Maximum PC

Hi all,

I have a home network with four computers, two running XP Pro, one running XP Home, and one running Win7 64-bit (7 not compatible, so not part of the problem I am having). The main computer, the one with my Dell Photo AIO 924 printer connected to has XP Pro. My laptop, which has XP Pro too, cannot connect to the shared printer on the main computer. The main computer has no firewalls up (only windows firewall with printer acception), and only has MSE as security software (so do all my other computers). I tried to connect my XP Pro laptop to the main computer, but it always fails. I try just using the built-in wizard instead of the Dell one, and it can't find the driver. I download the correct driver from Dell's website, and the setup cannot connect to the printer (the laptop cannot connect to printer on main computer). I have the printer shared and the correct share name, but it just won't connect. The windows firewall on the laptop has an acception of printing, but it still won't work. The funny thing is, my XP Home desktop will easily connect to the shared printer. All I had to do for the XP Home computer was browse for the shared printer over the network, and then just right-click, and click connect, and it automatically downloaded the driver and installed correctly, I was able to print a test page. I didn't even have to go to the Dell website to download the driver. I have been having this problem for I don't even know how long, and I have never been able to get it fixed. One time I got it printing, and then after a week or so, without any warning or me doing anything new to the laptop, just stopped working. Does anybody know a lot about shared printing and can maybe help me with my problem?

Thanks, help is greatly appreciated!!

-McDougal

Well the first thing about sharing is to ensure the 'Workgroup' is the same for all machines...

If the Laptop is not the same workgroup, you won't be able to connect.

Second thing about sharing, is the log-in and password the same on both of these machines?

Also, can you browse the XPPro's shares from the laptop?

Thanks for the reply! Yes, all computers are in the same workgroup. I'm only using a workgroup network, nothing else. No, the username is not the same. That never occurred to me. The problem is, my main computer only has one user account on it, the default Administrator account. My laptop, however (also shared family computer), has three user accounts on it. It has two admin accounts and one limited account. Will I be able to change that user account name to the same one on my laptop? Or is there another way?

Thanks for the help!!

-McDougal

Okay guys, I've made a little progress here. My laptop will now connect to the printer on my main computer, but it will not install the driver. I right-click on the shared printer, and click "Connect" and then it gives the whole warning about how it's going to install the driver. Then, after a while of searching, the screen closes. I go to "Printers and Faxes" and the shared printer is in there. I right-click on that shared printer and click Properties and when I click Properties it gives a message saying "The driver for this printer is not installed. Would you like to select the driver from a list?" or something like that. I look through the whole list of digitally signed drivers, and cannot find the right one. Then I delete the printer and try using the Dell install wizard, and the Dell wizard doesn't even detect it. Does anybody know how I can get the driver onto my laptop?

Thanks!

-McDougal

Whether or not the driver is digitally signed is irrelevant. Here's the link for the AIO P924's XP driver set.

Once the driver is downloaded, double-click to begin the unpacking of the drivers into the C:\Dell\whatever folder. Once the actual setup begins, cancel it. The driver's will still be in the folder.

Now go back into the Printers and double click the AIO P924. When it screams it cannot find the drivers, direct it to the folder where the drivers were unpacked. Again, don't worry if the drivers aren't digitally signed. Click 'OK' and continue installation.

According to the user's manual, you should have no problem with printing on a network. Scanning will only let the machine save to its connected computer.

Thanks for the help! I never thought of canceling the actual setup. I will give it a try this afternoon when I can.

Thanks, your help is greatly appreciated!!

-McDougal

Are you able to ping the printer from the computer in question?