First make sure the printer is turned on and the desktop is also turned on.   Then, on the laptop, open the Printers and Faxes folder and click on Add Printer.  Tell it that you are installing a Network Printer, then on the next page that loads, select Browse for the printer and see if you can find the printer.  If not, then check the desktop computer to make sure that File and Printer Sharing is enabled, that the printer is designated as a shared printer, and that all firewalls running on that computer are configured to allow local network access.

 

Steve

Steve, thanks much for you help.  I've gone through all the steps again as you suggested.  The printer is designated as a shared printer on the desktop.  What I'm not sure about is the Firewall.  The router has a firewall built into it, and since the printer worked from the laptop previously, I think that is OK.  The desktop had Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security 2006 on it, and this may be the problem.  But I think printing from the laptop was working before I installed that software.  I have tried different settings on PC-Cillin, however, and am not real sure about what I'm doing.  I'm used to Norton's Internet Security and would have used it but it would not load with the Trend Micro firewall on the router.

 

I also am having problems getting to the shared folders on the laptop from the desktop and vice versa.  Sometimes the laptop shared folder shows up on the desktop, and other times it does not, and the laptop is on. Sometimes, the shared folder cannot be opened from the desktop even though it is displayed.  So I'm not sure how to fix this either.  Perhaps the PC-Cillin is doing this but I can't tell that it is.