Printing on wireless notebook

I have a desktop computer connected to a hp 4 in 1 printer. I access the internet via dsl. I just bought a wirelesss laptop and a router. All I would like to do is be able to print from my laptop to my desktop.

I have been told that I need to buy a wireless desktop adapter in order to do that. I was also told I don't need a wireless desktop adapter.

I have turned print sharing on on the desktop. When I run add printer on the laptop, my printer does not come up. Everyone tells me how easy this is but it does not seem to work.

Can anyone tell me how I can configure my system so that I can print out from my laptop to my desktop. I use the linksys wtg54 router I think it is called. What would I need to do on my desktop and what do I need to do on the laptop in order to print from both and do I need a wireless adapter for the desktop?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Steve

 

the desktop...

1. share your printer from your desktop (not only do you have to have file/print sharing turned on, but you have to r/click on the actual printer and share it)
2. leave your desktop on

the laptop...

1. browse to your desktop via explorer
2. printer should show attached to your desktop
3. right click on the printer and add it

you don't need a wireless desktop adapter (i dont' even know what that is), all you need is (a) to be able to see the desktop from your laptop and (b) the desktop to be on

 

Ok, I am not new to computers but new to this. When you say
the laptop...

1. browse to your desktop via explorer

How do I browse from the laptop to explorer to show if the printer is attached.
Please be patient, since I am totally confused by what so many people told me on the phone and in stores and from books I have picked up.


<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by drumfu

 

Thanks for the info, but the problem is that I did have a print server, but it does not work with the hp 4-1 printers. You can print and copy, but you cannot use the fax or scan features, which was confirmed by hp after being on the phone with them for over 9 hours trying to configure this.

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by SouthernGirl

 

Something else that you could do is connect your printer to your router using a mini print server. Here is just an example: http://www.netgear.com/products/details/PS101.php

~SG~
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Inspiron 9300 || 1.73GHz || 60GB 7200rpm ||1gb DDR2||ATI Radeon X300 64MB || CD/DVD RW || XP Pro

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by wildmanfla

 

When I followed what you said, it shows that my network is called Mshome and under it there is nothing, just Mshome.

Now under the printer and faxes it does show I have an hp with the hand, etc., which I hope means somehow it is connected. I had a problem adding the printer to start with, so don't even know if that is the problem. When I originally went to add printer, it did not show I had one to add, so I had to add it but installing the software.

I am lost here, since this was all suppose to be so simple with this wireless stuff.
I do appreciate your help, but I have spend literally over 16 hours or more trying to get this set up so that I could just print from my laptop to my desktop and not have to use a print server, so I can use my 4-1 from hp the way it is supposed to be used.

I guess if this does not work out, I will just have to print from the desktop.

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by drumfu

 

ok, breathe and let's start from the top

first, did you try the shortcut method by, from your laptop, typing in "\desktop computer name" in windows explorer from your laptop?

next, are you sure your laptop is connected to the wifi router (can you hit the internet?). if not, that's step one, getting your laptop configured. if it is configured, then...

...make sure your desktop and laptop are both on the same workgroup. when you said you went to mshome, you didn't see anything under there. if you didn't see your laptop under there, then that makes me assume it's setup on a different workgroup name.

you can check from the laptop by rightclicking 'my computer' > properties > computer name... the workgroup name should be there. if it's not 'mshome', then change it to mshome.

after you've done, this reboot your laptop and follow the steps in my previous post (where you couldn't find anything under mshost)

if...

1. your desktop and laptop are both on the same network and in the same workgroup and
2. you have shared the printer from your desktop (doing this will automatically enable sharing)

then you should be good to go.

this is exactly how i have my netword setup at my parent's residence. my father has a desktop connected to dsl via a wifi router (his desktop is hardwired). he has a printer connected to his desktop. when i visit, i use the wifi router to connect my laptop and print to the printer connected to his desktop.

it is easy to do and should only take a couple mins. take a breath, step away and come back following the above steps. it should work.

good luck.

 

I went to the file on my laptop to check for the computer name and it just shows the Mshome which is on both computers. I can't get to or find windows explorer on the laptop to put in the \desktop computer name

Also, I have no problem in connecting to the internet on my laptop and surfing , etc. When I had the print server I was also able to print from both. Now that I got rid of the print server I can't print.

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by drumfu

 

One thing that may help is going into 'My network places' and on the left panel, click 'set up a home or small office network'.

sometimes even when the workgroup is all set up and everything looks great, things don't work. this wizard usually fixes stuff. run it both on your notebook and your desktop using all the same settings as described before.

hope this helps

 

Thank you.
I have tried that as well, set it up on both computers and on the desktop it tells me I cannot set up a network. It is strange. On the laptop I have to plug in my printer so I can add it. I do have the printer icon on the laptop but it just does not let me print from it. Not sure what to do at this point.

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by NachoDog

 

this is very simiar to what drmfu has said above.



ON THE DESKTOP.

1.) make sure printer is installed and running perfectly.
2.) go to mycomputer, right click, go to Properties, Click on the "Computer Name" tab.

3.) You will see WORKGROUP: and a name next to it. Remember it. [It is called HOME in the illustration].
http://img265.echo.cx/img265/7848/18qd1.gif


FOLLOW THE SAME STEPS ON THE LAPTOP.

If, the workgroup names on the laptop and the desktop are NOT the same, click on "CHANGE" on the LAPTOP and right at the ending, PUT THE SAME WORKGROUP NAME THAT U REMEMBERD IN STEP3 ON THE DESKTOP.

http://img265.echo.cx/img265/5185/20oh.gif

Reboot the laptop if asked to (dont hesitate, just do it).

now,
ON THE LAPTOP.

DELETE ALL EXISTING PRINTERS OR ATLEAST THE PRINTER YOU ARE TRYING TO ADD RIGHT NOW.

1.) Click start, go to CONTROL PANEL.
2.) CHANGE YOUR VIEW TO CLASSIC VIEW, TOP LEFT CORNER.
3.) CLICK ON PRINTERS AND FAXES ON THE CLASSIC VIEW].
4.) On the TOP LEFT SIDE, YOU WOULD SEE " ADD A PRINTER ". Click on it.
5.) A wizard called, ADD PRINTER WIZARD comes up, CLICK NEXT.
http://img265.echo.cx/img265/7273/37hm.gif

6.) Select ADD NETWORK PRINTER, OR A PRINTER ATTACHED TO ANOTHER COMPUTER. CLICK NEXT.
http://img265.echo.cx/img265/773/44rj.gif

7.) The next screen asks you to locate the printer, make sure BROWSE is selected, and then CLICK NEXT.
http://img265.echo.cx/img265/3282/53oo.gif

8.) You would most probarbly see a MICROSOFT WINDOWS NETWORK tree completely retracted. DOUBLE CLICK ON IT.
http://img297.echo.cx/img297/6764/61iv.gif

9.) As u click on it, you will see the NAME OF THE WORKGROUP THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN YOUR NETWORK. DOUBLE CLICK ON IT.
http://img297.echo.cx/img297/8001/79uz.gif

10.)As u click on it, you will see the name of the desktop computer as well as the laptop there. DOUBLE CLICK ON THE NAME OF THE DESKTOP.
http://img292.echo.cx/img292/4100/84oi.gif

11.)There you should see the printer available, on ur desktop. DOUBLE CLICK ON THE PRITNER

http://img295.echo.cx/img295/1255/92ap.gif

and you will see the dialog box similar to the one below.

http://img295.echo.cx/img295/2737/103oy.gif

12.) CLICK ON YES, and give the laptop about 20 seconds to install the printer.

13.) the DEFAULT PRINTER dialog box comes up, select yes if u want this printer to do all your printing jobs.
http://img295.echo.cx/img295/12/118sr.gif


14.) CLICK FINISH.
http://img70.echo.cx/img70/1586/129tw.gif

15.) You are done, now go to word, and try printing from this printer. if this doesnt work then, MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU.


P.S. all this took me not more than 2 minutes to go through. I HOPE, that the operating system on ur laptop and ur desktop is windows xp. This is very important, because otherwise u may need to provide with alternative drivers for the operating system on ur laptop.
MAKE SURE YOUR DESKTOP IS ALWAYS TURNED ON AND RUNNING NORMALLY WHENEVER U WANT TO PRINT.



LG - LP60
Mobile Intel Pentium4 3.06 - HT
1Gb Ram

15.4" WXGA TFT LCD

 

I want to thank all ofyou who have tried to assist me.
Here is an update. After spending almost 20 hours or more with tech support from hp, linksys, dell, I finally called microsoft. After spending approximately 4 hours or so troubleshooting with the tech, it was determine that once I had disabled Zonealarm from the desktop; then I deleted the Norton Security software that Dell installed in my new Inspiron 6000 laptop, I was able to ping both computers and also able to print from my laptop to the desktop printer.

I then enabled zone alarm and reinstalled Norton Security and then had the same problems that I started with.

So if you have the same issue, disable your zone alarm and deleted Norton Security and you should be fine. This worked for me. I can now share my printer without any problems. I installed the free AVG virus software that is provided online and have no issues.
Thank you all for your help.

You gave me the correct information, but it was the zone alarm and the norton that was causing all these problems.

 

I had a similar problem, but did away with norton because it is resource hungry, then i found out that Norton was the problem.

 

Wow something I know about!

We had this exact same problem when setting up our home network with that Linksys router. Going round in circles setting up networks on both comps etc etc... found it was zonealarm too and we had to keep deactivating it to be able to print. But... if you go into zonealarm, firewall tab and add your ip addresses as 'trusted' (usually 192.168.1.whatever) on both comps, bingo, you no longer have to keep disabling zonealarm!! (I don't use Norton, BAH, so don't know what effect that has on things).

hehe