# Networking XP and Me **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 23, 2003, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826 "2003-11-23T08:04:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hyjyljyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/0ea827/32.png) [@hyjyljyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hyjyljyj)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/1 "2003-11-23T08:04:44Z")
I have a desktop PC with Windows Me, connected to an Epson C60 printer and a wireless router. On the network I have a new laptop with XP, and even though we can be online on both machines simultaneously and share files, the printer refuses to print any document from the XP machine. I have spent eight (8) hours so far on the phone with Microsoft technicians in India, who are ill-trained in Me. Still no print from the laptop, thought it works fine from the PC. Anyone know if this is normal when networking two different operating systems, or is there a way? Thanx ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/2 "2003-11-23T15:15:03Z")
Your printer isn’t network capable, so you can’t do that. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/3 "2003-11-23T15:44:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > Your printer isn’t network capable, so you can’t do that. Nonsense, **Handy**. I have three printers, none of them network capable, and they are all accessible from all PCs on my local network. The only way you need a network capable printer is if you attach it directly to the network, typically using an Ethernet card or WiFi connection. **Hyjyljyj,** if you have the printer connected to any one of the computers on the network, you should be able to share the printer with all the computers, much like you are able to share files. Unfortunately, I don’t have ME or XP running here, so I can’t offer specific advice as to what settings are needed. I’m sure someone else wil be along soon to lend a hand. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/4 "2003-11-23T16:18:18Z")
Hy, Your goal is to tell the ME machine to offer the printer for sharing on the network. I don’t have ME so I can’t offer you “click this, then this, then this” instructions. I suggest you look in Control Panel for Printers and examine whatever settings are available. There ought to be a checkbox or [Sharing …] button associated with the printer for enabling sharing. If you can’t find it there, try searching the Windows help for “printer” or “sharing”. Their indexing sucks, so you may have to read a dozen pages to stumble onto what you’re looking for. Once you’ve gotten the ME machine to offer the printer to the network, the next step is to tell the XP machine about it. You do that using Start, Settings, Printers, Add Printer and fill in the wizard from there. I don’t have XP either, so the exact menu path may differ from what I suggested, but find the place where printers are configured and you’ll be in business. ---
**Author:** ![hyjyljyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/0ea827/32.png) [@hyjyljyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hyjyljyj)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/5 "2003-11-23T16:31:50Z")
Thanks LSLGuy, in my hometown no less, for your reply. Every time we try to fill in the wizard, we come to the error message that says the system doesn’t recognize the name of the printer that was entered in the box. We’ve tried every name config you can think of. Any and all replies are welcome, esp. after 8 hrs. on the phone w/the so-called “experts” at Microsoft. ---
**Author:** ![Toddly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@Toddly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toddly)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/6 "2003-11-23T17:04:44Z")
I don’t have the ME OS but the method to share a printer is to navigate to the Printers & Faxes page. Right click on the printer and select Properties. There should be a tab there for sharing the device. Make sure that this is enabled and give it a name if prompted. See if that helps. ---
**Author:** ![Hauky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/0ea827/32.png) [@Hauky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hauky)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/7 "2003-11-23T17:16:20Z")
You also have to go into Networking Properties, select File and Print Sharing (I think it’s just a button, but it could be something in the protocol list, too) and make sure that “I want to share my printers over the network” is checked. After that, you may have to do the whole sharing in the printer’s properties thing or you may not, I don’t recall. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/8 "2003-11-23T18:14:58Z")
Hy, Ahaa! (however that’s spelled). You weren’t explicit about which computer you werre typing into which dialog box when it complained about the unrecognized name, but I’m gonna bet that was when you tried to add the printer to the XP machine. That implies the problem remains back on the ME machine. The ME machine MUST be advertising the printer before you can add it to the XP machine. So you’ve got to first set the sharing name on the ME machine. Confusingly, it can have one name on the ME machine that the ME machine uses to refer to it itself, and a different name that the ME machine uses to advertise the printer over the network. The ME-internal name will be the one you see in the control panel printers list. The sharing name will be set on the same page as you use to turn on sharing. That name won’t be displayed anywhere else. For name format, stick to anything less than 15 characters and no spaces of funky symbols. Hope that gets you closer to the goal. ---
**Author:** ![jsleek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8dc957/32.png) [@jsleek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsleek)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/9 "2003-11-23T18:38:32Z")
try turning on simple file sharing. SMPT lives under control panel\>folder options\>view tab…last item. It’s default on, but maybe it got turned off. also have netBIOS protocol on. That lives in control panel\>network connection properties. If it’s not listed, you add it by hitting install, protocol. Or use Start\>help & support to get them installed. As mentioned, you have to have sharing turned on, and the shared device shated under it’s properties. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/10 "2003-11-23T22:26:15Z")
When you have a mixture of NT and 9x family OSes on the same network and you want to share printers between them, you will usually have to install different drivers on each machine - it used to be when you browsed the network, found a printer, right-clicked and selected _Install_, that the client PC would pull the drivers across the network from the machine hosting the printer, but if the host is ME and the client is XP (or possibly vice versa), you may have problems. The way around it is to add the printer from the ‘Add Printer’ wizard and give it the correct driver disk - at some point in this process you’d be asked for the location of the printer and you can browse to it then. Otherwise, it might be a firewall problem (if you have a software firtewall installed on the host). ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/11 "2003-11-23T23:12:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > Your printer isn’t network capable, so you can’t do that. Could you possibly be bothered to keep your blatantly wrong GQ answers to yourself? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/12 "2003-11-23T23:26:35Z")
Another alternative would be to buy a printer server box (such as the HP Jetdirect) on eBay for a very modest sum - until very recently, I regarded these devices with disdain, but in the last week or so I had no choice but to use a couple of them and I am now thoroughly converted. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/13 "2003-11-23T23:35:14Z")
" Nonsense, Handy. I have three printers, none of them network capable, and they are all accessible from all PCs on my local network." Yes, but do you have this printer? I see you can use USB or Parl cable, try the other cable route & see if that works hyjyljyj (how do you pronounce that?). Also try the XP support center under the start menu, input ‘network printer’ & check that :File and Printer Troubleshooter ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/14 "2003-11-24T21:17:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > > > [@](#): > > > > (Quoting **Musicat** ) > > Nonsense, Handy. I have three printers, none of them network capable, and they are all accessible from all PCs on my local network. > > Yes, but do you have this printer? Irrelevant. Your statement that you can’t share a printer that isn’t “network capable” is **dead wrong**. Fight ignorance, don’t spread it. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/15 "2003-11-25T00:04:18Z")
"Your statement that you can’t share a printer that isn’t “network capable” is dead wrong. " So far ntucker, unless you can’t get _this_ c60 printer to print through a network by giving the person some advice, I’m right. I never said you could not network a printer that isn’t network capable–why would I say that? I do that with my printers myself, but NOT THIS ONE. Try reading what I say first before making a ‘you are wrong’ statement, ntucker. BTW, they do make a C80 printer that IS network capable with an adapter which costs $179.00. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/16 "2003-11-25T00:19:54Z")
You might try typing **NBTSTAT -R** (make sure the R is capitalized) from the command prompt on both machines. This purges and reloads the NetBIOS cache. It’s not a surefire fix, but I’ve seen it clear up weird printer sharing problems in the past. ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/17 "2003-11-25T00:36:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > Try reading what I say first before making a ‘you are wrong’ statement, ntucker. I did. You said: “Your printer isn’t network capable, so you can’t [share it with another computer on the network],” which is, once again, **dead wrong**. What he’s trying to do is definitely possible, regardless of whether the printer is “network capable” (your ignorant protestations notwithstanding). > [@](#): > > So far ntucker, unless you can’t get _this_ c60 printer to print through a network by giving the person some advice, I’m right. Pure BS. You claim that what he’s trying to do is impossible because the printer isn’t network capable. You can’t back that up, because that isn’t the reason it’s not working. **A printer does not need to be network capable in order to be shared**. **hyjyljyj** : is it feasible and/or desirable to attach the printer to the XP computer and share it so the Me computer can print to it also? It might just work, and if it doesn’t, it might be easier to troubleshoot on XP. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/18 "2003-11-25T00:43:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > \*\*Your printer isn’t network capable, so you can’t do that. \*\* Here are [Epson’s own instructions on how to share the C60 over a network](http://files.support.epson.com/htmldocs/sc60 __/sc60__ rf/netwk_1.htm). They obviously seem to think that it will work under ordinary circumstances. Do you have evidence to the contrary? > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > **Also try the XP support center under the start menu, input ‘network printer’ & check that :File and Printer Troubleshooter** This advice is absolutely worthless. ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/19 "2003-11-25T00:54:55Z")
I see that attaching the printer to the XP computer is probably not desirable, as that’s the laptop. Out of curiosity, if you open a command prompt and type “net view MYCOMPUTER” where “MYCOMPUTER” is replaced with the netbios name of the machine with the printer attached (the Me machine), is the printer listed? Here’s an example: ```auto C:\>net view mycomputer Shared resources at mycomputer Share name Type Used as Comment ------------------------------------------------------------ sharedfiles Disk HPLJ5 Print HP LaserJet 5 ``` In this instance, the “network path” associated with the printer would be \mycomputer\HPLJ5 and “sharedfiles” is a shared directory that can be accessed at \mycomputer\sharedfiles\ ---
**Author:** ![tourbot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@tourbot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tourbot)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/networking-xp-and-me/214826/20 "2003-11-25T16:32:39Z")
I have had a fair share of problems getting 98 machines to to share nicely with XP. Invariably, it was a browse master problem. If both machines think they are the browse master, they won’t find each others shares. To see if a computer is currently running as a browse master, go to a command prompt and type “nbtstat -n”. If the list shows an entry like “MSBROWSE” then that machine is the master browser, ie, it holds the list of available network shares. In this case, since the ME machine is the host, you may need to change the XP machine so that it is never the browse master. Try these [instructions.](http://cms.simons-rock.edu/faq_by_subtopic/node139.html) Also, check the IP addresses and subnet masks on both computers. Maker sure the subnet masks are the same. (Machines with different subnets may be able to ping each other, but Windows browsing will fail.)