Hi everyone,

I am having a problem networking my printer to my new laptop which is running Windows Vista. Let me see if I can explain my problem. I have 2 desktop computers that run Windows XP (one I use for work and one is for my family to use). I have one printer that we use for both computers. I recently bought a laptop with Windows Vista. I am trying to get the printer to work with all 3 computers. I have followed the procedure just as I did when networking the 2 desktops, but it won't work. My question is this--do all of the computers on the network need to be running the same version of windows or will it work if the host is running a diffrent version than the laptop. Thanks in advance for any insight/suggestions/help anyone can give me.

CindyK

PS-I hooked the printer directly to the laptop via USB cable and I could get it to work.

IT could be possible that the XP drivers are not compatible with the Vista OS. Most likely. There is a way around this if you can connect the printer to the router using an external print server then install the vista drivers on the laptop and connect to the printer using a standard TCP/IP port.

not sure if this idea will be practical for you but when I had a similar problem ie desktop xp, laptop xp and destop 98, I couldn't get the printer to share onto my 98. I tried all the usual route's till someone here told me that the xps could roll back so attach my printer to the 98 desktop instead of the xp one and it worked a treat. Now all 3 can access the printer