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My printer is on my network. It shows up on both pc's as sharing and yet when i try to print from my laptop it say's printing but it isn't. when I check it on my desktop pc, in the printer window at the bottom it says access denied. But in all the shared area's it says sharing. So confused.

Thank you in advance

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What Operating Systems are in use? Identify the OS with the host/client. – Vert Mar 9 '11 at 5:03
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If the printer is directly connected and installed via USB/LPT1 on one PC, any other PC that wants to connect to the printer will need to be able to authenticate to the first PC. This means authenticating as a local user on the first PC. You will need to create a user account on the first PC with the same username as the one you login to the 2nd PC with, with the same password.

After that, it is best to uninstall the printer, browse to the first computer in Windows Explorer by entering in the address as \computername\, and then right-clicking on the printer, and choosing Connect.

If the printer is connected to a router by ethernet, you won't have to first authenticate, unless security has been set up on the printer.

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So if I plug my printer into my router it will automaticlly let my laptop use it also? My desktop is running Vista and laptop is running XP. – Dodi Jones Mar 11 '11 at 19:47
It won't automatically install it for you, but it won't force you to authenticate either. You just need to know the IP address of the printer. You can find this out by printing a network config page from the printer. Once you know this, go to Control Panel > Printers > Add a printer > Select local printer, deselect detect plug n play > create a port > Choose TCP/IP, enter IP address, then choose driver. – Steve Mar 15 '11 at 9:27
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