Problem sharing printer {moved by PL}

[shosh]

Hi, I am trying to share my printer that's hooked up with my desktop windows xp to my laptop with Vista. I've tried following several suggestions I've found and when I try to install it in Vista and choose Local Port to enter the name of my desktop pc\printer name, I keep getting a 'network path not found'.

When I go to the Network and Sharing Center/Network Map, I can see the desktop with windows xp on it, but I can't see the printer that's hooked up to it.

I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
I would really appreciate any help.
Thanks

[Snurfen]

Hi shosh, welcome to CTH

What you need is \\{pcname}\{printername}

For example, my son shares an hp5550 on his vista machine "haddock", so to map to it, for me it is \\haddock\hp5550

does that get you going ?

[shosh]

Hi and thanks for the welcome

Ok, so do I have to change any settings in Windows XP too? or just leave it on the LPT Port 1? I just called it lexmark

In Vista, I have to Add A Printer right? Then make a Local Port, then name it \\desktop pc name\printer name? I tried to print something and it says 'the handle is invalid', no idea what that means.

[Snurfen]

Yep, you need to go into the printer properties and allow sharing.

to do this, right click on the computer and selct properties, then select the sharing tab.

[shosh]

Ok that's done too. I'm getting somewhere now, thanks to you. Ok the test page actually goes through the motions of going through the printer but it won't print though.
Would the fact that my printer doesn't have a Vista compatible driver have something to do with the problem I've having?

[shosh]

I just noticed something else now. I made a note on notepad on my Vista, saved it to the Vista/Network/Public folders, clicked on it to print it and a little window popped up asking which program I wanted to use, my desktop printer (so it obviously sees it) and two other microsoft programs I never use. I chose the printer and it went through the motions, but nothing printed on the printer

[Snurfen]

Think you've hit the nail on the head, get the Vista drivers down and installed. That seems to have been confirmed by your two different test prints.

[shosh]

Well thank you so much, you've been incredibly helpful. Unfortunately, there are no Vista drivers for my printer, so I'll have to wait till I buy a new printer. Thanks again

[Snurfen]

what printer have you got? Sometimes you can cheat (I know a lot of older HP models will work with the genereic HP4 or HP5 drivers on certain operating systems, for example.)