HELP! Restoring printer sharing - problem!

[Geoffw]

I've just fitted a new hard drive to my laptop and have got everything working fine except for one important feature.

I've forgotten how to get my laptop to talk to the house desktop that is attached to our one and only printer. File sharing isn't such a big issue but printer sharing is.

The setup is:

1: Belkin Wireless Router/modem that both machines are using to successfully connect to the internet.
2: Desktop (with printer) running XP
3: Laptop (running on Vista) needing to print.

Up till I replaced the Hard Drive in the Laptop I have been printing (from the laptop) with no difficulty, and I must have set them up correctly when I bought the laptop 15 months ago, but I can't recall what i did!!!

Can anyone point me to a step-by-step guide?

[Gina]

I'm afraid I don't know Vista but isn't there a printers dialog where you can add a network printer? I think that's how it worrked in XP.

[chrislane]

Temporary measure. Email to the machine that does print.

[Geoffw]

Temporary measure. Email to the machine that does print.
Thanks Chris, that is just what I'm doing! :mad:

I'm so annoyed with myself 'cos when I got the laptop I managed the link with no problem at all. Perhaps that's why I can't remember just what i did. :lol

[Gina]

Surely someone on here knows how to use Vista? It should be quite simple but I gather M$ don't know what "simple to use" means!

[Rainbow Warrior]

Follow these steps to connect to a shared printer over the network. You need to know the name of the computer (or its IP address) that has the printer attached to it.

1. Click the Start button , and then, in the Search box, type \\ followed by the name of the computer with the shared printer you want to use (for example, \\mydesktop). Alternatively put the IP address of the PC in the search box instead of \\mydesktop.

2. Press ENTER.

3. If Windows can find the computer on the network, a folder will open for the computer. Double-click Printers. If any shared printers are connected to this computer, they will appear here.

4. Double-click the printer. Windows will automatically add the printer to your computer and install the printer driver. When the process is complete, click Next.

5. The printer should appear in your Printers folder. You can select this printer when you want to print a document or other type of file.

[Geoffw]

Thanks RW. Gave you advice a quick try this morning - without success. :evil - But I'll have a bit more time later in the week to really focus. I'm sure it is something quite simple and obvious.

[Geoffw]

Problem Solved:

Firstly I've discovered why I had no problems when I originally set up my Home Network. Simply when I bought the Notebook it was January 2007 and the machine had XP installed with a voucher to upgrade to Vista. Well the XP Network setup is easy and really straight forward. When I ungraded to vista the upgrade process compensates for the fact the XP and Vista use a different system. So I had never had to get an Vista machine talking to an XP machine.

So when i installed a clean Vista I was left with the problem of getting Vista and XP to talk to each other. An Internet search showed me I was not alone in having these difficulties. Anyway in the end I followed the step by step instruction on the link below and low and behold my network printer has appeared and I can file share as required.
http://www.svabhinava.org/Dia-Gnosis/SuntharVisuvalingam/ComputerBlogs/VistaXP-frame.php
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/bb727037.aspx

[Gina]

That's good Geoff :):) But don't Microsoft make things complicated!! It doesn't have to be.