Hi Bruce,

Thanks for following through on this with me. I finally got her to go!!!
1. Printer Server is XP Home 5.1, SP2, the laptop is Vista Home Premium
2. There were no passwords on either machine so I added them (The user
accounts have both always been Rob) It made no difference, as I could still
not "browse" the XP network via Windows Explorer from Vista (I can browse
Vista from Vista in Windows Explorer fine... I guess I'll discuss this in
another forum) I can see the computer, but when I click on the Network Icon
the Vista machine appears immediately and a status bar across the top runs
for about 5 seconds, then the XP Machine appears. When I click on the XP
machine to expand it the error message "\\XP Machine is not accessible. You
might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the
administrator of the server to find out if you have permissions"
3. I added the port on the Vista Machine (although I couldn't see the "Run
as administrator" option). I had previously added the port on the XP Machine
(at least that was what the Shaw workaround said), which made no difference.
From the Vista machine, I used "add a printer", "add a local printer" (not
network printer), "create new port", "local port", entered the
COMPUTERNAME\PRINTERNAME the same as in the port that I had added on the XP
machine and it worked!

Thanks a bunch
P.S. It should have worked from the add a network printer function.



"Bruce Sanderson" wrote:

> I'm curious about your problem and have some questions:
>
> 1. is the XP computer XP Home or XP Professional?
> 2. on the XP computer, do you have a user account that has a password
> defined? If not, add one on the XP computer and add the same user account
> with the same password on the Vista computer. Logon on the Vista computer
> with this new account - does this make any difference to the printer issue
> or to the "can not browse (in Explorer) the XP Computer network...)?
> 3. please try the "adding a port" workaround again from the Vista computer
> preferably while logged on using the account created per my question 2 -
> please describe exactly when you get the problem and what exactly the
> symptom is. To add the Port, you may have to start the Add Printer process
> by:
>
> a. open the Printers window (e.g. Start, Printers)
> b. click File, Run as Administrator, Add Printer
>
> or
>
> a. open the Printers window
> b. click File, Run as Administrator, Server Properties
> c. select the Ports tab
> d. click Add Port...
>
>
> --
> Bruce Sanderson MVP Printing
> http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders
>
> It is perfectly useless to know the right answer to the wrong question.
>
>
>
> "Rob" <Rob@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:357C9856-8250-4130-97AF-8023755AC913@microsoft.com...
> > Check this out!!!
> > I plugged the printer in question (Brother MFC-3420) directly into the
> > Vista
> > Machine and the device and drivers installed instantly and automatically.
> > I
> > could immediately print to it directly. So it is not a Printer driver
> > issue.
> > I then shared the printer (from the Vista machine) back to the XP machine
> > and immediately could see and it and print to it from the XP machine. I
> > put
> > everything back the way it was originally and nothing improved. I also
> > tried
> > Bruce Sanderson's workaround with the "adding a port" per the Shaw
> > website...nada. I guess it is a networking permission bug. I would hate
> > to
> > have to do this everytime I need to print from the laptop. I am
> > considering
> > buying several bluetooth USB's and creating a network between all of my
> > devices. Ebay for $5.99 each. Thoughts?
> >
> > Rob
> >
> >
> >
> > "Hugh Wyn Griffith" wrote:
> >
> >> OK
> >>
> >> I'm not knowledgeable about networking printing and its problems but
> >> there is a lot posted here about them.
> >>
> >> AMOI What happens if you plug the printr directly into the laptop --
> >> can you print then?
> >>
> >> Personally, especially on a laptop where so many special drivers and
> >> utilities are used, I would not move to VISTA for as long as possible
> >> so if you can get the equivalent machine with XP I'd go for it.
> >>
> >>
>