Problems setting up a shared printer on a wireless network

Question

Hello everyone! I have a wireless home network set up. Here are pertinent details, if they're helpful: I have Comcast cable as my ISP, using Comcast's cable modem (A Terayon TJ615) Connected to that cable modem is my Dell TrueMobile 2300 wireless broadband router. I have my Dell Advance Port Replicator ('APR', or 'docking station') for my Inspiron 600m physically connected to my TrueMobile 2300 router. My Inspiron 600m rests in my docking station, and I have a Dell A960 All-in-one ('AIO') printer connected to my docking station. I have already used the network wizard to create a wireless home network called 'MSHOME' Included in my wireless home network is my wife's Inspiron 8600 notebook, as well as my daughter's Inspiron 5100 notebook. There is an HP OfficeJet T45 AIO printer physically connected to the docking station used with my wife's Inspiron 8600. So, in review, I have a 'mixed' home network: My laptop (Inspiron 600m) is physically connected to my router via the docking station, and I have a Dell A960 AIO printer physically connected to my docking station. My wife's Inspiron 8600 connects to my Truemobile 2300 router wirelessly. However, my wife has her Inspiron 8600 connected to a docking station, which has an HP OfficeJet T45 AIO printer connected to that docking station. My daughter's Inspiron 5100 wirelessly connects to the Truemobile 2300 router. There are no other peripherals connected to her notebook. I've had great success setting up printer-sharing for my Dell A960 AIO printer, via Microsoft Windows XP Home edition running on all three computers. Both my wife and my daughter can print to my Dell A960 AIO printer whenever I have my notebook turned on. I'm trying to accomplish the same printer-sharing for the HP OfficeJet T45 printer physcially connected to my wife's docking station, WITHOUT success. When I go throught the 'add printer' wizard from my Inspiron 600m, selecting the 'add a network printer' option and then searching for all network printers, nothing other than my Dell A960 AIO printer (again, connected to my own docking station) is found. That HP OfficeJet T45 AIO printer, by the way, is set up as the default printer on my wife's computer, and works just fine when printing directly to it from that Inspiron 8600. Just to let you know, I HAVE set the properties for that printer (the T45) such that it is a 'shared' printer. I've also gone through the process of setting the Windows XP Home settings on all three notebooks for 'file and printer sharing'. The long and the short of my problem is that I can't seem to 'find' the HP OfficeJet T45 AIO printer on the network so that I can connect to it from other computer on my wireless network. Any help?  I'm wondering if the driver for this older HP T45 printer (which, by the way, DOES work with Windows XP when printer to it directly from my wife's Inpsiron 8600) is so old that it won't allow for that networking for that printer by other computers connected to my wireless home network. Any of you have any good thoughts one what I'm doing wrong?

volcano11 · Answer

Are there any firewalls running on your wife's computer?  On any computer running Windows XP with SP1, disable the Windows XP firewall. It will not allow File and Printer Sharing. On computers running Windows XP with SP2, make sure that the Windows XP firewall has File and Printer Sharing checked off on the Exceptions tab. If you are running any third party firewalls, like those provided by such programs as Zone Alarm, Norton Internet Security, or McAfee Security Center, make sure they are configured to allow local network traffic.   Steve

Ted_Nichols_jr · Answer

That was EXACTLY the problem! Thank you for helping me figure that out!

I was running Zone Alarm on my Inspiron 600m, and the Zone Alarm firewall was preventing my wife's and my daughter's notebooks from communicating with the A960 printer attached to my Inspiron 600m.

I've removed Zone Alarm from my system, and all is good to go now!

Thanks once again.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

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