WOW, it works >Re: Still Cannot Add Network Printer - Access Denied

WOW that's all I can say...it works....and the problem is XP Home vs.
Pro...I would never have thought of creating a local printer and using the
UNC path for the port....how incredible ingenious...Microsoft could not
survive without people like the author below figuring out how to make their
software work in spite of M$ best efforts...
--MRH

"sadsac" <sadsac.2hcnvl@DoNotSpam.com> wrote in message
news:sadsac.2hcnvl@DoNotSpam.com...
>
> Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread! I found this thread
> after a google search, and based on the information here I've finally
> been able to resolve this issue after many many months of running Vista
> with no network print capability.
>
> I had the same problem as everyone else;
>
> A XP Home PC has a printer attached that all other computers running XP
> or linux are able to access. While Vista PCs that attempt to connect to
> this printer get the 'access denied' error, even though file sharing
> otherwise works.
>
> So I did what is suggested in this thread. I added the printer driver
> on the Vista PC, using control panel/printers/add printer/local
> printer. Vista had the driver for the printer in its table of
> selectable printer drivers. I chose LPT1 as the local port even though
> the PC in question doesn't even have LPT1 active in the BIOS.
>
> Now, after installing the driver, you DON'T just go back to the 'add
> printer wizard' and try to add a network printer again - you'll get the
> same 'access denied' error.
>
> What you do is select (right click) the newly installed printer, choose
> properties, ports, add port. Then manually add a new Local Port with:
>
> \\computer_name\shared_printer_name
>
> as the port name. In my case, the port name for the printer on my XP
> Home PC is \\danscomputer\hpdeskje
>
> Make sure you select this newly created port as the active port for the
> printer.
>
> Then I printed some pages, and it worked!
>
> Thanks again to all the contributors to this thread!
>
>
> --
> sadsac
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> sadsac's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/member.php?userid=19235
> View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=596954
>
> http://www.techarena.in
>

It is interesting this was going on in early 2006 and is still an issue
in July 2007.

There is a much larger problem than just entering the "mapping"
correctly (errr..meaning correct for the Vista way...entering a network
printer as a local printer) on the Vista machine trying to print to a
shared printer connected to an XP machine. For many people, the
problem was only learning to install the printer, then create a local
port for it whose name is \\servermachine\printersharename. I would
like to know if ANYONE has a Vista machine printing over a network to a
printer shared on an XP Home machine.

For others though, that proper approach in Vista still results in the
access denied message. I've worked on this steadily and extensively
for 56 days.

------------------------
• You try to add a shared printer to a Windows Vista-based
computer.
• The Windows Vista-based computer is connected to a peer-to-peer
network.
• The shared printer was configured on a Microsoft Windows XP
Service Pack 2 (SP2)-based computer.
In this scenario, you may receive the following error message:
Windows cannot connect to the printer. Access is denied.
-------------------------
Anyone with this issue needs to look at KB934643, WHICH MICROSOFT HAS
REMOVED FROM THEIR KNOWLEDGE BASE for inexplicable reasons. It is
available here:
http://www.computersmarts.us/windows...age-...n-you-t

It DID NOT fix my problem with Vista Home Premium and XP Home on the
print server, which is EXACTLY as described in the KB article. It
failed at least in part because at some point it was asking me to
select tabs which did not exist on the displayed dialog .

I called Microsoft support. They refuse to help because the Vista on my
laptop is OEM (Gateway from Office Depot).

I called Gateway support (which has no toll free number for retail
store-purchased computers). They refuse to help...well they actually
tried a bit, but constantly reverted to "you need to get a Vista
compatible driver for your printer" in spite of the KB article clearly
indicating it is an OS issue and iin spite of the fact I have drivers
labeled as Vista compatible. In later repeat calls, the mantra changed
to "that's a how-to question; you have to call the pay for help line."

MS won't fix.
MS won't exchange Vista for XP, (because the Vista wasn't purchased off
the shelf)
Gateway won't fix. Gateway won't exchange the OS (we don't do that).
I am left with a brand new $1200 laptop from which I cannot print
(unless I install a directly connected printer beside the fam rm
recliner--can't). Thanks MS. Thanks Gateway... for nothing.

If anyone finds a true fix. Please post here. Otherwise I have wasted
$1200. Welcome to American business. I feel so lost. No way to fix
it. No help from the American companies. And no firm fix findable on
the web. I am sick at having wasted this much money on a new, unusable
laptop. I don't have the money to waste like that. I have to be able to
print.


--
gladiator
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This is absolutely amazing. A bit after posting the previous, I resumed
my attempts to resolve the issue. Finally, after 56 days, It works.

Here's what I did...unfortunately, two things were involved at the same
time and I am not sure what about the combination fixed the problem, but
I AM SURE one of the two parts is an absolute requirement.

First, I noticed on the XP Home printer sharing machine, in the
printers folder were TWO "printers" pointing to the LPT1 port. This
happened along the way when I re-ran the Samsung print driver install
exe again to be sure I had the very latest driver. That put the second
printer into the folder. So I had two, one named PRINTER (I had renamed
that one long ago from whatever it was initially) --also shared as
PRINTER. This was the one I had been trying to connect to. The second
one was named SAMSUNG and was shared as SamsungM.

Second, in reading somewhere tonight (sorry I don't remember where) I
read that XP sharing was always done internally using the 'guest'
account.
(Web search for [xp sharing "guest account"] and you can read about xp
sharing.) It described a method of activating the guest account
without having it appear on the login page, namely, to enter at a
command prompt:

*net user guest /active:yes* (no spaces in the /active:yes)

I did that.

Went to the Vista machine, opened properties for the single printer
there--named however the Samsung installer did it, and

clicked the Ports tab,
Add Port,
selected local port type,
typed in the \\printservername\sharename (*\\owner-HP\SamsungM*)
clicked the "OK"'s

and it took it!!! I did not get the "Windows cannot connect to the
printer. Access is denied" message like all the times before! Printed
a doc. It worked! Hallelujah! I said a prayer of thanks.

To help isolate what fixed it, I went back to the XP machine and
inactivated the guest account (net user guest /active:no). Vista
machine would not print. "net user guest /active:yes" on the XP
brought printing capability back.

Summary: I do not know what role using the second printer installation
had in this (it should have been identical to the first one), but I am
convinced that the guest account MUST BE ACTIVATED as part of the
solution to this issue.

Also, bear in mind I have done many unsuccessful things over the past
56 days, and some of those I did not back out, like changing
permissions on the spool folder and contents. It is conceivable one or
more of the other changes I made played a part in the ultimate success.
I'm saying I don't guarantee that the net user thing is all that is
required for the fix, but I am sure it is a necessary part.


--
gladiator
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Thanks for posting this. I am pretty sure it was enabling the guest account
that got this going. The Network tool that you run when setting up your
network is supposed to activate this account (if you selected sharing files
or printers)

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"gladiator" <gladiator.2umfvj@DoNotSpam.com> wrote in message
news:gladiator.2umfvj@DoNotSpam.com...
>
> This is absolutely amazing. A bit after posting the previous, I resumed
> my attempts to resolve the issue. Finally, after 56 days, It works.
>
> Here's what I did...unfortunately, two things were involved at the same
> time and I am not sure what about the combination fixed the problem, but
> I AM SURE one of the two parts is an absolute requirement.
>
> First, I noticed on the XP Home printer sharing machine, in the
> printers folder were TWO "printers" pointing to the LPT1 port. This
> happened along the way when I re-ran the Samsung print driver install
> exe again to be sure I had the very latest driver. That put the second
> printer into the folder. So I had two, one named PRINTER (I had renamed
> that one long ago from whatever it was initially) --also shared as
> PRINTER. This was the one I had been trying to connect to. The second
> one was named SAMSUNG and was shared as SamsungM.
>
> Second, in reading somewhere tonight (sorry I don't remember where) I
> read that XP sharing was always done internally using the 'guest'
> account.
> (Web search for [xp sharing "guest account"] and you can read about xp
> sharing.) It described a method of activating the guest account
> without having it appear on the login page, namely, to enter at a
> command prompt:
>
> *net user guest /active:yes* (no spaces in the /active:yes)
>
> I did that.
>
> Went to the Vista machine, opened properties for the single printer
> there--named however the Samsung installer did it, and
>
> clicked the Ports tab,
> Add Port,
> selected local port type,
> typed in the \\printservername\sharename (*\\owner-HP\SamsungM*)
> clicked the "OK"'s
>
> and it took it!!! I did not get the "Windows cannot connect to the
> printer. Access is denied" message like all the times before! Printed
> a doc. It worked! Hallelujah! I said a prayer of thanks.
>
> To help isolate what fixed it, I went back to the XP machine and
> inactivated the guest account (net user guest /active:no). Vista
> machine would not print. "net user guest /active:yes" on the XP
> brought printing capability back.
>
> Summary: I do not know what role using the second printer installation
> had in this (it should have been identical to the first one), but I am
> convinced that the guest account MUST BE ACTIVATED as part of the
> solution to this issue.
>
> Also, bear in mind I have done many unsuccessful things over the past
> 56 days, and some of those I did not back out, like changing
> permissions on the spool folder and contents. It is conceivable one or
> more of the other changes I made played a part in the ultimate success.
> I'm saying I don't guarantee that the net user thing is all that is
> required for the fix, but I am sure it is a necessary part.
>
>
> --
> gladiator
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> gladiator's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/member.php?userid=28744
> View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=596954
>
> http://forums.techarena.in
>

File and Printer Sharing was ON, but I had long ago disabled the guest
account in the normal way (Control Panel) --as we are told always to do
for security purposes.


--
gladiator
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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