"Windows cannot connect to the printer. Access is denied" -please help.
- I'm running vista home premium and have it connected to a home network (the host computer is running xp home edition). I can connect to the internet and share files and do everything else over the network except print. Whenever I run the add a printer wizard the printer I am trying to connect to appears as an option (its an hp 5550 networked through the host computer) and when I try to connect I get the error message "Windows cannot connect to the printer. Access is denied". I'm using an administer account and printer sharing is turned on on both my and the host computer. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Answers
I had the same problem. I found a solution. Logically it makes no sense to me, but it worked so...
Go to Control Panel. Choose printer. Then choose Add Printer.
ChooseAdd a local printer. Click on Create a new port. The default in the drop down box is Local Port. Do not change that. Click Next.
A dialogue box will appear asking for you to enter a port name. Type in the \\computer name\printer name ie. My computer's name is basement and the printer name is EpsonSty so I typed in \\basement\epsonsty
Yahoo! It worked. Go figure! I guess Microsoft thinks printers on a intranet are local.Hope this helps someone else so they don't spend the hours I did on it!
All Replies
- I am having the same problem , Please does anyone have any insight?
- I am currently going through the same issue. all xp machines are workin great. I have just added a New Vista laptop. It sees and shares all the resources ....so far.
The Vista machine sees the printers but when trying to add i get "Access Denied" error. Trying to get some help \ answers has been frustrating. I have never had this problem ever setting up a network. If i cant get it to work I have no choice but take new laptop back or go out and buy XP and install over Vist . I have tried some workarounds i have read but still a no go. But even if they did work, it would be a solution but an unacceptable solution. Maybe this will be fixed in SP1....or Maybe not.
Take Care I had the same problem. I found a solution. Logically it makes no sense to me, but it worked so...
Go to Control Panel. Choose printer. Then choose Add Printer.
ChooseAdd a local printer. Click on Create a new port. The default in the drop down box is Local Port. Do not change that. Click Next.
A dialogue box will appear asking for you to enter a port name. Type in the \\computer name\printer name ie. My computer's name is basement and the printer name is EpsonSty so I typed in \\basement\epsonsty
Yahoo! It worked. Go figure! I guess Microsoft thinks printers on a intranet are local.Hope this helps someone else so they don't spend the hours I did on it!
- Thank You! That worked perfectly. I've been trying to get this fixed for a week and nothing had worked.
- Your welcome! Glad I could help!
- First....Thank You so much for that "Priceless" information" I literally have spent the last 2 weeks trying to get this SNAFU fixed............... Installing as a Local and not as a network printer what an idea. I have been getting basic answers and have tried them all....I have installed uninstalled reinstalled hardware,drivers etc........I even tried the Computer store where I purchased just to see if they had come across this issue. (They told me it might be my firewall or a Virus!!) ...
Searching the internet showed me this is a major problem ...Your suggestion was the last one I was going try before installing XP. I could not believe it worked.
Once more I really do appreciate you taking the time to help out your fellow users.
Take Care Your very welcome. You think as many posts there are on the internet about this problem - and I'm sure that their tech support has gotten tons of calls, that Microsoft would have come up with a patch. It will be interesting to see how long it takes them to correct this problem.
I'm having problems connecting up a second printer so I wonder if more than one printer is also an issue. I haven't had enough time to figure it out yet, but I suspect there will be more than one issue.
Thanks for the input! Believe me, I have been rescued many times by posts on the internet.
- You are the man! Been trying to get my Canon MP450 to install on my new vista laptop thru the network. I first downloaded the new driver and installed the printer directly to the laptop. I couldn't get it to install on the network until I read your post. Once I tried your suggestion, it found the already installed driver and worked perfectly. I copied the post to a doc file for future reference. Thanks a million.
- THANK YOU!! you are amazing. Have spent the last three days trying to figure this out. Found a bunch of threads complaining about this printer "access denied" problem (with posts dating back to trial versions in October) but nobody seemed to know what to do. You've helped lots of people. Now I get to work on fixing the *other* problems that vista has created!
- THANKS A MILLION!!! I had the same prob and your fix worked perfectly. Odd though, since I installed a printer to a laptop running XP using the network printer selection. Go figure.
Nope, it still didn't work after following Melonhead's suggestion. OK, here's the deal..
I have been trying to figure out what makes VIsta tick and have three operating systems on three PC's here in my office. I got every single one of them to connect to the main desktop printer except the laptop Vista.
I was trying to share the printer on the HP desktop with Vista on my laptop and for four hours no matter what I did I got "Windows cannot connect to the printer. Access is denied."
So I found this message board and followed Melonhead's discovery and it didn't work either...
Ha, but Melonhead is a genius because now I knew for certain it was the Windows XP Home OEM HP desk top that was preventing Vista on my laptop from connecting to the printer...{Vista found it fast but access was denied by HP desktop}
I have a copy of Windows XP Home OEM Hewlettt Packer partition I was working with on one of my external hard drives so I started uninstalling OEM software until the Vista laptop connected to the printer and I no longer got the " access denied message".
Here is a list of what I had to uninstall before the printer could be shared.
#1. HP Image Zone 4.2
#2. HP Image Zone Plus 4.2
#3. HP Photo and Imaging 3.5 -HP devices
#4. HP Software Update
#5. HP Preloaded Printer Drivers
After I uninstalled these OEM items the printer connected right up using Melonhead's method and worked perfectly.
NYNY
Up to speed.
So far I have figured out the following about Vista.
Most important.
I can save a drive image and restore all from an external hard drive. Not easy but I figured it out.
- Another message of thanks for the fix. Cheers
- THANK YOU SO MUCH! You're right, it isn't logical, but since when has Microsoft ever been logical :-)!
Hey, NYNY - I love that, "Melonhead is a genius!" Thanks.
To the other thanks; Your welcome, friends, glad to share.
FYI - I'm female. I was reading thru the posts and somebody refered to me as a guy.
My business is MIS - short for Melonhead Information Systems since "melonhead" is my nickname. On techsites I'm either Melonhead or MelonheadMIS.
Later!
- I could kiss your little melon head!!! I've been pulling out my hair for days and went through hours of lousy tech support with Dell. I vaguely remember reading that it needed to be setup as local but don't remember seeing the other steps. Thanks for sharing!
- Oops, I thought you were a guy too, oh well, I'd still kiss your little melon head!!! You go girl!
- After 3 days and repeated sessions with HP online (no)help - this was the solution. Thank you ever so much!!!!!!!!!!!!
Been searching this problem for days.....Awesome! It worked like a charm.....
Thanks!
- Thank you so much. I spent 10 hours yesterday and on the phone with India and other support people, and was at a complete loss as to why I could not figure this out! I wish I would have checked here first. THANK YOU! JAY DEBACA
I tried this. I entered the computer name & printer, clicked Next, got a dialog box wanting to install drivers.
I tried the process again...said the port was already installed - still no luck printing to shared printer on XP machine.
Try installing the drivers - either from the CD that came with the printer or from the internet. After that, go back and when you get the part where you can create a port or add existing port, click on the arrow to drop down the list of existing port - and your computername/printer should be listed there. Hopefully that will do the trick.
Good luck!
- WOW!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I was about to go nuts trying to figure this out! Ye be a very smart melonhead!!
- Melonhead, you're a genius. Your workaround worked perfectly for me. Long live windows.
Thanks a lot!!!!
I'm happy now!!!!
- Will this work for a windows vista laptop connected locally to hp 3180 multifunction machine? I had the same error message for my attempt at installing a local printer Thanks Elliot
MELONHEAD
Dude, you are a life saver!! Thanks a TON for posting that, I cannot tell you how frusturated I was getting!
I have an e-machine,vista and lexmark p3150. I tried all kinds of ways to get this to work, but still no luck. I am entering \\SandraD-PC\Lexmark3100series...with no luck. Can you give me any more advise? Thanks. Sandy
Sir\Madam you are a genius. I have spent two weeks trying to connect my new Vista laptop to an XP Home desktop. Even PC World did not know the answeer. Maybe they should use the Internet.
Many thanks.
Problem: Unable to connect to shared network printer on Windows XP Home Edition with Windows Vista
Solution: I'm glad I found this thread and the posts below. I followed the advice from the other post. Using Control Panel, I first installed the printer using the USB port and installed the driver. Then I selected Properties > Ports and added a local port and used the network share address as the port name. It worked perfectly. Like others share below, I was worried that I was not going to be able to use the shared printer on my home network. My laptop running Vista is joined to the domain at my office, so I was afraid that the home networking would not work since I could not join the local workgroup of my home network. Anyway, it works great now. Thanks!!!!
Nope...it's not working for me. It doesn't recognize my computer name, although it's seen in the workgroup on both the other PC's. Any other suggestions? I'm running 2 XP Home PC's and of course Vista Premium on a laptop, all on a wireless network with an HP 1200 series printer w/USB connection.
Have you tried to install it as a network printer on your laptop? I know this won't install it, but I wanted to find out if you can even see it from the Vista computer.
If you can see it when you try to install it as a network - write down exactly how it is named so you can use that name for the "local" printer later.
Can either one of the two XP computers able to network to the printer?
Wow. I have also struggled for weeks on this. Thanks, thanks, thanks.
Oh yeah, thanks!
I had the same problem with a friend of mine today, a Vista Laptop and an XP Home computer on his network. Same error meassage. I didn't get it to work on the XP Home computer (I'll try the suggestion that has been posted later) but I did get it to work on his third computer, a Windows 2000 Pro machine, and here is why I think it worked.
XP Home was not made for networks, XP Pro was. XP Home does not have User accounts that can be added as in XP Pro and W2K Pro. In his W2K Pro machine I made a new user account that matched the login users name for the new Vista laptop and matched the password too. The I shared his old HP550 on the W2K machine, went to the Vista Laptop and typed in the path to the W2K Pro machine (at the Run command), \\nameof machine, the sharded printer came up and I right clicked and choose Connect and VIOLA it worked! I was a little surprised not so much that it connected, but that Vista had drivers for such an old printer.
For all of my clients that have (had) purchased computers with XP Home on them and are using them on a personal or business network, I always strongly recommend that they upgrade to XP Pro. Many network issues go away when they do, especially printing problems. I wonder how this will fall out with Vista, i.e. will people that use networks at home and at work need to buy, at minimun, Vista Business? It will be interesting to see how things pan out over the next several months.
- Good man! That worked great! Thanks!
- Instead of going thru all that, just right click on the network printer you want to add, and then left click run as administrator. Then be happy!
This is a great workaround to your problem...
Connecting to a Shared Printer on Windows XP via Windows Vista
Problem:
Your Windows Vista PC cannot connect and print to a “shared” printer, which is directly attached to a Windows XP PC, via your network.
Solution:
- Unplug your USB cable from the back of the Windows XP PC and plug the USB cable directly into your Windows Vista PC.
- The Windows Vista drivers for your printer should be automatically loaded and your printer will be installed on your Windows Vista PC. If this was successful, skip right to step 3.
- If step 2 is not successful…
i. Download the Windows Vista printer driver for your printer from the manufacturer’s website.
1. If your printer’s manufacturer has not created a Vista driver yet, retry step 2.
ii. Install the driver on your Windows Vista PC. During installation, you’ll be prompted to connect the printer to your PC. Choose the option to proceed with installation without connecting the printer.
- After installation is complete, open the Printers icon in the Windows Vista Control Panel.
- Right-click on your printer that was just installed and choose Properties.
- Navigate to the Ports tab.
- Click Add Port, then select Local Port, then click New Port.
- For the Port Name, enter the exact network path and share name of your printer. (ex. - \\HOMEPC\Printer2)
- Click OK and make sure that this new port is selected with a check in the checkbox.
- Click Apply and then OK to close the printer properties.
- You should now be able to print from your Windows Vista PC to a shared printer located on your Windows XP PC.
Thank You So Much! You have no idea how long i have spent trying to resolve this, messing around with Nortons, Firewalls, Network Set-up and generally trying anything i could think of. At least you have put an end to my burning midnight oil to just print from a wireless laptop.
thanks so much.
@Melonhead
THANK YOU!! Really appreciate your tip - why on earth did MS program things this way?
Alan
A thousand thank you's - I struggled for hours. Net result - the firewalls on the laptop and the pc, and then the printer sharing problem, which appears totally illogical but WORKED. I could kiss you for saving my sanity. Without people like you who take the time to share your knowledge the rest of us mere mortals would have to simply jump!!
thank you, thank you, thank you.
- Purrrrrrrrrfect!!! Worked like a charm on my Windows Vista system. Thanks a bunch.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH! Everyone that I called couldn't give me an answer nor could Microsoft. Imagine that! We just bought an HP Photosmart last night and was getting ready to take it back.- Thanks for this tip. it worked perfectly.
- You may be getting tired of the adulation, but thank you SO much. I can't even imagine how much time and frustration you just saved me. I would never have figured that out without an endless call to Tech Support (whose I don't even know)... I was just about to give up and just always print from my desktop (connected directly to the printer). No I won't have to...whew!
- Hi,
Melonhead your solution worked perfectly for me, thank you very much, i have been searching for a solution for along time and finally found this. Simple but genius.
Thank you for the solution. It worked for me after hours of testing. I don't understand how it found my laser jet on another computer in a different work group and installed it. I had no problem with my wireless hp printer.
Melonhead,
I was able to put the computer on my new Vista laptop but nothing will print. It seems that everyone else has been successful in the workaround but I still can't print.
Any insight anyone??
Hi.
I was hoping this would've worked for me. But it didn't. I am operating a multi-suite printer than scans, faxes, prints, and makes copies. When I get to the port, I've typed in something similar to your suggestion, but it is giving me an error message saying the network path was not found. (Yes, my printer is plugged into the computer - lol) Any suggestions?
Thank you
Steph
- Thanks! Finally after 3 hours I ran across your post... it works great!
- Try this: you need to give Read security to the Everyone account on the print$ Share under the Share Permissions and Security tabs under Computer Management MMC so it will be able to access and install the printer drivers from the host computer.
Hi, thank you. I tried that. My printer is showing up on the Vista laptop and the icon tray is showing in the lower left hand corner but it says:
"Non USB port connections are not supported by this Status Display."
When I try to print, it looks like it goes, it spools and then goes off of my que but nothing ever prints and I am not getting any error messages.
HELP ME PLEASE!
Thanks,
Reminder I am running a Vista laptop with a wireless network trying to network to my printer that is working fine on all other XP computers on the wireless network.
OK, so I send to that printer now, a Konica Minolta 2400W, I can hear it "acting" like it's going to print. It shows up on my que, spools for a moment and then disappears. The printer makes a noise, like when I send things that actually do print, it's like it "knows" something was sent but nothing comes out of the printer and I'm not getting any error messges other than what I stated in a previous post. So the printer knows that something is "connecting with it" but it's not actually printing. All other computers, XP, are printing via my wireless network just fine. See my other post below so you are on the same page. I WILL PAY ANYONE THAT CAN GET THIS WORKING FOR ME!!!!!!
My previous post:
"Hi, thank you. I tried that. My printer is showing up on the Vista laptop and the icon tray is showing in the lower left hand corner but it says:
"Non USB port connections are not supported by this Status Display."
When I try to print, it looks like it goes, it spools and then goes off of my que but nothing ever prints and I am not getting any error messages.
HELP ME PLEASE!"
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide to get this working.
Then all it is then is you need to make sure there is a Windows Vista driver available for your printer. If one does not exist in the drivers section when you try to add it, you need to check the company website to see if there is a Vista driver available for the one in question, or when it will be available.
In my case, I have a current similar situation as you do with a Lexmark Z816 printer on an XP Pro machine and an HP OfficeJet 4100 on an XP Home machine. My new VIsta laptop detected the OfficeJet 4100 because it had the drivers for it available in Vista already. The Lexmark Z816 (810 Series) printer didn't connect correctly because it was trying to use XP drivers that it tried to obtain from my XP Pro machine and it didn't have any available driver currently on Vista. I have to wait until March 31st to get the driver from the Lexmark site and it will work then.
I hope this helps you out.
You are a GENIUS!.. I did exactly what you said, and it worked!.... I was ready to dump Vista, and reformat my hard drive on my brand-new Compaq Laptop.. With all my experience, I could not make it work?... Anyone having problems with "Access Denied on networked printing" should read this..
Once again, THANK YOU!
P. J. Russ Abilene, Texas..
- After hours of trying this worked for me too! Thanks
I've had the same problem with a clients office. No matter what I did it wouldn't work. Vista Business trying to print to a XP Home with HP laserjet 4000 attached.
NYNY I will try your software uninstall procedure and let you know how it worked.
I don't think I've ever had such a hard time finding an answer to a question. Printer sharing has got to be the oldest most simplest procedure in the world.
If this works NYNY your are a deductive genius. I could see that it was XP Home kicking back the doc. The print counter will flash 0 then 1 then 0 . I knew the doc was coming across the network but I never would've figured the onboard XP Home software though. I hope when I get over there it WORKS!!
Maybe then I can get paid!!
Oh yeah peoples. Don't forget to UNDO all changes that will affect network/computer security. I tried everything even the BIG NO-NO. Authorize the guest acct.
l8r
Completed the above to add network printer, then after restarting, reconnected the printer to my laptop and it then installed correctly
so I no longer have to go thru network to print. It installed on the usb001 virtual printer port for usb.
- Thanks! This worked!
- I do not understand why that works but it did. Thanks a lot for the post.
I can't get it to work no matter what, I'm going through a router to my wifes computer, and can't connect to hers..access denied ( bastards)...they can't make an OS that works, I'm ready to send it all back and tell them shove it where the sun don't shine, I've tried every trick in the book, even yours...I typed her computer name, my computer name, her printer name....it worked fine before I installed Vista...any more sugesstions..write me PLEASE!
Jack ( superduper200554@yahoo.com )
Melonhead,
Any ideas on a similar issue? I have the same home network( visita laptop and xp desktop with shared printer). The laptop can see the printer and I can print Excel docs and other types of docs from the laptop but I cannot get Word 2003 docs to print from the laptop. I get a dialogue box saying that
Hi Melonhead: I need Help
I need your help deparately... I had the same problem as yours" Re: "Windows cannot connect to the printer. Access is denied" -please help." Although your instructions are crystal clear how to do it..I still made a boo boo..
While typinng the computer name and printer name I missed typing the forward space...
I ended up typing this: comupter name printer name instead of ......... \\computer name\printer name as you recommended. I tried doing the same things numerous times computer gives me an error message " the specified network is no longer available"...I tried to delete the port but could not do it....Please help... i am getting no where..
Mani
- Hello
Thanks Melon Head for the great workaround... it has worked for me up to a point.
I want two ways of being able to print off my laptop: 1) remotely, when the printer is plugged into the main desktop computer, and 2) locally, when this computer is turned off, and I'll just move the laptop over to the printer and plug it in.
On XP, I could do this as the laptop 'saw' two different printers, the local and the remote (even though they were the same printer. On Vista, using this workaround, there is only one printer and this has two ports that can work. Now the problem lies in that only one port can be selected at one time, this is no issue for me as I can just open the ports tab and swap it over, but my partner is not as computer literate and is going to struggle.
Is there a way I could show the same printer on two different ports as two different printers in the Printers Folder?
Cheers in advance. You are the MAN!.
You saved my day. I tried network printer and all sets of drivers. No luck until I saw your message. Now my Samsung 1710 with XP works now.
- thanks so much you saved me from divorce lol
Hi there,
I am another sucker who fell for the 3-card trick by buying a laptop with Vista... and I am having the same problem as thousands of others...
I have PC's with Windows XP Professional on a network and there are printers attached to these PC's.
The Laptop with Vista will connect to share files and I can 'see' the printers but cannot print to any of them.
One thing that I came across which may have caused confusion with other Vista users is that Microsoft cunningly changed the default workgroup name from MSHOME in XP to WORKGROUP in Vista - for what reason I know not... but it complicates things if the Vista machine is not on the same Workgroup. Changing this is a little awkward too...
I added UDP ports as suggested in one post ... somewhere...
I tried the 'workaround' of connecting a couple of them (a Lexmark 2480 and a HP812), one at a time,) to the laptop and made sure that they worked from the Laptop (one at a time). I installed the printer drivers on a new local port of '//computer/printer'.
After disconnecting the printer each time, I reconnected it to the Network PC and printed a test page from that PC... but I still cannot connect the Vista Laptop to the printers on the network. The Laptop is using wireless networking as are the other PC's by the way.
The error that I get on the Vista Laptop is:-
'Windows cannot connect to the printer.Operation could not be completed (error 0x0000000d)'
A search on Microsoft with this error code revealed no help for a printer problem!
I have tried all of the solutions proffered in this thread - downloaded the fixes etc - but no progress.
I am racking up the days spent on this issue and need to find a solution. I am seriously thinking of dropping Vista - I see no real benefits and this is a major hassle!
Hoping that someone can help.
Allan
- I've been trying to use your suggestion. I know this may seem like a silly question but how do you know the computer name and what to use for the printer name. I have a hp psc photosmart printer. If you could help me out that would be great.
- Ok... progress... rechecked the WORKGROUP configuration on an XP machine connected to the network and all are now on the same WORKGROUP and NETWORK..... but printing will not produce - but there are no error messages... just a message from the printer software telling me that there is a problem and use the Printer Troubleshooter to see why the printer is not working..
about to check the drivers ... again... Thompa -
Have you tried adding the printer as a separate printer? Plug the printer in and then go to Printers - Add printer - local and let it detect the printer. I would think this would work. But then again, who would have thought a network printer would have to be put in as a local printer, so who knows?
Margie
- Hi Margie,
Yes, I plugged the printed into the Vista Laptop and the driver software was installed and the printer ran as it should... but when the printer is put back to the Windows PC
, Vista Laptop sees the printer on the PC but still cannot print to it. Everything else on the network regarding file sharing works.
Allan - After reviewing as much info as possible, I can still not connect to my printer. I have set up the port, checked the firewall, but I can still not connect. My printer is on a win xp printer and networked and sharring properly. The printer will print off my other computer wirelessly to my lap top which is also win xp. However my vista hardlined networked computer will not connect, but can find and view the printer. Help, Dell tech support sucks and this thread has been the most helpful so far. I receive a "Communications not available error" but I can print from the network from xp to xp computers but not with the vista. It is like it can see the printer on the host computer, but not print to the printer. Please assist.
- Afternoon! May I just say after much searching for this answer about access denied when finding a network printer, your answer couldn't of come at a better time! Thank you so much for this information!!!! =D
- OK.. an update...
Still not working from the Vista Laptop across the wireless network to the printer attached to a Windows XP PC....
I read somewhere that downloading and installing the latest printer drivers for Vista on the XP machine would do the trick.... well it didn't on mine!
Had a heck of a problem getting the drivers off again and reinstalling the XP drivers which were supplied on a disk with the machine... another half day wasted...
Rapidly thinking that I have spent more wasted time on this than I paid for the Vista Laptop! Or looking at it another way - the Vista Laptop has cost me double what I paid for it!
Becoming despondent - I need to move on..
Allan - Thank you so much. I have worked on this for 2 days. I finally decided to google the error message and recieved your help. It worked perfectly. I can go to bed now. Thanks
Thank you so much....I've been working on this for two or three weeks. I tired HP's phone support two different times (1 hour each time) with no help from them. Then I tried HP's online support and the guy sent me to your post........
Thanks again!!!!
You are the man! That local port trick worked nicely with my Vista laptop and HP 2200/2250. Thanks man!
Thank you ever so much.
That fixed one serious problem.
I found an answer for the second problem but I don't understand how to apply the fix.
The problem is Outlook can not remember email passwords.
I'm going back to place where I found the fix now......
Thanks Again.. I had no use or very little use for this Vista HP until I found you. I thought I would have to install XP to fix the problem.
- Thank you . That saved me $80 for tech help. I might add that the printer name is the share as name. Thanks Melonhead
- OMG!!!!! YOU ARE AMAZING!!!!!
- Well thanks to Melonhead for the workaround that worked for me (finally and ditto to everyone else's struggles and Vista-suffering.). I was connecting an Epson. But your comments about the HP software overkill led me to remark that I have had many similar problems ..the more elaborate the printer (ie wireless all in one) the more windows conflicts arise ..that's been XP. Can't wait to see how this goes with Vista as more of my clients get it. Thanks for the heads up.
Hello everybody,
in the e-mail thread I have seen that many users has problems with to connect to the shared printers on xp machines.One question
Has some tried to install the vista printer driver for this printer on the xp machine ? If you click the shared printer the driver will installed via point and print.This means you will get the xp driver for this printer.You should also install the driver for vista on the xp machine so that you get the correct driver.
Kind regards,
Cengiz
- Cengiz,
That is not correct.... at least with my Lexmark and HP printers.
I did install the Vista printer drivers on an XP machine and the printer would not work at all.
Still having the problem and there appears to be no solution on the horizon.... same with my USB thumbdrive - works with everything apart from Vista.. and no Vista drivers available.
Allan Getting the same error but with the following....
Vista Business, on a domain, printer shared off a print server, on the 10 machines that are running vista, 5 give the above error.
Any suggestions?
TIA
I wonder if there is anyone out there in MS reading about these problems? Wher is the fix ? After buying three new vista portables we can no longer print to the XP home edition base PC. This has been driving me mad now for two weeks. Have tried the local port fix but just get "network path not found". I can "see" the XP machine from the vista portable copy files etc but not print. Any further ideas will save my sanity !!!!!
David
Ok, I had a similar problem with the Microsoft 2003
It almost seems like Vista is blocking it, i actually had to call in to our local shop and the guy told me to make sure that the printer settings in word were correctly set (Ctrl + P while in word)
Find the correct printer and make sure that all the settings are correct including the ink settings aswell as lay out. Another is to make sure if Word has permission to print, somtimes it will defualt itself.
These things are so confusing sometimes, Good Luck hope this helped
If it didn't sorry!
Melonhead:
Thanks greatly, you saved me a great deal of frustration. The OEM had no idea how to do this. Thanks!!
bippy
Do you have any advice re Linksys Print Server (EFSP42)?
My printer is on Port1 of the print server. My 2 XP machines, my WinME, and my Win98 can all get to this printer via the print server. These machines know about a PrintServer as a local port (as SC0B7AFF_P1).
However, my new Vista PC "cannot connect" to the print server or the printer.
Is there some \\[server]]\[[port]] naming convention I ought to use?
Any other suggestions will be greatly appreciated. [[I'm about to spend another weekend at figuring this out!! ;-) ]]
- Wow thanks a lot melonhead
- Pure Genius! Wasted HOURS on this, thanks much
Alternatively, open your Network and Sharing Center and enable Printer sharing...for some reason this allows communication with networked printers that previously would not install. You can also enable Network Discovery and File sharing if needed. Hope this helps.
Joe
- Joe,
Thanks for your post.
I checked the settings in Network and Sharing on the Vista laptop and Printer Sharing is already set to 'on'.
Still can't connect.
I am trying out Linux on another older computer and that works across the network access the printer and everything.. but Vista still will not play ball!
thanks again for trying
Allan - Thank you! that worked...
I can't believe I spent so much time trying to figure this out.... why couldn't MS make this a little more clear??? Hi,
I was trying to print on my Hp printer connected to a Maxtor NAS drive from Vista x64. I could install the printer, but then it always returned "Windows cannot connect to the printer. 0x000006c0".
I tried you suggestion and it works like a charm!!!
Thx a lot,
Serge
- Same thing. Did you get an answer?
- Can you share with me the fix?
- Sorry to say that I haven't solved the issue with Microsoft Vista and I can't find an answer to the problem of connecting to the printer connected to a Windows XP machine anywhere.
The workaround that I have to go through is save the file that I want to print onto the Windows XP machine from the VIsta Laptop then go to any non-Vista machine on the network and print from there. This is a real pain - but until a solution comes up that is all that I can do unless anyone has a better idea.
Waiting for a VIsta update that solves the problem!
Allan
- Thanks a lot. I was completely stymied and probably would never have figured this out. Melonhead rules!
Hi,
I have problem with my printer sharing. I have printer connect direct to computer and i sharing this printer for everyone on my domain.
Before, everyone can print. But now they can not print. The status of printer is unable to connect (or access deny)
Please help me !!!
Thanks,
- +1
You saved my weekend. Thanks so much. Cheers. Thank you so much. You are really life saver. Now I can print from my laptop (Vista) to my desktop (XP) printers.
Any idea how to to fixed sharing problem between Vista and XP. I can access from XP desktop public folder on Vista laptop. But the other way around I'm getting "access denied". Not even Network Magic helps. Any thoughts.
Thanks again
Thanks Melonhead,
I am running an XP Main Pc at home with printers shared from there. I had been able to print from networked PC (Wired & Wireless) running XP, Mac, and several flavors of Linux, however I was unable to print from Vista (To the point that I was wishing never to get the Operating System) and now thanks to you IT WORKS! I don't know about microsoft however, I am able to connect to the internet, share files but not printers in vista :-( ... talk about makinig easier!
Thank you for your help...
Wolf52355
Great ! It worked straight away.
thanks.
xavier.
Also works for these printers: HP 3320, HP 3420, HP 3520, HP 7660, HP 7760, HP 7960, HP 5150, HP 5850, HP 1280, HP 130, HP 230, HP 145, HP 245, HP 7350, HP 7550, HP 6122, HP 6127, HP 3820 and HP 656.
Here is a temporary fix that will print anything ony your HP 7550 and other HP printers until hp does come out with a software update. The only thing that it doesn't do is tell you how much ink is remaining in each cartridge when it prints but you can always run a diagnostict test page to figure that out.
I know it works for the 7550 but haven't tried it for the other printers listed.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00808478&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=e&product=87608- Just to let everyone know, this is not the only way to do it, although it is not as simple. The first way I figured it out was running through all the help documents in the MSDN database, and I finally found one with an update attached that had to be installed on the XP computer. In order to use the other option, you need the Top-Layer Technology Installed on all computers. It is really cool, so I would install it anyway just so you can see the wonderful layout of all the computers in your network, and to see if anyone is leeching....
Charles Timko - Try adding a network printer from add printer in control pannel. If you pc see it on the network it will display the network parth. just write it down as you see it
\\pc.name.on.network\printer.network.name - Thanks for the great discovery! This works perfectly!
OK, I was hopeful that this would work for me too--but when I typed in the \\computername\printername, I got the message "Network Name cannot be found." I know I used the right name.
Also, this is a related problem--sometimes my laptop sees the other networked computer (the printer host) and sometimes it doesn't, seemingly at random. What causes this, and how do you fix it?
Thanks,
idahoblap
Thank you from me too. This worked, Microsoft's posted workaround did not.
I am very grateful for not having to spend more hours of futility!
- Thank you, thank you, thank you! The computer consultant who worked on this for hours couldn't fix it, but your fix did the trick in a few minutes once I figured out what we called the computer and the printer. Your helpful advice is much appreciated!
- your solution worked great now a few days have passed since I have had to print anything and all of the sudden I can't print it shows the printer but the status shows error, any ideas? My patience is running extremely short these days not real sure why microsoft needs to change something that worked fine on XP, thanks in advance for your help.
- well using that way I connect to an hp 825c but it won't print and I still get the same message on the 3380 all in one both HP
Krahtown, it sounds to me as if your printer spool has a job that it cannot print so it is not letting you any further documents. Go to your control panel, printers, then click on you printer. Are there any jobs pending? If there are highlight them all and cancel them all. Sometimes it takes a while for them to cancel. I've even had to reboot sometimes before they will. Also, sometimes the printer can be hung up with pending jobs from another computer. So if this doesn't work once you have cleared the pending print jobs, go to the computer that it directly attached to the printer. Then go to control panel, printers, and clear any pending jobs from there.
If there are no pending jobs on any computer and it is still not working, post back. But that is where I'd start. I can't tell you how many times I have had clients call me and it was as simple as that.
Good luck.
Melonhead. This worked. I have no idea how you figured that out. I can only guess the agony one must go through before they think "hey may be the best way to add a networked printer is to add a local printer." Maybe after one works with MS software long enough that kind of thinking makes sense.
Thanks a ton!
- Thank you for this extremely helpful information. I was on the verge of unistalling Vista. I am still not very happy but this helps tremendously!
hi, can anyone help me? i have been trying to install my hp psc 2410 onto my windows xp. it used to work and now for some reason it wont. is there any known hardware or software conflicts? i have tried all of the available trouble shooters to no avail, its not my printer cos it works on my partners computer.
What happens is i run the installation disc, i follow the prompts, it detects the printer but installation cannot be completed. i have tried the above solution about \\computername\\printer but that did not work either. i have spent the last few days pulling my hair out
Thank you...Thank you...Thank you! This has been driving me crazy. I really appreciate you taking the time to help
The person who said you were a genius was correct!!!!
If anyone requires assistance with networking issues regarding 98/Me/XP/Vista, please feel free to contact me or visit my page for help.
- Great advice it almost worked as described, once I decided to unclick the radio button to spool the print and chose the option to go direct to the printer your solution worked great. Thanks for leading me out of a frustrating issue and to the solution, we are printing flawlessly now!
- Thanks, it worked.
Hi Melonhead,
Thanks for you advice. Here is my conflict situation: I am using a Sony laptop, wireless. The host computer has the HP deskjet 940c series printer attached. The host computer is running XP and the laptop, of course, Vista. About the same trouble as everyone else-can't print from the client(sony) laptop. Here is the error window that i get when I try to print something from notepad, "Windows cannot connect to the printer. Operation could not be completed (error 0x00000 46a).
When I tried to enter "port name" using your fix, I get the Windows error window, "The network path was not found." Am I in a different situation that the other poeple having similiar troubles printing from vista to xp or is it about the same? I do appreciate any help. Gooiiing nuts here. Thankyou Ma'am, for reading this note.
Mike
Hi Melonhead,
When I finally realized the trouble {not entering the proper port name} I got this Windows error window regarding trying to print from my sony using vista to the server using xp, " Not enough server storage is available to process this command." Sounds like I am out of luck for now aside from buying another printer for the laptop, or really cleaning out the server hard drive, doesn't it?
thanks,
Mike
Hey, Mike.
Your conclusion would have my first assumption, too - that the hard drive on the server is full.
However, Microsoft has their own language. I don't think anyone knows how to speak it, yet we all tolerate it.
There is a resolution for "not enough server storage is available..." in the Knowledge Base. Here is the link:
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 177078: Antivirus software may cause Event ID 2011
Hope this helps!
Margie
Many thanks to you for posting this ANSWER.
It worked. Now, if someone could only explain why MS made it so hard in the first place.
How did you ever think to use "LOCAL" printer for a printer that sits on ANOTHER COMPUTER...
Thinking outside the box...congrats.
And thanks again.
- Thank you it worked great!
Melonhead,
You are an absolute godsend. Thank you very much. I too have spent two weeks. I had one additional twist. When I entered the path to my printer on my network and clicked OK, it prompted me for the drivers. I downloaded them from HP and installed them but it still didn't work and then I rebooted and it took.
Thanks
IceBank
- unbelievable! thanks for the help.
- Tried this and get a simple error now after entering the path (\\office\bw). "Access Is Denied". I have another printer hosted by the same machine as this one is on, and it works fine...printer having issues is an HP LaserJet 1012. It works locally but fails in the same way on two different machines on my network (but those two machines are able to connect to another shared printer on \\office. Ideas?
Thanks - OH MY GOD. Could I have been more frustrated? Your solution did the trick. I thought I was going insane. You are too clever!
MO Onstad Melonhead, you are a lifesaver. I have spent hours on this, re-installed XP, de-installed/installed/de-installed McAfee (which I thought may be responsible) - you name it. Thanks for your succinct and useful tips. It's a shame it doesn't appear on the standard Microsoft help pages..... Thanks again,
Cheers
Ross
Melonhead, Thanks, this has helped me out, but Ive already spent hours on this!!
I have a Linksys Parallel port print server EFSP42. that Vista will not maintain a connection with. Every time the machine is re-started or re-awakened, the connection is lost (but the port still shows in the port listing) The network port shows as \\SC04975B\P2 but Vista cannot connect to it (So it appears) on a restart / re-awakening.
XP machines work fine with the printserver
I tried using a NET USE command to assign this port to LPT3 with the /persistent:yes option and that did not permanently work (suggested in another forum) [ from a command prompt net use lpt3 \\sc04975b\p2 /persistent:yes
This connection would not hold!!
To make changes, make sure you have administrator rights AND!! You have permissions to modify printer settings. Make sure that the print spooler is cleared out of all documents that are hung up before trying to reassign ports.
Before I could “add” my network port as a local port, I had to delete my network port (\\sc04975b\p2) from the port list. (Right click on the port and select delete) THEN I could follow the above instructions in this post. So far the connection has survived one restart and still prints! Which is further than I got before.
I hope Microsoft clarifies / fixes this problem as I have read this did not show up in some of the beta versions of vista.
Hi Melonhead,
Im using a machine running Win Vista Home Basic.
Ok, im now able to connect to 1 printer on another machine running win98. but there's another USB printer(Epson) connect to this win98 machine and i have tried the same method you've post, to connect that second printer. However, it did not work.
So i was hoping you can advise knowing that you have some issue also while connecting 2nd printer. Any updates?
ANyway thanks for your previous post.
- awsome, this actually worked. Thanks.
Hello I tried your solution but it did not work for me, I at least got to install the printer but now I get a "Communication Not Available" message. it installs perfectly but thats as far as it gets. if you have another idea please post it.
MANY THANKS!!
[particulars -- Vista Home Premium PC now able to use HP OfficeJet 4215 connected to my XP Media Center PC -- thanks to you!!!]
I've already spent hours trying to interpret Microsoft's official advice: Creating the same user ID on the XP machine, exploring security, etc. etc.
It boggles my mind that Microsoft hasn't posted your excellent solution on their help pages!!!!!
Thank you SO MUCH!!!!
(Another thing that MS should be ashamed of -- was able to download "Bonjour for Windows" from Apple, and remote print on the printer connected to my son's Mac Mini instantly, without any fuss or trouble. Shouldn't it have been just as easier to print from the printer on my XP system???!!!!)
Sincerely,
dbrenner23.
I get this same issue to with my Dell All in one printer to (Photo 926). Got this plugged into my XP Home machine. My XP Pro prints to it fine (after turning Off Norton Antivirus on the XP Home machine.
I tried the Work Around from Melonhead but the Vista machine still doesn't print to it. I can share files (through a share I set up on the Xp Home machine) and It does seem to find the PC BUT just will not print to the printer. I get this same "Communications not available error" . I have been working on this for close to 2 weeks and even though I consider myself a big strong man... I am close to tears :-)
FYI - I have set up the same user accounts on All pc's both, turned off ALL Firewalls, Shared the Printer (Obviously) and can share files between the XP Home and Vista PC.
Can I ask.. Is this a Dell Printer that you are talking about.. I am having the same issue with a Dell 926 Photo (All-in-one)?
Cheers
Ohh Thank you!! Saved me a lot of hassel I swear!!
And yeah .. why can't they just keep it simple without changin absolutely everything!!
Thanks again man!
Well I just wanted to say that after spending no less than 1.5 hours on a premium rate number to HP yesterday and getting no where, I found your instructions for Photosmart printer and in less than 5 minutes I had it working on Vista on my Network. I feel I owe you such a big THANKS for sharing your knowledge with all us non-experts! I am always so nervous of trying things I am unsure of but it was so simple. Pity HP and Microsift are not as clever. WELL DONE!!Hi there
well if it helps this did work for me, but I did install the drivers when prompted. Remove the installed port and try starting from scratch but install the drivers when recommended and all in all within approx 5 mins you should be working!
Good Luck and let us know how you get on.
Hi you asked if my printer was a dell and the answer is no, my printer is a hp psc 2410.
Now when i try and install it, it comes up that it cannot install because the file specified is missing. Unfortunatly it doesnt mention which file. it install perfectly on my partners printer so ive giving up trying to get it onto mine. Good luck, i hope you find the answer.
Melissa Houston
If you like, Email me and I can remote access to both of your PCs and attempt to fix this problem for you free of charge.
Carey Holzman
Kirban,
I was trying to install a Dell 962 on my network and was having a problem. Found this on a Dell forum. Can't believe you have to make sure the XP drivers are off the Vista computer before it will work! However, this worked great for me! Hope it helps for you as well...
If you are having problems getting your printer to work in Vista here are instructions on how to remove the XP drivers and on how to manually remove the LEXBCE service that may cause the printer to show offline.- Ensure there are no documents in queue.
- Disconnect printer’s USB cable.
- Stop lexbce from services.msc.
- From the Start menu click “All Programs”, then “Accessories”. Right-click “Command Prompt” and choose “Run as Administrator” from the context menu.
- This opens a black command prompt window.
- Enter the following commands and press the “Enter” key after each command: (note resulting messages, if any)
- “cd %systemroot%\system32”
- “sc config spooler depend= rpcss“
- “lexbces –u”
- “del lexbces.exe”
- “net start spooler”
- “exit”
- From the Start menu click “All programs”, “Printers”, “Dell ***” and then “Uninstall” where “***” is your printer model number. Complete the uninstall utility.
- From the start search box type “spool” and hit enter.
- This will open the spool folder at “c:\windows\system32\spool”.
- Rename the following folders “c:\windows\system32\spool\drivers\w32X86” and “c:\windows\system32\spool\prtprocs\W32X86” to “backup”
- Rename the folder “C:\windows\Twain_32” to “backup_twain_32”
- From the start search box type “regedt32”. Locate and delete the following registry entry: “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\LEXMARK” PLEASE BE SURE TO MAKE A BACK UP OF THE REGISTRY BEFORE DOING THIS STEP.
- Restart the computer.
- Reconnect the printer to the computer and choose “Ask me later” every time the “Found New Hardware” wizard pops up (it usually pops up twice).
- Reinstall the latest Vista printer driver.
If you have difficulty in step 9, instead of typing regedt32 try regedit.
I dont know who you are or how much you know about computers, but all i have to say is thank you.
about a month ago, i bought a new laptop with vista ultimate. i tried for about a week to get my hp photo printer to install, and when i couldn't, i went out and bought a print server. that solved the problem with that printer. about a week ago, I added my desktop to the network so i could access the other printer. when i went to access it, I kept getting the messege "Windows cannot connect to the printer, Access is denied". I had set up my desktop to allow my laptop to connect, but still got the messege.
I was searching the internet and came accross this forum. I tried what you said. I was thinking it wouldn't work cuz you are using a local port and not a network port, sure enough once it was setup, my laptop finally accessed my desktop printer.
Thank You so much for the help, guess some crazy idea's really work
Thank you for the helpful information, after days of trying to set up my printers
I was amazed at how simple it was when you have the right information
thanks for sharing your knowledge
Fantastic..... This worked like a charm.
Thank you for figuring this out. Saved me tons of time.
Rich
Thank you for a great tip. I book marked it this time since I spent considerable time trying to figure out how to do this a second time. Microsoft needs to fix this but until then they should publish your tip. Works great everytime.
I have the same problem. My Vista Laptop is connected by a wireless connection to my XP computer where the kodak 5500 printer is attached.
Everything works as far as sharing files etc. Cannot access printer from my vista laptop. Tried your solution but did not work. Any suggestions.
Tried connecting using connect wireless connection but did not work. I can see the printer from my vista machine but cannot connect.I have the basic same setup except my vista machine is connected using a wireless setup. Everthing works file sharing etc.
I can see the printer.
However I cannot connect to the printer from my vista laptop. Access denied.
Having spent hours trying to find the solution, i searched for the error message...and lo and behold, stumbled on this solution...to quote"Yahoo! it worked"
Pure genius Melonhead! thanks so much
I want to thank you for the valuable information. I have been weeks pulling my hair out and you have just saved my last few left. As you say, cant understand why it works but it does.
John
- THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I've been trying to connect my printer to my Vista Laptop for 2 months! Your method worked PERFECTLY!!! I'm THRILLED!
Thanks for your wealth of information. I have had my laptop for 6 months now and could not figure out how to add my printer. My hubby spent hours trying. I typed in the error on google and your information came up so now it's up and running!! Thanks- Yea....I had the exact same problem and searched the microsoft site for hours trying to find a solution.....you're solution worked in seconds. Thanks so much for the time you saved me searching the internet for a solution --- Have a great day! dnccare
A brief recap...there are different situations discussed in this thread. The major one that has been fixed is for folks who are not creating the printer in the Vista computer as a local port with port name \\hostcomputer\printersharename . It is wonderful that this thread is solving the problem for those.
But there is a deeper issue that prevents the printing from Vista to an XP-shared printer even when everything is done "right." I have that problem...now going into seventh week.
The issue is described exactly and precisely in KB934643, which Microsoft has removed from its database for inexplicable reasons. It formerly said:
----------------------------
• You try to add a shared printer to a Windows Vista-based computer.
• The Windows Vista-based computer is connected to a peer-to-peer network.
• The shared printer was configured on a Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)-based computer.
In this scenario, you may receive the following error message: Windows cannot connect to the printer. Access is denied.
CAUSE
This issue may occur if security permissions are missing or incorrect for the Spool folder and for its subfolders on
the Windows XP SP2-based computer. In this case, the Windows Vista-based computer cannot access the files that are required to install the shared printer.-------------------------------------------
So, Microsoft acknowledged the issue, then walked away from it, leaving us high and dry.
I tried to implement the fix in the KB, but it failed when asking me to click on tabs which did not exist in a dialog boxthat appeared along the way.
None of the solutions in this thread has solved *this* version of the problem (other similar ones, yes).
I have a Gateway Vista laptop that is essentially useless because I cannot print to my printer shared off an XP SP2 computer in a different room. I cannot place a printer in the family room to connect directly to this laptop used on the couch and recliner (those are my "office"). I have a $1200 doorstop.
Over the past days, I have been in contact with Microsoft, who finally blew me off with "your Vista is OEM copy; we can't talk to you. Talk to Gateway. Bye."
Gateway blew me off with, first, "This is a Vista issue; talk to Microsoft." And later, "this is a networking 'how-to' issue--not part of our free support; call the pay per incident line. Bye."
I have an expensive, useless, Gateway Vista laptop until someone saves me with a fix.
Please consider your options when you are shopping.This is absolutely amazing. After posting the previous, I resumed my attempts to resolve the issue. Finally, after 56 days, It works. Here's what I did...unfortunately, two things were involved at the same time and I am not sure what about the combination fixed the problem, but I AM SURE one of the two parts is an absolute requirement.
First, I noticed on the XP Home printer sharing machine, in the printers folder were TWO "printers" pointing to the LPT1 port. This happened along the way when I re-ran the Samsung print driver install exe again to be sure I had the very latest driver. That put the second printer into the folder. So I had two, one named PRINTER (I had renamed that one long ago from whatever it was initially) --also shared as PRINTER. This was the one I had been trying to connect to. The second one was named SAMSUNG and was shared as SamsungM.
Second, in reading somewhere tonight (sorry I don't remember where) I read that XP sharing was always done internally using the 'guest' account.
(Web search for [xp sharing "guest account"] and you can read about xp sharing.) It described a method of activating the guest account without having it appear on the login page, namely, to enter at a command prompt:net user guest /active:yes (no spaces in the /active:yes)
I did that.
Went to the Vista machine, opened properties for the single printer there--named however the Samsung installer did it, and
clicked the Ports tab,
Add Port,
selected local port type,
typed in the \\printservername\sharename (\\owner-HP\SamsungM)
clicked the "OK"'sand it took it!!! I did not get the "Windows cannot connect to the printer. Access is denied" message like all the times before! Printed a doc. It worked! Hallelujah! I said a prayer of thanks.
To help isolate what fixed it, I went back to the XP machine and inactivated the guest account (net user guest /active:no). Vista machine would not print. "net user guest /active:yes" on the XP brought printing capability back.
Summary: I do not know what role using the second printer installation had in this (it should have been identical to the first one), but I am convinced that the guest account MUST BE ACTIVATED as part of the solution to this issue.
Also, bear in mind I have done many unsuccessful things over the past 56 days, and some of those I did not back out, like changing permissions on the spool folder and contents. It is conceivable one or more of the other changes I made played a part in the ultimate success. I'm saying I don't guarantee that the net user thing is all that is required for the fix, but I am sure it is a necessary part.
This is absolutely amazing. After posting the previous, I resumed my attempts to resolve the issue. Finally, after 56 days, It works.
Here's what I did...unfortunately, two things were involved at the same time and I am not sure what about the combination fixed the problem, but I AM SURE one of the two parts is an absolute requirement.
First, I noticed on the XP Home printer sharing machine, in the printers folder were TWO "printers" pointing to the LPT1 port. This happened along the way when I re-ran the Samsung print driver install exe again to be sure I had the very latest driver. That put the second printer into the folder. So I had two, one named PRINTER (I had renamed that one long ago from whatever it was initially) --also shared as PRINTER. This was the one I had been trying to connect to. The second one was named SAMSUNG and was shared as SamsungM.
Second, in reading somewhere tonight (sorry I don't remember where) I read that XP sharing was always done internally using the 'guest' account.
(Web search for [xp sharing "guest account"] and you can read about xp sharing.) It described a method of activating the guest account without having it appear on the login page, namely, to enter at a command prompt:net user guest /active:yes (no spaces in the /active:yes)
I did that. Went to the Vista machine, opened properties for the single printer there--named however the Samsung installer did it, and
clicked the Ports tab,
Add Port,
selected local port type,
typed in the \\printservername\sharename (\\owner-HP\SamsungM)
clicked the "OK"'sand it took it!!! I did not get the "Windows cannot connect to the printer. Access is denied" message like all the times before! Printed a doc. It worked! Hallelujah! I said a prayer of thanks.
To help isolate what fixed it, I went back to the XP machine and inactivated the guest account (net user guest /active:no). Vista machine would not print. "net user guest /active:yes" on the XP brought printing capability back.
Summary: I do not know what role using the second printer installation had in this (it should have been identical to the first one), but I am convinced that the guest account MUST BE ACTIVATED as part of the solution to this issue.
Also, bear in mind I have done many unsuccessful things over the past 56 days, and some of those I did not back out, like changing permissions on the spool folder and contents. It is conceivable one or more of the other changes I made played a part in the ultimate success. I'm saying I don't guarantee that the net user thing is all that is required for the fix, but I am sure it is a necessary part.
Hi, your suggestion enabled me to connect to a printer on an XP device, however, I cannot print. When I send print jobs, they get trapped in the queue with the message "Remote downlevel document - error printing". Any suggestions?
Matt
There are two updates for Vista coming out on Patch Tuesday that is suppose to fix these printer issues. If you can't wait, you can install the beta version of these updates found here:
http://thehotfixshare.net/board/index.php?showtopic=2962
Let me know if they really fix this problem as MS claims...
- Incredible! It worked my problem Thanks!!
fantastic! Mellonhead and NYNY , you both rock! I had to unload slightly differnt HP imaging software but the answers you both gave were right on. The thing that puzzled me was that initially my network printer worked on my Vista laptop. It must have been an automatic update of the HP software or XP that initated the conflict.
Thanks again.
- This was also quite helpful. I don't understand why this is so different between XP and Vista.
I have been messing with this for my wife off and on for the past three weeks. Seems like MS did not think that most people would have a configuration consisting of an old XP desktop with a new Vista laptop running over a wireless network connected to the internet via a common DSL or Cable.
Thanks for the help. My wife will think that I am a genuis. - I ran through the same scenario. I installed the correct HP drivers after specifying the local port and everything appears to have worked.
thanks again I am amazed but this actually works...
Thanks a million
Thank you - Thank you - Thank you.
After a day and a half of banging my head against the Vista "wall" you saved me just before I was going to install XP on my new laptop. This is a ridiculous bug that MS should fix right away.
No wonder IT folks don't jump on upgraded operating systems...
Thanks a bunch!!!!!!! Vista is really a pill. I think I prefer XP........
thank you...Thank You.... THANK YOU!!!!
Worked Perfectly....Wish I saw this post last week!
Thanks again.
Hey Melonhead,
I'm trying to hook my printer up to my laptop but am having troubles. It's a Lexmark X1185. I tried installing the program normally but that didn't work, so i uninstalled after being told access is denied. After doing this a few times, I found your suggestion. I tried it but was unsuccessful. Do you have any suggestions?
Thank you,
Golden1435
KB938979 is available for download on the Microsoft site and is ALLEGED to fix the problem discussed in this topic. Part of it's description says:
"If User Account Control is disabled on the computer, you cannot install a network printer successfully. This problem occurs if the network printer is hosted by a Windows XP-based or a Windows Server 2003-based computer."
That seems to be exactly what my problem was...which I solved with the
[net user guest /active:yes] on the XP computer.
So, I installed this hotfix on the Vista computer, and de-activated the guest account on the XP printer computer. I again COULD NOT print. The hotfix did not correct my problem. [net user guest /active:yes] on the XP computer is what corrected my problem. Microsoft still doesn't have a clue about this issue.
There is also another hotfix KB938194 available.
Some places have reported these hotfixes will be pushed out through Windows Update on Tues, 8-14-07. I don't know. At any rate, it did not fix the printer issue on my computer.
Tried this fix but still came up with an error stating the network path was not found but the path is correct. I am using Vista business and trying to connect to a winxp machine with a HP 3300 series printer.
Possibly a router problem? I am connecting on a network that is using a Lynksys BEFSR41.
"Network path not found" is not the problem fixed by what I posted previously. The
"net user guest /active:yes" seems to be a necessary part of fixing the problem: "Windows cannot connect to the printer. Access is denied."
Read through this entire thread. There are several different manifestations of this difficulty (Vista not being able to print to a printer shared off an XP machine)--and thus different "fixes" depending on which problem you have. Microsoft didn't handle this one well at all...the problems have been known since early beta days of Vista.
As an aside, in my days of reading stuff about this problem, I saw several times a recommendation regarding "failures to connect to things on a local LAN." It was this...
Turn on NetBIOS over TCP/IP for the connection involved:
Open Network properties
Properties of the particular connection (Wireless, wired adapter, or each)
Properties of TCP/IPv4
Advanced
WINS tab
"Dot" the Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP
Also, some places recommended unchecking TCP/IPv6 if you don't need v6.
- I have tried your work around, and I am still unable to print. I was wondering if you could help me.
I have a Dell desktop with Windows XP connected to a Lexmark P4350 printer. It can print to this printer with no problem. The printer is shared, firewall allows printer sharing, etc. Network is set up properly.
I have a HP Pavilion with Windows Vista. I can see the network, I can install the printer. I can send a test page to the printer. Here is where it ends. The page never prints and I get a message that communication with the printer has failed.
I don't know what to do anymore. I hope you can help.
Thank you. You are welcome to contact me directly at Carey@CareyHolzman.com if you'd like some personal assistance.
- I was having the same problem and tried many different workarounds found posted on this site, but to no avail. I could not even see the xp machine on the network map of my network on the vista machine. I did find a file that needs to be installed on the xp machine so that the vista machine can find it. This is the link for the file. Also make sure that all the firewalls are turned off. I thought that I had turned all mine off but forgot that the switch that I use in conjunction with my router has its own spi firewall that was easy enough to turn off . After installing the file you still need to go through and install a local printer and create a port for it with the proper path to your xp machine's printer. One more thing is that discovery may take a little while so don't give up if it fails once or twice. Hope this helps. I am running vista business and xp pro.
Here is the link
- One note of clarity... This port is installed on the Vista machine. (You can create this port on the XP machine and have it work as well...)
Laura, Did you install the printer from the Lexmark CD? If so, it may be that you need to get Vista drivers for the printer. Visit Lexmark's website and you should be able to download Vista drivers for your printer. Hope this works. Good luck! Margie AKA Melonhead
- Wow! Thanks
I was starting to think I needed to buy a new printer!
Thanks so much. It worked perfect! I purchased a new Dell laptop with Vista Home Premium. Had the very same problem. Spent two hours on the phone with Dell Tech support and the guy could not fix problem. I found this post by searching on error code and was printing on my network printer in 3 minutes.
Thanks for the info
This solution is the "cat's meow." I did exactly what you said, and, after I had already loaded the new Printer Driver on the XP Machine, my XP machine (wireless) could see and print to the printer locally attached to the Vista machine. Thank you SO much.
Thank you so very much for taking the time to post the work around and saving me heartache!