WinXP Home (5 PC limit) - can a networkable printer be added ?

I have set up a network of 4 wired and 1 wireless on a WinXP Home set
of computers.

Am now considering buying an HP laser printer, one of the options is
to buy one which has networking connections, but will this count as
another PC or will WinXP Home allow it to be present with the other 5
computers at the same time?

KM

km <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
>
>
>I have set up a network of 4 wired and 1 wireless on a WinXP Home set
>of computers.
>
>Am now considering buying an HP laser printer, one of the options is
>to buy one which has networking connections, but will this count as
>another PC or will WinXP Home allow it to be present with the other 5
>computers at the same time?
>
>KM

Okay, After some web surfing my sanity has been restored and I can se
the confusion. I must admit I didn't think there was a limit on th
number of PC on a network besides that specified by networks Subnet Mask.
Most home networks use Class C networks that give 254 usable networ
address - thats 254 PCs/Printers/Managed Switches/Routers/etc
XP Homes 5 PC limit, which I didn't know existed until I read this post
has to do with simultaneous connections to a shared folder. If an X
Home computer is sharing files/folders on it's hard drive only 5 othe
computers can access them at the same time
You can have 100's of computers on the network, they can all see an
access the shared hard drive, but only 5 can physically access the share
hard drive at the same moment in time. With XP Pro this limit is at 1
PC's after which M$ want to sell you Windows 2003 Server and man
licenses
As for the printer, It'll connect up and work fine with all PC'
(regardless of how many) because a)it doesn't run windows XP, b) it is no
sharing files, c) it controls it's own print queue/buffer
--
----------------------------------------
Terry McDonal
http://links.tmcd35.homeip.ne
----------------------------------------

On Sun, 17 Apr 2005 08:11:10 +0100, km <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I have set up a network of 4 wired and 1 wireless on a WinXP Home set
>of computers.
>
>Am now considering buying an HP laser printer, one of the options is
>to buy one which has networking connections, but will this count as
>another PC or will WinXP Home allow it to be present with the other 5
>computers at the same time?
>
>KM

Just another query. Is the limit of 5 a physical restriction or does
it apply to the number of settings that WinXP will hold per workgroup?
In other woirds could I have more than 5 in the workgroup and simply
unplug selected machines to keep to the 5 limit?

KM

On Sun, 17 Apr 2005 07:39:28 GMT, tmcd35<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
>km <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>
>>
>>I have set up a network of 4 wired and 1 wireless on a WinXP Home set
>>of computers.
>>
>>Am now considering buying an HP laser printer, one of the options is
>>to buy one which has networking connections, but will this count as
>>another PC or will WinXP Home allow it to be present with the other 5
>>computers at the same time?
>>
>>KM
>
>Okay, After some web surfing my sanity has been restored and I can see
>the confusion. I must admit I didn't think there was a limit on the
>number of PC on a network besides that specified by networks Subnet Mask.
>Most home networks use Class C networks that give 254 usable network
>address - thats 254 PCs/Printers/Managed Switches/Routers/etc.
>XP Homes 5 PC limit, which I didn't know existed until I read this post,
>has to do with simultaneous connections to a shared folder. If an XP
>Home computer is sharing files/folders on it's hard drive only 5 other
>computers can access them at the same time.
>You can have 100's of computers on the network, they can all see and
>access the shared hard drive, but only 5 can physically access the shared
>hard drive at the same moment in time. With XP Pro this limit is at 10
>PC's after which M$ want to sell you Windows 2003 Server and many
>licenses.
>As for the printer, It'll connect up and work fine with all PC's
>(regardless of how many) because a)it doesn't run windows XP, b) it is not
>sharing files, c) it controls it's own print queue/buffer.


Thanks for that Terry. I posted my follow-up before checking for any
replies. Your response obviously answers both points. Thanks very much
for the input.

KM

Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Sun, 17 Apr
2005 08:57:47 +0100, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do
uk.comp.home-networking, yawatina tan reek esk km <(E-Mail Removed)> fornis do
marikano es bono tan el:

>Just another query. Is the limit of 5 a physical restriction or does
>it apply to the number of settings that WinXP will hold per workgroup?
>In other woirds could I have more than 5 in the workgroup and simply
>unplug selected machines to keep to the 5 limit?

I was under the impression the 5-PC-limit is actually a "5 concurrent
connections to one PC" limit. You can have an XP Home workgroup with 200+
machines if you want.

Problems occur if you have, for example, 7 PCs with a shared printer on one.
All 6 other PCs can't print to it at the same time. This may or may not
affect ICS, I don't know.

I have overseen a 9 XP Home PC network before now without any problems.

deKay
--
+ Lofi Gaming - www.lofi-gaming.org.uk [Gamertag: deKay 01]
|- Gaming Diary - www.lofi-gaming.org.uk/diary/
|- My computer runs at 3.5MHz and I'm proud of that
|- Hurry up and go touch it.

On Sun, 17 Apr 2005 14:33:38 +0100, deKay <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Sun, 17 Apr
>2005 08:57:47 +0100, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do
>uk.comp.home-networking, yawatina tan reek esk km <(E-Mail Removed)> fornis do
>marikano es bono tan el:
>
>>Just another query. Is the limit of 5 a physical restriction or does
>>it apply to the number of settings that WinXP will hold per workgroup?
>>In other woirds could I have more than 5 in the workgroup and simply
>>unplug selected machines to keep to the 5 limit?
>
>I was under the impression the 5-PC-limit is actually a "5 concurrent
>connections to one PC" limit. You can have an XP Home workgroup with 200+
>machines if you want.
>
>Problems occur if you have, for example, 7 PCs with a shared printer on one.
>All 6 other PCs can't print to it at the same time. This may or may not
>affect ICS, I don't know.
>
>I have overseen a 9 XP Home PC network before now without any problems.
>
>deKay


This is becoming clearer and it seems that the "limitations" I assumed
I was facing are not really a problem.

Your responses are appreciated.


KM