Can anyone talk me through exactly how you are supposed to do this? I know a fair bit about computers, and have been trying to do this for a couple of hours, but so far I have had no success. Basically there are 2 computers (for now) that I want to start the sharing. They are connected via a netgear router.

The first pc is connected via ethernet to the router and is running on XP SP2.
The Second computer is connected via a wireless card and is running on XP SP1, this is the one that is connected to the printer.

I have installed the software on computer #1 (although it keeps telling me it can't find the printer, which I know since it isn't plugged in there.)

Also I have tried setting it up through Network Setup Wizard, but it doesn't seem to work. On this computer (#2) I can now see a shared Docs area in network connections, but it isn't displayed on the other and nothing else happens.

Is this because of some router settings, or maybe because the printer is plugged into pc2 instead of pc1, when 1 is connected via ethernet?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Ross

I don't know if they fixed it in winXP but for me the trick was to run the network wizard and tell it you don't have internet when it asks. Then just configure the rest of the network as normal.

It had me trying like weeks before I decided to just push all the buttons and see if it worked.

Hope it helps!

If I do that do I have to reconfigure the internet though? Or does it just run fine?

For me it just ran fine. But since it's such a strange way to configure something I wouldn't dare to say windows will do it that way another time.

BTW that was on the wireless connected computer. I configured the other one normally.

You mean the computer connected via ethernet? Also, could it be an SP2 issue or something?

It could be an XP issue but I just thought you might want to try it if they haven't fixed it.

I meant the computer that's connected wireless. So not the one you've got hooked to the cable

Click start, settings, Network Connections.
Then in the new window, at the left hand side should be a blue bar.
Near the top is a box called network tasks, click "Set up a home or small office network".
Click next, and follow the instructions.
I'd reccomend doing it on the computer directly connected to the internet.
It is just like setting up a network, but instead of cables you have the WLAN cards

ARe you running the setup wizard on computer 2 first, and then on computer 1? I hope so, because 1 can't see it until 2 allows it to be shared.

Also, can 2 and 1 see each other? IOW, are you using DHCP internally so they're on the same subnet and everything? If they're in different subnets, they won't see each other easily.

FWIW, if you're planning on sharing this with more than two PCs, I'd go for a wireless printer port plugged into the back of the printer. It's far, far easier... trust me [img]smile.gif[/img] My "old" printer has a netgear print server plugged into the back, and my "new" printer has a network connection built-in.

Bungleau, if you have two printers with the wireless ports can multiple pc's on a wireless network use both?

If you configure them properly both you should be able to choose between which printer you want to use Cloudbringer.

Absolutely, Cloudy. Each printer gets its own IP address. I use fixed addresses for my printers, my Linux server, and the Linksys boxes; every PC uses DHCP, so it gets a randomly allocated IP address. Each PC is set up to know that printer 1 is at 192.168.1.50, and printer 2 is at 192.168.1.51.

That's the same principle used in most corporate networks -- you send the data to the machine at that IP address, and that machine deals with it.

Yes I know about all of that, tried it all, it didn't work. Im considering setting the printer up on the other computer, Bungleau, Il go and check out what you said. How much do the wireless printer cards cost?

Thanks, philip and Bungleau! I've got an older printer that's still funcioning and does pretty well with basic text but we'd like to get another for photos and such so I was debating whether it would be worth it if I had to toss the old one...now I know I could keep both! :D

Ross, a Linksys wireless print servers in Sunday's advertisements was US$130. The one I have is a wired server, and it was less than US$50.

I would probably go for a wired print server. You can plug it directly into the wireless router that you're using without affecting the existing wireless traffic.

Ermmm.... that IS assuming that you're using a wireless router of some sort, and not just doing direct connects. Those are a whole lot less secure in a lot of ways...

If you're using a wireless router why not keep it free and run the printer via the home network?

To put it in perspective...

... you can certainly hang the printer off a PC and share it from there. Only problem is that if that PC is not on, the printer's not available. That's why I use a print server plugged into the back.

... I can't speak for all wireless routers, but my Linksys also has four wired ports in it. I can use those four ports and use the wireless at the same time with no downside.

... the wireless router can support up to 10-15 wireless devices if 802.11B, or around 32 if 802.11G. It is *NOT* a "one access point, one wireless connection" kind of deal.

So... even if I had all five PCs, both printers, and the Linux server running wirelessly, my single 802.11B access point would still have some room to spare.

My router is connected via ethernet to pc one. So you are saying it would be more secure if it was stand alone with extra PCI cards? Well, I'm not bothered about the computers being turned on, as this one is always on and it hosts the printer, so the other would have no problem. Also, I wouldn't mind trying to get it sorted with out the purchase, but if not I will probably get it.

Also it is a netgear router, wth 802.11G and has four ports like yours. Well I may be adding a third pc to the network soon so it may also share the printer.

Security and wireless are two totally different subjects [img]smile.gif[/img] If you want it secure, go wired.

Since it's got the four ports, I would just get the wired print server and plug it in (my wired one happens to be a Netgear as well, a mini print server PS101). Took me about 30 minutes from opening the package to setting it up and installing the software on the client PCs. Took me more than three days trying to get Samba to work. Ended up being a no-brainer solution, and the wired print server is less that $US50, I believe.

You don't need any extra PCI cards for it; the print server just plugs into the back of the printer (where you'd plug in the printer cable), and you then plug a standard network cable into it (and the other end into your router). HTTP over to it from another computer on the network and set it up. Really simple... I mean, REALLY SIMPLE.... [img]smile.gif[/img]

The last 3 is what I mean with why buy another print server there's probably enough space already. Only one is a problem but I think that computers are on very often already in my experience.

Yep wireless there's no securtiy.

If you don't broadcast the sig your other computer that's connected wirelessly probes with the essid. Guess what you can just sniff the essid very easily.

WEP key can be broken pretty easy as well. I don't know for windows but in linux there are several programs that you just have to set to listen and then it calculates the key. IIRC the problem was that every security algorhythm right now uses large prime numbers and thus can be broken/calculated.

Hmmm... I'm not *completely* sure what you're referring to, Philip, but the challenge with using a shared printer instead of a networked printer is not that a computer has to be on, but that the *right* computer has to be on. In my house, that may or may not be the case. By having it networked, I never have to worry if the right one is on; it always is.

As well, I've run into issues with print drivers. Trying to print to my HP 842C (shared on my Win98 machine) from my Win2K machine was a nightmare... the drivers weren't completely compatible, and the work I had to go through was ridiculous. Putting in the print server was a piece of cake, and eliminated those cross-OS issues.

So, even though you *can* share a printer, my experience is that it's far easier to network it.

On the topic of wireless security, remember that just like locks on a house, it's there to keep honest people honest. A real crook would not be deterred by the locks on your house, and someone who wants to break into your network will do so. It doesn't mean that you leave the thing wide open, but that you protect it adequately and have good plans to restrict what someone might do once they get in.

Yeah that's what I meant, that both were on. But I agree it's easier if that's not sure or doesn't happen alot.

hey folks. I had another go at it today, and got it to work. I first made the machines ping each other, and found that interestingly enough, the wifi machine could print the ethernet, but not vice versa. That was rather strange, so I fiddled with some settings. My router was also configured properly, so I quit Norton and Norton Auto Detect, and then added it. Then all of my network printers showed up. Norton (even though off) promptly came up with a warning about how network printers can contain viruses, and after telling it yes, I did want to continue, it seemed to work fine. I printed a test page and it worked fine, so then I printed a test page with Norton back on, and it worked fine. So it seems to have automatically confgured on Norton.

Problem solved [img]smile.gif[/img]

Kewl! Sometimes you just need a little time away to get everything back to rights [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

Ross, that's great. And thanks for bringing this one back up, I was looking for it the other day!