Home network help

Sigh... I really hate technology sometimes...

I have a desktop running XP that has a printer connected to it. I have a laptop running Vista. Both computers connect to the Internet through a wireless router. I'd like to be able to use the printer with both the desktop (no problem) and the laptop (problem).

I've configured a home network, and I can see the desktop from the laptop. Printer and file sharing is turned on on both computers. Firewall is configured to allow file and printer sharing on both computers. When I browse for a remote printer on the laptop and double-click on the desktop system, I keep getting the following error:

"Cannot communicate with DESKTOP.

Network diagnostics pinged the remote host but did not receive a response.

Windows found a problem that cannot be repaired automatically."

Any suggestions? I've run out of patience.

Windows firewall settings are interfering with your ping and communications.

Either that or you have some kind of security suite interfering such as Norton, McAfee, or Cisco's CSA agent software. How you fix it depends on the software installed and who controls it. If it's a corporate version of AV or the agent software then you might not be able to change the settings.

RJ

Standard Windows firewall on both computers. Both are mine (i.e., not work owned computers). I've enabled file and printer sharing in Windows firewall on both computers - what else am I missing?

Are they both using the same workgroup? They should be, if you are able to see both.

Try turning the firewall off completely. Windows Firewall is a piece of garbage and never works quite right.

If that all does not work, then I suggest just getting a router with a USB print server built-in. That is what I did when I got tired of trying to get it all happy. Works great.

Are you sure you are on your wireless and not the neighbors?
Is the driver on the laptop current?
Have you tried adding the printer manual and not searching? \\desktop\printername?

Oh, and Vista does NOT like you to connect to it using \\ip-address\share you must use \\computername\share instead.

Yep, I"m on my wireless with both computers. Need to check on the laptop driver. Have not tried adding the printer manually. I'll try those things tonight.

Thanks for the advice guys.

This was a pain for me getting Windows 7 to connect to a printer on XP. I eventually started over and re-shared the printer with a new name.