technet, Google and Microsoft's general search engine and I have found related articles, indicating that other people have seen this problem but none with a solution that works for my situation. I have tried re-sharing the printer, upgrading the driver, and all critical and security fixes for both WXP and W2K. I have also uninstalled my firewall and reconfigured my router. All 3 PC's are members of the same workgroup and the PC that has the error, in the Printer Status window, can access file shares on the WXP machine. WXP doesn't let me specify groups or individual users that can print or manage the printer like I can in W2K. I'm sure somebody has fixed this problem in this situation but I don't know how. Any solutions offered will be appreciated. Thanks.

20 replies

by poettone

You say the one machine errors when attempting to print.. What is the error message you're getting when you try to print?

If one machine is working and the other is not working, its either a driver issue or a security issue..

Are you logging onto both w2k machines as the same user? If not try this.

If the problem still exist go into the server properties on the local machine that is not working and delete any installed driver files. Then reinstall the printer going to the xp box and right clicking on the shared printer and choosing install.

You should be fine after doing either/both of the above steps..

Good Luck,

by wkaberline

The W2K machine with the message, "Access denied, unable to connect", is displaying this message in the printer status window. However even though this shows up in the printer status window I can still send a test page to the printer.

by wkaberline

I'm logged into all three machines as an Administrator, the WXP machine is the one with the printer attached to it. I have tried re-installing the printer on the W2K machine with the status window message.

by poettone

Ok, I would have to say then its a user rights issue.. I know I know you stated you were on as admin on all machines..

One thing that I didn't notice the first time however is the fact that you can't add users to the printer share.. There is only one reason for this.. You Have simple file sharing enabled on the XP machine.. You must turn this off in order have it allow you to specify NTFS permissions...

Also although you are loggin on as admin on each machine, not all admin accounts are the same nor do they have equal access on every computer.. Each Admin account has/uses it own local Sams database for authentication..

It would seem to me the you need to add all users/everybody to the shared printer to get it to work.. If not then I'm exhausted on my solutions...

You remove simple files sharing but going to the tools>folder options>view>unchecking simple file sharing.. You will then have your "usual" Security tab as in W2k...

Good luck...

by wkaberline

I learned something that was help and that was the differences between Simple File Sharing and setting NTFS permissions. I didn't realize this was different in WXP than it is in W2K. However once I removed the check mark to Simple File Sharing, the NTFS permissions on the printer, an Epson 880, already had Everyone listed with permissions to print. I even changed the NTFS permissions so they Gave "Everyone" the ability to print and manage both the printer and documents. This still didn't resolve the problem because at that point on the PC with the issue I was prompted for a username and password.

by wkaberline

I even tried adding "Anonymous Logon" to the NTFS permissions. I selected Print, Manage Printer, Manage Documents. It still prompts me for a username/password. I can set it up if I enter my username/password on the XP machine, but it doesn't give me the option of saving them and I don't want to re-enter them every time I have to login.

by poettone

Ok so your getting somewhere..

Whenever you are promted for a username and password that means the username and password you using currently is not part of the everyone group on the other machines SAMS database..

Even if you use ADMIN on that machine, its not the same as the ADMIN account on the other machine.

I would create two new accounts on both machines called printtest, make them both admins on both machines (assuming you know how to do this), set the passwords the exact same, then create your printer share..

Let me know

by p.j.hutchison

On XP Pro machine you need to disable Simple File Sharing under Tools, Folder Options View.Then you can add users to allow access to the printer.
You need the same user accounts on all three PCs to allow sharing to work.

by wkaberline

I'm pretty certain your on the right track, but XP will not allow me to add one of the other computers by "\\machinename\Administrator". It only sees itself as a machine to add accounts from. All three machines are in the same workgroup. I know if they are on a domain it will let me do this. The trick is going to be how to add other computer names.

by poettone

No offense but I think your a noob who doesn't really want help.. You just like saying you've tried everything.. You need to come off your soap box as there are others who have been doing this for years, and frankly you don't know enough to install the printer...

Have a nice day...noob

by liame

Sounds to me that you can install a printer as one of em works. No need to be rude.

Right, just floating ideas..

Has the laptop ever been part of a domain? Sounds like its trying to throw domain type security info at a workgroup PC for some reason. If yes, mebbe a wipe and reinstall migth help.

You have said the workgroup name is the same on the 3 PC's, but what about the PC names? Are they all unique and short?

Have you tried installing the printer locally then changing its port to point at the unc path?

Try attatching the printer to the w2k pc and sharing it.. does that work? It would be interesting to know even if its not a valid workaround.

by edwards

I just had to replace an Epson C84 with a new HP psc 1315v (USB only). Sharing the printer with another machine in the workgroup elicits the problem described here. A sloppy workaround is to map a
disk share PRINTERHOST\c$ using the user name
PRINTERHOST\administrator and the administrator's passwd. This authenticates the remote client to
the printer host machine. Voila! It connects and
works fine. That is NOT a suitable long term solution, but will work in a pinch until someone stumbles on the right way to authenticate automatically or fix the access permissions.

by kpeterk

We had a similar issue here with a network printer on our print server. The user could connect but it said access denied under the printer status. We eventually found out that there was another printer on the network that had a duplicate name / ip address. Once that was taken down, everything seemed to work fine.

by irshad84

I am having the similiar problem.
Network administrators are able to access printers and manage documents,watch printer queue and delete docs of the printer queue

but non admins are not able to view the printer queue.
It says access denied

I have added this users to print_operators group ,and even to the server operator group.
still i have the same problem.

so i am pretty sure this is a problem related to microsoft active directory permissions.

the person who started the post should be having the same problem i guess.

any views on that...

by irshad84

I logon to a computer using local account then i logon remotely to the server using admin account.

i find more than one printer installed under the same name.
It says canon 2010f from (comp name ) in session2

when i use a diff computer the same thing happens but this time the name is
canon 2010 f from (comp name ..the one which i am logged on ) in session 2.

i dont know what to make of it
i am using a logon script to login to the network and map printers.

can someone suggest me something or throw more light on this..

by bluscreened

I know this is late, but what you are seeing are virtual representations of the local printers already installed on the workstation you are on. Terminal Services/Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) does it by default. It allows you to print to a printer local to you from whatever machine you are remoting into. That functionality can be disabled in RDP properties before connecting to the remote session.

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