Network printer stops printing when IP address changes

I'm using Vista Home Premium. I have a Brother 5170DN (direct network
connection) that has been working fine with my older computers running
earlier Windows versions.

The trouble is that when the IP address of the printer changes, Vista is no
longer able to print to it, so I end up having to reinstall. The
reinstallation adds a new TCP/IP port into the driver, and then it works fine
until the next time. Since my network is changing frequently right now, due
to reconfiguration, this is a pain.

Any ideas greatly appreciated. I have searched the support areas but
haven't seen anything that answers the question.

Thanks

5Circles wrote:
> I'm using Vista Home Premium. I have a Brother 5170DN (direct network
> connection) that has been working fine with my older computers running
> earlier Windows versions.
>
> The trouble is that when the IP address of the printer changes, Vista is no
> longer able to print to it, so I end up having to reinstall. The
> reinstallation adds a new TCP/IP port into the driver, and then it works fine
> until the next time. Since my network is changing frequently right now, due
> to reconfiguration, this is a pain.
>
> Any ideas greatly appreciated. I have searched the support areas but
> haven't seen anything that answers the question.

Network printers should always have a static IP. Refer to your Brother
manual or their website as to how to do this. The static IP address you
assign should be one outside of your DHCP server's pool (usually a
router in a home situation).


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

"Malke" wrote:


> Network printers should always have a static IP. Refer to your Brother
> manual or their website as to how to do this. The static IP address you
> assign should be one outside of your DHCP server's pool (usually a
> router in a home situation).
>
>
I don't see why network printers should need to have a static IP if Windows
is finding them by name, and if previous Windows versions didn't have any
trouble.

Mike

5Circles wrote:

> I don't see why network printers should need to have a static IP if Windows
> is finding them by name, and if previous Windows versions didn't have any
> trouble.

Because then you won't have any problems with dynamic IP addresses. But
if you don't want to set your network up properly, that's fine by me.
You'll continue to have problems.

EOT for me.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

The Vista network printer search will create the network port using the
current DHCP address. If there is DNS available in your network and you can
ping the hostname configured on the printer network card, create a new
Standard TCP/IP port with the hostname rather than the IP address, then
assign this port to the printer.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

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

"Malke" <notreally@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:ew0yN69WIHA.748@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> 5Circles wrote:
>
>> I don't see why network printers should need to have a static IP if
>> Windows is finding them by name, and if previous Windows versions didn't
>> have any trouble.
>
> Because then you won't have any problems with dynamic IP addresses. But if
> you don't want to set your network up properly, that's fine by me. You'll
> continue to have problems.
>
> EOT for me.
>
>
> Malke
> --
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
> MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

"Alan Morris [MSFT]" <alanmo@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:OAamSnFXIHA.3940@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> The Vista network printer search will create the network port using the
> current DHCP address. If there is DNS available in your network and you
> can ping the hostname configured on the printer network card, create a new
> Standard TCP/IP port with the hostname rather than the IP address, then
> assign this port to the printer.
>
> --
> Alan Morris
> Windows Printing Team

OK, but firstly, when exactly is the name-to-IP lookup performed?

Is it once only, when the TCP/IP port is created?
Or is it dynamically looked up every time the port is used?
Or something else?

I could test this, but frankly can't be bothered.
I have a feeling the lookup may be performed once-only, at port creation
time ( but I may be wrong ).

That makes a huge difference, if the IP address ( and relevant DNS record )
changes after the port is created.

Secondly, what printers DHCP client support Dynamic DNS update to keep their
A-records updated when their IPs change? None that I know of. So we rely
on the DHCP server to update DNS on behalf of the legacy clients. What
domestic-grade router DHCP servers will do this? I know of none. If
there was a win2k /2k3 DHCP server involved, it could, but I doubt that's
the environment.

I just don't think this is going to work reliably.

To the OP: I would strongly advise the OP to follow Malkes advice, and put
the printer on a static IP. It's what every professionally-run network
does. It just eliminates these issues. The people who give this advice
do so for a reason :-)

--
Ron

1 no lookup is performed when the port is created, thus the IP address
usage as opposed to actually using the hostname of the device If one
creates a port using the hostname, then the lookup will be performed on the
network stack.




--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

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

"Ron Lowe" <ronATlowe-famlyDOTmeDOTukSPURIOUS> wrote in message
news:%237SoLSHXIHA.280@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> "Alan Morris [MSFT]" <alanmo@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:OAamSnFXIHA.3940@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> The Vista network printer search will create the network port using the
>> current DHCP address. If there is DNS available in your network and you
>> can ping the hostname configured on the printer network card, create a
>> new Standard TCP/IP port with the hostname rather than the IP address,
>> then assign this port to the printer.
>>
>> --
>> Alan Morris
>> Windows Printing Team
>
> OK, but firstly, when exactly is the name-to-IP lookup performed?
>
> Is it once only, when the TCP/IP port is created?
> Or is it dynamically looked up every time the port is used?
> Or something else?
>
> I could test this, but frankly can't be bothered.
> I have a feeling the lookup may be performed once-only, at port creation
> time ( but I may be wrong ).
>
> That makes a huge difference, if the IP address ( and relevant DNS
> record ) changes after the port is created.
>
> Secondly, what printers DHCP client support Dynamic DNS update to keep
> their A-records updated when their IPs change? None that I know of. So
> we rely on the DHCP server to update DNS on behalf of the legacy clients.
> What domestic-grade router DHCP servers will do this? I know of none.
> If there was a win2k /2k3 DHCP server involved, it could, but I doubt
> that's the environment.
>
> I just don't think this is going to work reliably.
>
> To the OP: I would strongly advise the OP to follow Malkes advice, and
> put the printer on a static IP. It's what every professionally-run
> network does. It just eliminates these issues. The people who give
> this advice do so for a reason :-)
>
> --
> Ron
>
>
>
>

[exilefromgroggs]

Okay. So Malke says that we need to use a static IP address for a printer because that's what professional networks do, and that will solve the problems.

However, this in my mind begs a few questions. What is the technical advantage? How come Windows 7 won't allow you to do something that XP, Vista and Mac OS all allow? Why bother coming up with DHCP anyway, if you are going to say that such-and-such is bad practice? Why don't wireless network printers default to seeking a static IP address if that's the "right" way to do things? Is the reason that printers have a static IP address on "professional" networks not simply legacy?

Or are we simply back in the realm of "Do things the Microsoft way, because we aren't really interested in helping you do things your way"?