Sharing a printer over lan without making a guest account

Question

I'm trying to share a printer from one Windows XP pc to another. The problem is the pc with the printer has only 1 user, and that user has a password, so the other computer can't seem to see the printer on this one.

When I enable the guest account on the computer with the printer, I can see, and use the printer from the other computer.

How do I make the other computer see the printer without making a guest account on the one with the printer?

Answer 1

you don't say if you use WinXP home or prof version. In prof version, you can change the permission needed to print on this printer (on the Security tab). To make it possible to print without having credentials on that machine, you have to grant "Printing" to both "Everyone" and "Anonymous" (yes to both, that is a relic of WinNT times...). By default, only "Everyone" may print, which requires credentials for any account on that machine.

It does not have to be a guest account, you can also add a normal user account and add it to the lists of users who are not allowed to login (and not allowed to do almost everything else except read the WINDOWS directory and print).

Answer 2

You have to make a duplicate of the user on the first computer on the second computer. (Same password and username) Or, you could create another user with the same logon details as the user you use on the second computer. That way, when you log on (assuming your computers are in the same workgroup, which it looks like they are) you will able to share the printer with the other computer. The reason this will work is because the guest account is an account with no password right? So, you don't have to enter a password to see and use the printer over the network. When the guest account is disabled, you aren't automatically able to use the printer over the network because you need to enter the username and password on the other computer. One way to do this is to create a duplicate account on the second computer. Windows will automatically log you on, assuming you are using an account with a duplicate on the print server. That way you can print without logging in manually. You can also go to "My Network Places", double-click on the computer with the printer attached, and enter the username and password for that computer when it asks you to log in, but you will have to do this every time you log on.