Okay I got two computers...a compaq presario S4100NX and a Dell XPS 720.  The printer is a Dell All In One 962.

I set the two computers up in a home network and I'm trying to arrange it so that the printer, hooked up to the dell, can be shared and used by the compaq.  I got to the point where when I try to print something on the compaq I can select the printer from the network but it lags horribly and always pops up with a message saying there's a communication issue with the printer.  If I go to the dell and print it works just find.  I tied swapping it around and using the compaq as a host and printing from the dell but the same situation applies...the dell says there's a communication issue but the compaq will print just fine.

The troubleshooting thing sucks and tells me to do stuff I can't see even being remotely related to the problem...but I've gone through it to the point that it tells me to call a technician.  Awesome.

Anyone here know where I can start looking?

there is a special type of hell for shared printing and windows. you're in it. sorry

haha yeah I figured as much.  if I can't sort it out I'm going to beg our networking guy at work to take a crack at it.

what you have to do is put both computers on the same workgroup or domain.  Then you shouldn't have this problem unless you are trying to restrict the shared printer.

Okay...I know how to put them on the same network, but how do I put them in the same workgroup?

Okay I opened "my network places" and clicked "view workgroup computers" and both the computers were listed.

Would the printer be listed under the workgroup?

before i proceed which OS? XP, Vista

yeah sorry...both pc's run XP Pro.

right click "my computer" -> properties.  Then click the computer name tab then the change button.  As long as the workgroup name is the same on both computers.

Then you share the printer from the computer.
Then go to the computer that you want to install the thing and open a my computer window and in the address field type "\\Shared_Printer_comp_Name"  and whack the enter key.  Double click shared printers then double click the printer and you should be done (as long as a print queue window shows up with no errors). 

Note on the computer that you share the printer to the printer will have to be set up for each individual user account, as shared printers and microsoft blow a big jimmy.

Does this help?

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1596
http://lifehacker.com/software/step-by-step/share-a-printer-on-your-home-network-309015.php
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/honeycutt_july2.mspx
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/windowsnetworking/tp/winfilesharing.htm


Once the printer is shared, and you can see the 'print server' computer from the other computer on your home network, just double click on the 'print server' computer.  The printer should show up as a shared device.  Then double click on the printer, verify that you want to connect to the device and the drivers will be automagically loaded from the 'print server' computer and the printer will be added to the "Printers and Faxes" section of the networked computer.

For simplicity sake, since you don't have to worry about security on your small home network, set permissions on the print share to allow "Everyone" to print to it. 


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

got it.  finally prints.  super sweet!  thanks nate!  Those particular steps were completely missed on every how-to I've read.  now if I could just get the hard drive thing figured out...

Yeah how tos breeze over the basic networking part of shared printers lol

next time just buy a USB to Ethernet Jet direct print server.

Print servers cost money.  This was free.  Free was worth the hassle.  Plus, now, I know how to make it work every time.