Can't Connect To Shared Printer

Hi All,

After my semiannual dental check up, my dentist asked me to
troubleshoot why two other PC running XP can't print to a shared
printer connected to another pc. I made sure that all machines could
talk to each other via ping and all machines are in the same work
group. When I tried to set up the printer on the other clients that
would share the printer, they could both see the host machine in the
print server list. But, when it was selected, we got an error. What
gives?

Hello Huge B.,

What error message do you get?

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm

> Hi All,
>
> After my semiannual dental check up, my dentist asked me to
> troubleshoot why two other PC running XP can't print to a shared
> printer connected to another pc. I made sure that all machines could
> talk to each other via ping and all machines are in the same work
> group. When I tried to set up the printer on the other clients that
> would share the printer, they could both see the host machine in the
> print server list. But, when it was selected, we got an error. What
> gives?
>

On Jul 14, 8:05 pm, Meinolf Weber <meiweb(nospam)@gmx.de> wrote:
> Hello Huge B.,
>
> What error message do you get?
>
> Best regards
>
> Meinolf Weber
> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
> no rights.
> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
> ** HELP us help YOU!!!http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
>
> > Hi All,
>
> > After my semiannual dental check up, my dentist asked me to
> > troubleshoot why two other PC running XP can't print to a shared
> > printer connected to another pc. I made sure that all machines could
> > talk to each other via ping and all machines are in the same work
> > group. When I tried to set up the printer on the other clients that
> > would share the printer, they could both see the host machine in the
> > print server list. But, when it was selected, we got an error. What
> > gives?

I'm paraphrasing here. But, the message said something to the effect:
"The connection couldn't be made because either the printer is off or
the name was spelled incorrectly". Now, I went over to the host
machine and got the exact spelling of the printer name from the
machine. I verified that it was working by printing a test page from
it. I went back to the client PC's, clicked on Add Printer and typed
in the \\HostName\PrinterName. When I tried to get a list of
printers, I could see "HostName" listed. Double clicking on that name
results in a "Can't connect..." error.

On Jul 15, 10:56*am, "Huge B." <rnu...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jul 14, 8:05 pm, Meinolf Weber <meiweb(nospam)@gmx.de> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > Hello Huge B.,
>
> > What error message do you get?
>
> > Best regards
>
> > Meinolf Weber
> > Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
> > no rights.
> > ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
> > ** HELP us help YOU!!!http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
>
> > > Hi All,
>
> > > After my semiannual dental check up, my dentist asked me to
> > > troubleshoot why two other PC running XP can't print to a shared
> > > printer connected to another pc. *I made sure that all machines could
> > > talk to each other via ping and all machines are in the same work
> > > group. *When I tried to set up the printer on the other clients that
> > > would share the printer, they could both see the host machine in the
> > > print server list. *But, when it was selected, we got an error. *What
> > > gives?
>
> I'm paraphrasing here. *But, the message said something to the effect:
> "The connection couldn't be made because either the printer is off or
> the name was spelled incorrectly". *Now, I went over to the host
> machine and got the exact spelling of the printer name from the
> machine. *I verified that it was working by printing a test page from
> it. *I went back to the client PC's, clicked on Add Printer and typed
> in the \\HostName\PrinterName. *When I tried to get a list of
> printers, I could see "HostName" listed. *Double clicking on that name
> results in a "Can't connect..." error.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

The easiest way I've found to add a printer that's hosted from a
server or a workstation, is to open Windows Explorer and type:

\\computername

Hit enter and you'll see all of the shared folders and printers. From
there you can simply right click and add printer. This way you don't
have to worry about typos or any other type of searching errors.

Regards,
Matt