SOLVED Printer Sharing Problem

[Wolfgang W. Stachel]

Just cut into service a new HP Spectre x360 2-in-1. I am unable to connect to my HP Laserjet which is connected via USB on my Dell XPS 8920 Desktop. I have another Dell desktop and another HP Spectre laptop both of which work fine with printer sharing. The laptop appears to be in the correct Workgroup. When attempting to add my printers in “Devices and Printers”, they do not show up. I enter the same network and printer names I used to connect the other machines and get the message “the specified network name is no longer available”. I have used every resource I could think of to no avail. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I have attached a png file showing the situation.

Thank you,
Wolfgang Stachel
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Tim Locke]

A friend of mine has the same problem. printer on USB to one machine and the other machine doesn't see it.

In his case as the printer is a full wifi capable printer the answer is to remove the printer stuff from ALL the machines...completely remove every last bit of it. Connect the printer as a pure wireless printer, no usb anywhere. Then connect each PC to the printer...if it is a printer that Windows contains drivers for then start by just letting Windows find the printers on the internal network and later add all the fancy stuf from the printer maker.

 

[Wolfgang W. Stachel]

A friend of mine has the same problem. printer on USB to one machine and the other machine doesn't see it.

In his case as the printer is a full wifi capable printer the answer is to remove the printer stuff from ALL the machines...completely remove every last bit of it. Connect the printer as a pure wireless printer, no usb anywhere. Then connect each PC to the printer...if it is a printer that Windows contains drivers for then start by just letting Windows find the printers on the internal network and later add all the fancy stuf from the printer maker.

Thanks for your response, Tim. I'm sorry for giving you incomplete information. My HP Laserjet (P2055dn) does not have Wi-fi capabilities. What puzzles me is that my other two computers (HP laptop and Dell desk top) work flawlessly in my network. The laptop is connected via Wi-fi and the Dell desktop over Ethernet in a different room. The message in my new laptop “Windows cannot connect to the printer. The specified network name is no longer available” is weird as the network information in the Control Panel - Network and Sharing Center is correct and the same as on my other three machines. So, where and how is the new laptop looking for the network name?

Thanks, again
Wolfgang

 

[Tim Locke]

I guess your router doesn't have a USB port that supports printers....( if it did you wouldn't be asking!)
On the PC that the printer is connected to go to setting -> devices-> printers.
Right click the printer and select properties.
Select the sharing tab. Click in share and select a printer name. Note that the second machine will have to have a userid and password for the PC on which the printer lives.

 

[Bighorn]

The Router suggestion is good but I didn't use the USB port, have my HP LaserJet and HP OfficeJet connected by Ethernet cable and any computer I install them on as Networked can use them, both Wired and Wireless/Wi-Fi. Work good with both Windows and Linux.

 

[ArunaTelshan]

Did you try to add the printer ad local port.. Sometimes it works..

 

[Wolfgang W. Stachel]

Back in town and onto my problem. Since none of my computers allowed printing. I started to look at my Desktop/Server. All remote printing had worked flawlessly ever since I replaced both Dell Desktops in 2017. I went through all the relevant settings and there several sharing options out of whack. All is working now. The only thing I can think of that this problem may have had something to with a Windows 10 update, but I'll never know for sure.. Thanks to all who have responded to me.

 

[Bighorn]

There were problems with an update or two earlier this year with USB printers, seems to have been fixed. The brands listed in the first reports were Brother, Canon, Panasonic and Ricoh but I did have one with HP.