printer sharing and security?

Well, I finally succumbed to everyone's very strong advice.
I purchased a new (ebay style) Thinkpad on which I am able
to use WPA security, rather than staying with WEP (which was
the best I could get on my old laptop because of a bogus
Windows installation).

I don't want to share files.

But I would like to use the printer which is attached to my
desktop. It is an HP laser printer that only has a parallel
connection. Is there a way to set up just printer sharing?
I always see "file and printer sharing" and I know that
for security reasons, that should stay off, so I don't know
if this can be done without impairing security.

Also, I created a WPA password which has: 2 letters, 6
numbers, 2 letters, 6 numbers, 6 letters 4 numbers. Is this
likely to be a hard to crack password?

Thanks again.

And btw, I do love my new Thinkpad :-)

Louise

On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 04:57:41 GMT, louise <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Well, I finally succumbed to everyone's very strong advice.
> I purchased a new (ebay style) Thinkpad on which I am able
>to use WPA security, rather than staying with WEP (which was
>the best I could get on my old laptop because of a bogus
>Windows installation).
>
>I don't want to share files.
>
>But I would like to use the printer which is attached to my
>desktop. It is an HP laser printer that only has a parallel
>connection. Is there a way to set up just printer sharing?
> I always see "file and printer sharing" and I know that
>for security reasons, that should stay off, so I don't know
>if this can be done without impairing security.
>
>Also, I created a WPA password which has: 2 letters, 6
>numbers, 2 letters, 6 numbers, 6 letters 4 numbers. Is this
>likely to be a hard to crack password?
>
>Thanks again.
>
>And btw, I do love my new Thinkpad :-)
>
>Louise


What operating system is running on the desktop?? if it is anything
less than windows XP you will NOT be able to share printers.. I've
been their, tried that, and then had to upgrade the ME system to
winXP pro. There is a MS KB concerning this.

If you have winxp pro on both machines, just do a right clik on the
printer on the desktop machine, click sharing and security, say
just enable, and the printer is shared,, just the printer.

Then go to your notebook and do a 'add printer' -->network printer
search your workgroup for the printer, click on that printer, and
finiish,,, I use shared printers in alot of the networks I set up,
just sharing the printer and also if you have any documents you
want to share, just slide them into the 'shared documents' folder
and you can also share them on the network.

It's easy, try it,

Bob Smith
Robert Smith Consulting
--
NewsGuy.Com 30Gb $9.95 Carry Forward and On Demand Bandwidth

meme wrote:

>What operating system is running on the desktop?? if it is anything
>less than windows XP you will NOT be able to share printers.. I've
>been their, tried that, and then had to upgrade the ME system to
>winXP pro. There is a MS KB concerning this.
>
>
>
Not true. I have shared XP-connected printers to W9x and to W2K, and
I have shared W2K-connected printers to XP, and I have shared
W9x-connected printers to XP and to W2K. There are problems with
some specific printers in this kind of cross-platform printer sharing,
but it is not a general problem: some printers work completely, some
partly work (e.g. printing works but status feedback does not), and
(maybe) some won't work at all; with one printer, I got it to work
cross-platform only by loading a driver for a different printer.

There is certainly an opportunity for M$ to create and enforce an
architecture for printer sharing (and for scanners and CD/DVD burners).
Unfortunately, good architecture at M$ seems to be restricted to
the NT kernel.

Since the problems seem to be caused by the drivers which are supplied
by the manufacturer of the printers, the underlying Windows mechanisms
for F&P sharing are OK. In fact, my home LAN currently has a mixture
of W98, W2K, XP HE, XP MCE, and XP PRO; and all PCs share folders
(and a couple of printers) with all other PCs.

--
Cheers, Bob

"louise" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:9%KUf.731$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Well, I finally succumbed to everyone's very strong advice. I purchased a
> new (ebay style) Thinkpad on which I am able to use WPA security, rather
> than staying with WEP (which was the best I could get on my old laptop
> because of a bogus Windows installation).
>
> I don't want to share files.
>
> But I would like to use the printer which is attached to my desktop. It
> is an HP laser printer that only has a parallel connection. Is there a
> way to set up just printer sharing? I always see "file and printer
> sharing" and I know that for security reasons, that should stay off, so I
> don't know if this can be done without impairing security.
>
> Also, I created a WPA password which has: 2 letters, 6 numbers, 2
> letters, 6 numbers, 6 letters 4 numbers. Is this likely to be a hard to
> crack password?
>

If your concerned about the security of using a printer on a machine that's
sharing the printer with other machines on the LAN, the get yourself a
standalone printer server and connect it to a LAN port on the router and
plug the printer into that. That way, it's not attached to a machine. All
machines wired or wireless will be able to print to the print sever that's
attached to the router. Print servers are cheap now of days.

Or if you don't want to do that and you have a NT based O/S that has the
printer attached in a networking situation, then the link talks about the
security setup for that situation for the NT based O/S.

http://labmice.techtarget.com/articl...ychecklist.htm

Duane

Duane Arnold wrote:
> "louise" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:9%KUf.731$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>>Well, I finally succumbed to everyone's very strong advice. I purchased a
>>new (ebay style) Thinkpad on which I am able to use WPA security, rather
>>than staying with WEP (which was the best I could get on my old laptop
>>because of a bogus Windows installation).
>>
>>I don't want to share files.
>>
>>But I would like to use the printer which is attached to my desktop. It
>>is an HP laser printer that only has a parallel connection. Is there a
>>way to set up just printer sharing? I always see "file and printer
>>sharing" and I know that for security reasons, that should stay off, so I
>>don't know if this can be done without impairing security.
>>
>>Also, I created a WPA password which has: 2 letters, 6 numbers, 2
>>letters, 6 numbers, 6 letters 4 numbers. Is this likely to be a hard to
>>crack password?
>>
>
>
> If your concerned about the security of using a printer on a machine that's
> sharing the printer with other machines on the LAN, the get yourself a
> standalone printer server and connect it to a LAN port on the router and
> plug the printer into that. That way, it's not attached to a machine. All
> machines wired or wireless will be able to print to the print sever that's
> attached to the router. Print servers are cheap now of days.
>
> Or if you don't want to do that and you have a NT based O/S that has the
> printer attached in a networking situation, then the link talks about the
> security setup for that situation for the NT based O/S.
>
> http://labmice.techtarget.com/articl...ychecklist.htm
>
> Duane
>
>
The printer in question is parallel port - can you plug that
into a print server?

Thanks.

Louise

"louise" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:qy8Vf.1764$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Duane Arnold wrote:
>> "louise" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:9%KUf.731$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>
>>>Well, I finally succumbed to everyone's very strong advice. I purchased a
>>>new (ebay style) Thinkpad on which I am able to use WPA security, rather
>>>than staying with WEP (which was the best I could get on my old laptop
>>>because of a bogus Windows installation).
>>>
>>>I don't want to share files.
>>>
>>>But I would like to use the printer which is attached to my desktop. It
>>>is an HP laser printer that only has a parallel connection. Is there a
>>>way to set up just printer sharing? I always see "file and printer
>>>sharing" and I know that for security reasons, that should stay off, so I
>>>don't know if this can be done without impairing security.
>>>
>>>Also, I created a WPA password which has: 2 letters, 6 numbers, 2
>>>letters, 6 numbers, 6 letters 4 numbers. Is this likely to be a hard to
>>>crack password?
>>>
>>
>>
>> If your concerned about the security of using a printer on a machine
>> that's sharing the printer with other machines on the LAN, the get
>> yourself a standalone printer server and connect it to a LAN port on the
>> router and plug the printer into that. That way, it's not attached to a
>> machine. All machines wired or wireless will be able to print to the
>> print sever that's attached to the router. Print servers are cheap now of
>> days.
>>
>> Or if you don't want to do that and you have a NT based O/S that has the
>> printer attached in a networking situation, then the link talks about the
>> security setup for that situation for the NT based O/S.
>>
>> http://labmice.techtarget.com/articl...ychecklist.htm
>>
>> Duane
> The printer in question is parallel port - can you plug that into a print
> server?
>

Yes, the plug on the print server itself will have a centronics parallel
plug that will plug in to the printer. The print server will have a RJ45
port where you take a cable the uses the RJ45 plug type and connect it to
the print server and the other end into a LAN port on the router.

You should configure the print server to use a static IP on the router
instead of a DHCP IP from the router so that it never change. Then you set
up your computers for the printer that is a Network Printer and point to the
IP address of the print server. It's a piece of cake.

The link is just an example of what's out there. I purchased a Cables To Go
one for $59 at the time that was not wireless and plugged it into the
wireless router RJ45 LAN port and was printing like a champ from wire or
wireless machines.

Long

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...10&image1.y=12

Short

http://tinyurl.com/j5a8q

The only thing is that the utilities they show ink level at the computer
screen for ink levels will not work, but there is some visual alert on the
printer itself that can be used.

Duane

meme wrote:
> On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 04:57:41 GMT, louise <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>
>>Well, I finally succumbed to everyone's very strong advice.
>> I purchased a new (ebay style) Thinkpad on which I am able
>>to use WPA security, rather than staying with WEP (which was
>>the best I could get on my old laptop because of a bogus
>>Windows installation).
>>
>>I don't want to share files.
>>
>>But I would like to use the printer which is attached to my
>>desktop. It is an HP laser printer that only has a parallel
>>connection. Is there a way to set up just printer sharing?
>> I always see "file and printer sharing" and I know that
>>for security reasons, that should stay off, so I don't know
>>if this can be done without impairing security.
>>
>>Also, I created a WPA password which has: 2 letters, 6
>>numbers, 2 letters, 6 numbers, 6 letters 4 numbers. Is this
>>likely to be a hard to crack password?
>>
>>Thanks again.
>>
>>And btw, I do love my new Thinkpad :-)
>>
>>Louise
>
>
>
> What operating system is running on the desktop?? if it is anything
> less than windows XP you will NOT be able to share printers.. I've
> been their, tried that, and then had to upgrade the ME system to
> winXP pro. There is a MS KB concerning this.
>
> If you have winxp pro on both machines, just do a right clik on the
> printer on the desktop machine, click sharing and security, say
> just enable, and the printer is shared,, just the printer.
>
> Then go to your notebook and do a 'add printer' -->network printer
> search your workgroup for the printer, click on that printer, and
> finiish,,, I use shared printers in alot of the networks I set up,
> just sharing the printer and also if you have any documents you
> want to share, just slide them into the 'shared documents' folder
> and you can also share them on the network.
>
> It's easy, try it,
>
> Bob Smith
> Robert Smith Consulting

Both are running XP

I have the printer plugged into my desktop and the desktop
has a wired connection to the router. My portable is
wireless to the router.

On my desktop I went to the printer and to the sharing tab
and checked off share this printer. It then got a name:
HPLaserJ.

I then went to my Thinkpad and searched for a network
printer. The only thing it came up with was Microsoft
Windows Network. It did not find HPLaserJ.

I think I'm missing some step - any thoughts?

TIA

Louise

On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 04:57:41 GMT, louise <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Well, I finally succumbed to everyone's very strong advice.
> I purchased a new (ebay style) Thinkpad on which I am able
>to use WPA security, rather than staying with WEP (which was
>the best I could get on my old laptop because of a bogus
>Windows installation).
>
>I don't want to share files.
>
>But I would like to use the printer which is attached to my
>desktop. It is an HP laser printer that only has a parallel
>connection. Is there a way to set up just printer sharing?
> I always see "file and printer sharing" and I know that
>for security reasons, that should stay off, so I don't know
>if this can be done without impairing security.
>
>Also, I created a WPA password which has: 2 letters, 6
>numbers, 2 letters, 6 numbers, 6 letters 4 numbers. Is this
>likely to be a hard to crack password?
>
>Thanks again.
>
>And btw, I do love my new Thinkpad :-)
>
>Louise

What I said was true,,, the question was using
the NOTEBOOK with WIN XP and if the desktop has
win2k or winME or below you will be able to install the
printer but Microsoft decided for safety and security
that the DESKTOP machine can NOT print.


I've been through this with about 10 customers that purchased
new notebooks with winxp and tried to network the desktop
printer.

All the networking works with the exception of sharing the
printer.

This is ONLY true if you are trying to use a NOTEBOOK with
winXP installed. Sharing network printers within a network
on DESKTOPS works great, but it was microsoft's decision
to NOT let a NOTEBOOK share the printer..

Don't ask me why,


here's the KB article about the problem

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;307162


Bob

robert Smith
Robert Smith Consulting
--
NewsGuy.Com 30Gb $9.95 Carry Forward and On Demand Bandwidth

On Sat, 25 Mar 2006 19:08:59 GMT, louise <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>meme wrote:
>> On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 04:57:41 GMT, louise <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Well, I finally succumbed to everyone's very strong advice.
>>> I purchased a new (ebay style) Thinkpad on which I am able
>>>to use WPA security, rather than staying with WEP (which was
>>>the best I could get on my old laptop because of a bogus
>>>Windows installation).
>>>
>>>I don't want to share files.
>>>
>>>But I would like to use the printer which is attached to my
>>>desktop. It is an HP laser printer that only has a parallel
>>>connection. Is there a way to set up just printer sharing?
>>> I always see "file and printer sharing" and I know that
>>>for security reasons, that should stay off, so I don't know
>>>if this can be done without impairing security.
>>>
>>>Also, I created a WPA password which has: 2 letters, 6
>>>numbers, 2 letters, 6 numbers, 6 letters 4 numbers. Is this
>>>likely to be a hard to crack password?
>>>
>>>Thanks again.
>>>
>>>And btw, I do love my new Thinkpad :-)
>>>
>>>Louise
>>
>>
>>
>> What operating system is running on the desktop?? if it is anything
>> less than windows XP you will NOT be able to share printers.. I've
>> been their, tried that, and then had to upgrade the ME system to
>> winXP pro. There is a MS KB concerning this.
>>
>> If you have winxp pro on both machines, just do a right clik on the
>> printer on the desktop machine, click sharing and security, say
>> just enable, and the printer is shared,, just the printer.
>>
>> Then go to your notebook and do a 'add printer' -->network printer
>> search your workgroup for the printer, click on that printer, and
>> finiish,,, I use shared printers in alot of the networks I set up,
>> just sharing the printer and also if you have any documents you
>> want to share, just slide them into the 'shared documents' folder
>> and you can also share them on the network.
>>
>> It's easy, try it,
>>
>> Bob Smith
>> Robert Smith Consulting
>
>Both are running XP
>
>I have the printer plugged into my desktop and the desktop
>has a wired connection to the router. My portable is
>wireless to the router.
>
>On my desktop I went to the printer and to the sharing tab
>and checked off share this printer. It then got a name:
>HPLaserJ.
>
>I then went to my Thinkpad and searched for a network
>printer. The only thing it came up with was Microsoft
>Windows Network. It did not find HPLaserJ.
>
>I think I'm missing some step - any thoughts?
>
>TIA
>
>Louise


Hi Louise,

have you got both your firewalls on? Are you running
any NORTON programs (norton internet security) , they
make the networking of computers and printers a pain in the
ass,,, First try to turn off your firewalls and see if you can see
the printer, If you do see the printer, then you will have to work
backward to see what is 'hiding the printer'

Bob

Robert Smith Consulting

--
NewsGuy.Com 30Gb $9.95 Carry Forward and On Demand Bandwidth

On Sat, 25 Mar 2006 19:08:59 GMT, in alt.internet.wireless , louise
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On my desktop I went to the printer and to the sharing tab
>and checked off share this printer. It then got a name:
>HPLaserJ.
>
>I then went to my Thinkpad and searched for a network
>printer. The only thing it came up with was Microsoft
>Windows Network. It did not find HPLaserJ.
>
>I think I'm missing some step - any thoughts?

You will need to have a login on the thinkpad which has permission to
browse shares on the desktop. This IS NOT the default and I can't for
the life of me remember how you enable it.

I get round it by insisting on synchronised usernames and passwords.
In office environments, the problem doesn't exist because everyone
uses a domain login.
Mark McIntyre
--