Printer Sharing Problem: WiFi Laptop, XP Printer

[JetsetBkk]

I'm trying to print from my Windows 10 Asus Laptop, which is connected to my home network by WiFi, to a printer on my XP Desktop which is on the LAN:

 

 

But the Asus laptop can see only the Smart TV in the "Network" folder of Explorer.

The XP Desktop can see both the Asus Laptop and the Windows 10 Desktop in "My Network Places/../../../Workgroup", i.e. it can read from and write to all the folders I've shared on those two PCs.

The W10 Desktop can see the Asus W10 Laptop in the Explorer "Network" folder and can access its Shares, but it cannot access the XP Desktop even though it is listed under "Network" in Explorer: 

 

 

Anyone know how to make the XP Desktop accessible to the Windows PCs and, in particular, to the WiFi Laptop?

 

[Farangwithaplan]

I haven't looked at XP in a long time. A search has pulled this up and I actually can't remember it. https://www.home-network-help.com/share-printer.html

 

What I would do is create a folder on the XP machine and share it. Make sure you get read / write access to that before you attempt the printer. By doing this you minimise potential issues if the printer still isn't playing. Get the share working and then diagnose the printer.

 

 

Also check the correct driver as per the link I gave you.. I would go with the NT/2000 driver and make sure it is ticked on.

 

If you have problems, I would give the XP a fixed IP address. That will assist in troubleshooting.

 

 

 

Edited September 25, 2019 by Farangwithaplan

[gamb00ler]

It's been a long time since I used it but Google Cloud print was pretty easy to set up and use.  Hopefully you can easily find some current guidance on using it.

[JetsetBkk]

22 hours ago, Farangwithaplan said:

I haven't looked at XP in a long time. A search has pulled this up and I actually can't remember it. https://www.home-network-help.com/share-printer.html

<snip>

 

Thanks for your help. Unfortunately most of what you suggested I'd already done - fixed IP address, checked that sharing worked, etc.

 

20 hours ago, gamb00ler said:

It's been a long time since I used it but Google Cloud print was pretty easy to set up and use.  Hopefully you can easily find some current guidance on using it.

I'd never heard of that! Anyway, I gave it a try but when I clicked on the "Classic Printer" icon, nothing happened! But never mind... I have good news!

 

All  PCs are printing to my Epson printer. While it's almost fresh in my memory of what I did, I'll try to get it all down on record. I'm sure I've missed steps or got steps out of order, but I want to get it down so I can print it out and file it away for the future.

 

First of all I decided to move the printer to the W10 Desktop PC. This was because the W10 Laptop could see only the WiFi device - the Smart TV - so I thought it might see the printer on the W10 Desktop PC more readily if the printer was on the same operating system.

 

Also, the XP Desktop PC is on the same LAN as the W10 Desktop PC so that ought to help the XP PC see the W10 PC and its printer.

 

Then I set the printer on the W10 Desktop PC to be shared. I got the W10 Laptop to find it and add it. That was so long ago (3 hours?) I've forgotten exactly what I did, but it was straight forward - even though the W10 Laptop is on WiFi and the W10 PC is on the LAN. So that's the W10 Laptop sorted.

 

Next I tried to find the W10 Desktop's printer from the XP Desktop: Control Panel/ Printers and Faxes/Add Printer. At the Add Printer wizard I specified a network printer and browsed for it. I could see the printer listed on the W10 Desktop so clicked it. At the login pop-up I entered my username and password. That's when I hit a snag:

 

"The credentials supplied are not sufficient to access the printer"

 

After Googling, I found: https://www.kapilarya.com/the-credentials-supplied-are-not-sufficient-to-access-this-printer-windows-10

 

So, on the Windows 10 Desktop, I did all of that Group Policy Editor stuff and finally the "gpudate/force" command and rebooted the PC. Then back to the XP Desktop and back to the Add Printer Wizard. I added the printer using the "Local port" method as described in the link above:

 

"If you’re facing this problem on an older OS such as Windows XP, you can use local port to connect the printer shared on Windows 10 by specifying local port: \\YourWindows10System\SharedPrinter. Make sure you replace YourWindows10System with your actual machine name and SharedPrinter with the printer that is shared."

 

So then the wizard on my XP PC wanted to install the driver. It showed a list of printer manufacturers so I selected Epson. Then I saw a list of Epson printers. There were dozens of them and then, right at the very bottom, was the L210. So I clicked on that and it said "This driver is unsigned". Huh? This is where my memory is not clear, but somehow I went a different path and got to a window where I could specify: "Have disk". Of course, I didn't have a disk but I thought I could download the necessary driver from Epson - which I did. But It was an EXE file and the install window wanted an INF file. Then I recalled that you can use 7-Zip to extract what is in EXE files. It worked. A folder was produced by 7-Zip in which was one INF file and loads of other stuff. So I specified that INF file and the driver was installed. Then It asked if I wanted to print a test page and that worked too. Bloomin' amazing.

 

So that's about 4 hours of my life I won't get back again, but the end result was worth it.  

 

Edited September 26, 2019 by JetsetBkk
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