Axel Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 ...right this is either going to be straight forward or a pain in the butt so here goes: My dad is continuously coming up and down stairs, unplugging my printer and plugging it into his laptop to print stuff when when working at home. He's currently the member of his company domain but utilises my internet connection via my wireless router to connect to it (nice and simple). The difficulty stems from the desire to just add my printer to his machine via sharing on the workgroup, it's already set up on another laptop in the house. Anyway, hope that's enough info for you guys to work with - I really do appreciate any assistance anyone can give. Many thanks, Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 *bump* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
episode Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 The easiest way would be to install Hamachi on both computers. https://secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi/vpn.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophism Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 The easiest way would be to install Hamachi on both computers.https://secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi/vpn.asp Assuming he is talking about using the laptop to print while on his home network this suggestion is pointless. This is how I interpret your post. Laptop A is a member of the work domain. Laptop B is a member of the home workgroup and has a shared printer. When both laptops are on the local network at home you want Laptop A to print to the shared printer. Go to add a new printer on Laptop A while it is connected to your home network. click "A Network Printer" Choose "Connect to this printer" and choose next. It will search the network for shared printers. You can also just enter the path to the printer for example, \\laptopb\printer. You might have to load some drivers but it should work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 (edited) The easiest way would be to install Hamachi on both computers.https://secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi/vpn.asp Thanks for the suggestion just tried that... connected okay on my pc but did not work on my dads laptop... simply timed out on the connection. Any other ideas? Edited March 12, 2009 by Axel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Geek Alex Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Ok this one is really easy..... Here are the keys....set up and account on your machine with admin rights for him (make sure that account includes a password as this only works with a pwd). Sign into that account 1 time, you may never need to use it again unless he uses your machine and in that case having his own sign on to your machine may not be a bad thing either. Once that is done on your machine get the ip address (internal like 192.168.1.1 or something like that) of your machine. (Because you said the printer is already shared to someone else i'm betting the printer has a share name already). Once you have your ip address, go to his machine and go to start - run In the run box time \\192.168.1.1 (that is for my example you should use your address with the \\) once you do that you will be prompted for a sign on......this is because he is on the business domain on his machine, just use the user name and pwd created earlier......at this point you will see the window showing shared files/printers on your machine. Right click on the printer he uses and select connect. It will auto add and load it to his machine. At which point done......in the future ( if he reboots or days later) before he uses your printer all he would have to do is go to start run and type \\your ip again and get reprompted to sign in your your network....once he has done that your good to go.... If any of this doesnt make sense....let me know ill try to explain some more..... **Any one else talking about scripting what i said , ya i know you can do it but he wanted simple i think, not geek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abysal Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Thanks for the suggestion just tried that... connected okay on my pc but did not work on my dads laptop... simply timed out on the connection.Any other ideas? If it timed out; you didn't even get to the authentication part. You will need make sure your firewall allows file and printer sharing. Then when you try to connect to your PC from your dad's (\\"your pc name or IP") you will get an authentication log in box, generally if you create a local account to match your dad's domain / or local account (same user name and password) you will be able to connect to the printer and install drivers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 Go to add a new printer on Laptop A while it is connected to your home network. click "A Network Printer"Choose "Connect to this printer" and choose next. It will search the network for shared printers. You can also just enter the path to the printer for example, \\laptopb\printer. You might have to load some drivers but it should work. I have tried that and unfortunately it brings up a list of 2000 odd other printers from his company network but nothing from mine. I have even tried manually adding the path and the result is that it simply cannot be found. Your assumption of my setup is fairly accurate. It's more like: My PC: Printer physically attached and is shared on the network My Other Laptop: Added printer from network share, installed drivers, works perfectly. Dad's work laptop: Cannot join workgroup due to member of domain and thus cannot find or add printer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abysal Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 The workgroup vs domain printer sharing is not yet relevant as all it does is control authentication of user names and passwords (user accounts). What you need to do is determine first if both computers are on the same network if you haven't already done so. Find out the IP address of your PC and then your dad's laptop, if they are on the same network; determined by IP address and subnetmask. Also I would temporarily disable the firewall on your computer and try to ping your computer from your dad's, assuming your on the same network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 Ok this one is really easy.....Here are the keys....set up and account on your machine with admin rights for him (make sure that account includes a password as this only works with a pwd). Sign into that account 1 time, you may never need to use it again unless he uses your machine and in that case having his own sign on to your machine may not be a bad thing either. Once that is done on your machine get the ip address (internal like 192.168.1.1 or something like that) of your machine. (Because you said the printer is already shared to someone else i'm betting the printer has a share name already). Once you have your ip address, go to his machine and go to start - run In the run box time \\192.168.1.1 (that is for my example you should use your address with the \\) once you do that you will be prompted for a sign on......this is because he is on the business domain on his machine, just use the user name and pwd created earlier......at this point you will see the window showing shared files/printers on your machine. Right click on the printer he uses and select connect. It will auto add and load it to his machine. At which point done......in the future ( if he reboots or days later) before he uses your printer all he would have to do is go to start run and type \\your ip again and get reprompted to sign in your your network....once he has done that your good to go.... If any of this doesnt make sense....let me know ill try to explain some more..... **Any one else talking about scripting what i said , ya i know you can do it but he wanted simple i think, not geek. Thanks for your help, makes perfect sense. My LAN IP (192.168.0.5) is accessible from the other laptop no problem, however, my dads laptop cannot find the path... I'm gazumped :dontgetit: If it timed out; you didn't even get to the authentication part. You will need make sure your firewall allows file and printer sharing. Then when you try to connect to your PC from your dad's (\\"your pc name or IP") you will get an authentication log in box, generally if you create a local account to match your dad's domain / or local account (same user name and password) you will be able to connect to the printer and install drivers. I understood that it could possibly be down to settings on the router firewall, but that would be an explanation if all the computers could not access it... as it happens it was only his. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPQ Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Maybe installing a wireless printserver would fix your problem. Here are some examples: http://www.pixmania.nl/nl/nl/1668/xx/xx/440/9/criteresn.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 The workgroup vs domain printer sharing is not yet relevant as all it does is control authentication of user names and passwords (user accounts). What you need to do is determine first if both computers are on the same network if you haven't already done so. Find out the IP address of your PC and then your dad's laptop, if they are on the same network; determined by IP address and subnetmask.Also I would temporarily disable the firewall on your computer and try to ping your computer from your dad's, assuming your on the same network. His IP address is 192.168.0.4 on the laptop. I just verified he is connected to my wireless network with the SSID "Holland-Net". Maybe installing a wireless printserver would fix your problem.Here are some examples: http://www.pixmania.nl/nl/nl/1668/xx/xx/440/9/criteresn.html Thank you for the suggestion but I really did not want to have to fork for additional hardware. This must be acheivable in some other way... in fact I do remember it working in the past at some point, but have no idea what's changed. The only thing I can think is that I was provided a new router by my ISP (Sky) but made sure all the settings were the same as the old router. I must be an issue with the settings on his laptop somewhere. I don't really understand domains and he's got some sort of cisco VPN software running in the background which has got his works domain on it. I thought I may be able to use that to somehow add my network to the list (a glimmer of hope anyway) but that did not work. Any other brainwaves? I really do appreciate your help and time on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetsam Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Make sure the printer is set to be shared on the computer its connected to. The on your dad's laptop add network printer and for the location \\192.168.0.2\printer_name. I tried this once and it worked for me. May be it will work for you too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 Make sure the printer is set to be shared on the computer its connected to. The on your dad's laptop add network printer and for the location \\192.168.0.2\printer_name. I tried this once and it worked for me. May be it will work for you too... Just tried and it did not work. It's as if his laptop is totally isolated from the network... the only place I can see it exists is within the router settings... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudnartim Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 maybe try shutting down the cisco software when he goes to print Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlasherKG Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 I agree with mithrandir, It would seem that the VPN is the fail point here. While he is connected to the VPN, all traffic is routed via it. If you disconnect the VPN, (even temporarily), he should be able to see the local network again. Then, once printing is done, reconnect the VPN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted March 13, 2009 Author Share Posted March 13, 2009 maybe try shutting down the cisco software when he goes to print I agree with mithrandir, It would seem that the VPN is the fail point here. While he is connected to the VPN, all traffic is routed via it. If you disconnect the VPN, (even temporarily), he should be able to see the local network again. Then, once printing is done, reconnect the VPN. Cheers guys - WORKS! Problem is now that if you reconnect to the VPN and then disconnect afterwards it won't connect straight awat wutgiyt a lot of faffing! My dad spoke to a tech support guy based in atlanta for his company, he reckons changing IP addresses to conform and start with 172 instead of 192 may allow access to the LAN, this may work as I noticed in the VPN settings there is a tick in a box which says LAN access should be allowed. We'll see.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted March 13, 2009 Author Share Posted March 13, 2009 The IP address trick didn't work... however pointing the printer to my network IP rather than computer ID seems to make the switching between VPN and local (i.e. VPN off) rather more straight forward. All in all it works! Thanks for everyones help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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