Printing problem after Win 8 PC added to network

stony41

New Member
Messages
22
I have recently taken an XP PC off my network and have replaced it with a Win 8 PC. I had two printers attached to the XP and now these are attached to the Win 8.

Printing is fine from within the Win 8, but the networked printers don't show on the Win 7s (three of them).

The PCs are in a workgroup, for although all PCs normally on the network are Win 7 and 8, occasionally an XP netbook will be attached. But I suppose I could try a homegroup.

What used to occur was that a printer attached to the XP appeared on the other PCs as 'Canon iP4900 series on X', where X was the name of the remote PC. It was necessary to install the drivers on all the PCs.

Since the change, the two printers are named on the host Win 8 and are marked as shared but are not mentioned on the Win 7s as being on X, which prevents printing. A third printer is attached to the Win 7 at the other end of the house and this appears as being on Y on the other Win 7s and on the Win 8.

I would be grateful for advice as to how I can make the two printers on the Win 8 available to the Win 7s. I must admit that I didn't expect this situation. Network printing has been a breeze previously.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Medion E6234
    CPU
    i3-3120M
    Memory
    4 GB
    Browser
    IE 11
    Antivirus
    Norton IS
Ok it may be just me but the way you explained is confusing lol. Anyways are you trying to connect the Host pc Win8 to the printer via usb or network then sharing it to the others through the Host (win8) pc? Rather than installing the printer and connecting them separately?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.40GHz x4
    Motherboard
    Tyan (dont remember model number)
    Memory
    Kingston 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM x2
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForice GT 640
    Browser
    IE
    Antivirus
    Avast
Can't see how it is confusing. For years the way I have networked printers is to install the driver for each printer on each PC. Then on a PC where the printers are not physically connected two icons appear for each printer, one for the 'dummy' printer and the other showing the printer located on the PC to which it is connected. Selecting that latter icon results in the job being printed.

(When the Win 8 was on the network and had no printers attached to it, it played the game by the rules and would print via printers attached to other network PCs, but now it has the printers attached to it, it seems to want to keep the printers to itself and not play the sharing game.)

As it is, a third printer that is physically connected to a Win 7 PC shows on the PCs to which it isn't physically connected as 'HP LaserJet 4/4M PS on X', where X is the nickname of the Win 7 PC to which the printer is actually connected. This is not happening for the printers physically attached to the Win 8. Only the dummy printers show on the Win 7 PCs. In fact, with Win 8 (8.1.1) I am staggered to find that the icons of the printers physically connected to the Win 8 don't show on the Win 8 unless the printers are turned on. Don't know what Microsoft was thinking when it made this change. Surely a user should be able to see all printer icons in Devices and Printers and not just those for printers that are turned on at the time.

I am wondering if searching by IP address might work. Apparently gone is the way that network printing worked in XP, Vista and Win 7.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Medion E6234
    CPU
    i3-3120M
    Memory
    4 GB
    Browser
    IE 11
    Antivirus
    Norton IS
If I understand this correctly you have a Windows 8 pc and on this Windows 8 pc you connected a printer via USB port. When the printer installed onto windows 8, it asked you to share the printer, and you did, right? If so, what is the shared name of the printer? You will need to know the shared name of the printer and the Windows 8 computer name.

Now, from a windows 7 computer do the following:

Click Start, run, and then put in the following: \\windows8computername\printersharedname


If windows 7 says it can't find the printer or if it prompts for a login (which will probably happen) you will need to provide a valid login\password for the windows 8 computer.

A good way to find out what is shared on the windows 8 computer is to do the following:

Click Start, click run and then type the following: \\windows8computername and then press ok. This will tell you if anything is shared. If you see the printer, just double click the printer and it will install it on your Windows 7 computer.

If you don't see the printer then it isn't shared or you don't have it shared properly.

Now if the printers are connected to the network via a switch and the printer has its on ip address, then I would connect directly to the printer and not go through the sharing of the printer off of a computer. More work for the network and for the computers that are involved.

Hope this helps.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASRock 990FX Killer
    CPU
    AMD FX 8320
    Motherboard
    ASRock 990 FX Killer
    Memory
    32gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte GTX 750i
    Sound Card
    Realtek (Stock on MB)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS 27 HD Monitor & a 37" LCD HD TV Screen (For movies)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    1 250 GB SS hard drive for OS
    1 1TB hard drive for data / mirrored to a second 1 TB hd.
    PSU
    650W
    Case
    No name tower
    Cooling
    Enermax Liqtech 240
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech
    Internet Speed
    Dnload 10.48 Upload .48
    Browser
    IE 11 and Chrome when IE doesn't work
    Antivirus
    F-PROT
Click Start, click run and then type the following: \\windows8computername and then press ok. This will tell you if anything is shared. If you see the printer, just double click the printer and it will install it on your Windows 7 computer.

Many thanks for this solution. I had tried putting in both the computername and the printername in Run, but that didn't get me anywhere. But I may not have waited long enough for something to happen! All Win 7s can now connect to the printers on the Win 8. My memory is that when the printers were connected to the XP the shared printers just popped up on the other PCs ... but maybe they didn't!

This leaves me with just one more printer to tame: an old but heavy-duty mono Kyocera FS-6900 laser that worked fine on the XP. This reportedly can work in Win7 (but not Win 8) with a 'universal' driver from Kyocera. But so far no go. The printer uses a parallel connection and so must have a parallel-USB adapter. Perhaps the adapter isn't working (these adapters are tricky and perhaps another brand might work). A friend and I are about to try a print server. But it won't be the end of the world if I have to retire the beast.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Medion E6234
    CPU
    i3-3120M
    Memory
    4 GB
    Browser
    IE 11
    Antivirus
    Norton IS

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASRock 990FX Killer
    CPU
    AMD FX 8320
    Motherboard
    ASRock 990 FX Killer
    Memory
    32gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte GTX 750i
    Sound Card
    Realtek (Stock on MB)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS 27 HD Monitor & a 37" LCD HD TV Screen (For movies)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    1 250 GB SS hard drive for OS
    1 1TB hard drive for data / mirrored to a second 1 TB hd.
    PSU
    650W
    Case
    No name tower
    Cooling
    Enermax Liqtech 240
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech
    Internet Speed
    Dnload 10.48 Upload .48
    Browser
    IE 11 and Chrome when IE doesn't work
    Antivirus
    F-PROT

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 64bit Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus Notebook N53SV Series
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM)i7-2630 CPU @ 2.0GHz /turbo 2.9Hz
    Motherboard
    Intel® HM65 Express Chipset
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT540M
    Sound Card
    realtek
    Screen Resolution
    1366/768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate 500gb 5400
    Keyboard
    microsoft wireless keyboard 3000 v2
    Mouse
    microsoft wieless mouse 5000
    Internet Speed
    13/16mbs
    Browser
    IE Firefox Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
You could try this driver from the manufacturer, perhaps, it says for Windows 8/8.1 (32bit/64bit) : FS-6900 Driver Download Centre | KYOCERA Document Solutions Serviceworld - downloads, drivers, documentations, utilities

Thanks for info, but I already had this driver but somehow couldn't get either Win 7 or 8 to print to the printer despite the driver being installed and the printer said to be 'ready'. It again seemed necessary to actually ask the Win 7s to connect to the Kyocera on the Win 8 before the printer driver on the Win 7 would install correctly and work. Before Win 8 I have simply had to install the driver on non-host PCs to get things to work. In Win 8 it seems that the host PC needs to be recognised as boss and manage the links.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Medion E6234
    CPU
    i3-3120M
    Memory
    4 GB
    Browser
    IE 11
    Antivirus
    Norton IS
You can always go this route with the parallel printer:

Amazon.com: TP-LINK TL-PS110P Single parallel port fast ethernet Print Server, E-mail Alert, Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) SMB: Electronics

This way, you can print directly to the printer and not involve any other computers in the process.

I have a print server on the way that a mate and I were going to try to use with the parallel Kyocera, but the problem is now resolved as I have reported in my previous post. The server will now have to go to another home.

Many thanks to both of you for your advice.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Medion E6234
    CPU
    i3-3120M
    Memory
    4 GB
    Browser
    IE 11
    Antivirus
    Norton IS
You should try homegroup it should work well, and should fix the problem, as you say you no longer need XP, It doesn't take long to set up and test - make sure the host machine has printer sharing enabled via devices and printers in control panel - right click the printer - printer properties - sharing - and select what you want -then in network and Sharing click homegroup -create a homegroup - easy prompts - if you want to share other folders after you finish there just right click them and select share with homegroup.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 64bit Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus Notebook N53SV Series
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM)i7-2630 CPU @ 2.0GHz /turbo 2.9Hz
    Motherboard
    Intel® HM65 Express Chipset
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT540M
    Sound Card
    realtek
    Screen Resolution
    1366/768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate 500gb 5400
    Keyboard
    microsoft wireless keyboard 3000 v2
    Mouse
    microsoft wieless mouse 5000
    Internet Speed
    13/16mbs
    Browser
    IE Firefox Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
You should try homegroup.

I could set up a homegroup now that the XP has gone, as I said earlier, but the existing workgroup seems to be working normally. I will keep a homegroup in mind.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Medion E6234
    CPU
    i3-3120M
    Memory
    4 GB
    Browser
    IE 11
    Antivirus
    Norton IS
:) good luck.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 64bit Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus Notebook N53SV Series
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM)i7-2630 CPU @ 2.0GHz /turbo 2.9Hz
    Motherboard
    Intel® HM65 Express Chipset
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT540M
    Sound Card
    realtek
    Screen Resolution
    1366/768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate 500gb 5400
    Keyboard
    microsoft wireless keyboard 3000 v2
    Mouse
    microsoft wieless mouse 5000
    Internet Speed
    13/16mbs
    Browser
    IE Firefox Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
:) good luck.

My luck seems to have deserted me.

I have descended into the printers offline horror widely reported by Win 8 users.

Two network printers, both attached to the Win 8, are now constantly reporting that they are offline. Workarounds on the Net usually say to turn off and on the print spooler and this has worked temporarily, but this 'fix' seems to have given up as well. (A very old mono laser, attached to a Win 7 at the other end of the house, is unaffected. Always online and always prints.)

I started with 100% success. Installed the printer drivers on the Win 8 and on the Win 7s. Everything worked fine on all four PCs until suddenly the printers started to pop up in Word as being offline and print jobs started to pile up. One printer suddenly printed a page and then promptly went offline again.

Before I give up and attach the printers to a Win 7, can this Win 8 nonsense be rectified, permanently? I would be very grateful indeed if someone could provide a solution to this chaos.

I have noticed that someone in another thread has recommended using static IP addresses for printers to overcome this situation. Could try this, I suppose, but would prefer to try something less drastic.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Medion E6234
    CPU
    i3-3120M
    Memory
    4 GB
    Browser
    IE 11
    Antivirus
    Norton IS
:) good luck.

My luck seems to have deserted me.

I have descended into the printers offline horror widely reported by Win 8 users.

Two network printers, both attached to the Win 8, are now constantly reporting that they are offline. Workarounds on the Net usually say to turn off and on the print spooler and this has worked temporarily, but this 'fix' seems to have given up as well. (A very old mono laser, attached to a Win 7 at the other end of the house, is unaffected. Always online and always prints.)

I started with 100% success. Installed the printer drivers on the Win 8 and on the Win 7s. Everything worked fine on all four PCs until suddenly the printers started to pop up in Word as being offline and print jobs started to pile up. One printer suddenly printed a page and then promptly went offline again.

Before I give up and attach the printers to a Win 7, can this Win 8 nonsense be rectified, permanently? I would be very grateful indeed if someone could provide a solution to this chaos.

I have noticed that someone in another thread has recommended using static IP addresses for printers to overcome this situation. Could try this, I suppose, but would prefer to try something less drastic.

Yes I mentioned that fix and it's the only thing working for now.

Most routers have a DHCP reservation list where you can add each machine by IP, user name and MAC address. It's made just to avoid these types of permission problems and there is nothing really drastic about it.

You could also try adding the credentials for each user to the credential manager via the Control Panel at Windows Credentials.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro WMC
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    Q9650 @ 4.05 GHz
    Motherboard
    Gforce 780i SLI FTW
    Memory
    8GB Gskill DDR2 1200Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX-480
    Sound Card
    Asus D2 Xonar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HannsG
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Gskill 120GB SSD
    PSU
    Thermal Take 1000watts
    Case
    Thermal Take Xtreme
    Cooling
    9 fans air cooled
    Keyboard
    G15 logitech
    Mouse
    G9 logitech
    Internet Speed
    50mbps
I will try the static IP thing if I don't decide to attach these printers to a neighbouring Win 7. I have had a wired network for years and have never had vanishing printers before. But previously the printers were attached to an XP and not a Win 8. Obviously the XP was more cooperative in printing matters. And it is notable that a very old laser attached to a Win 7 elsewhere in the network is steadfastly online.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Medion E6234
    CPU
    i3-3120M
    Memory
    4 GB
    Browser
    IE 11
    Antivirus
    Norton IS
I have static IP addresses and DHCP disabled as I use an access point router - one router connects the DSL line and the other is the wireless router or access point router - so you need to assign IP addresses to all the computers - you could try these primary and secondary addresses, or your ISP provider would have others on their website :
primary 204 194 232 200
secondary 204 194 234 200

That will fix connection problems connecting to the internet but not sure about your printers dropping out - homegroup would be the go so much easier, and a Microsoft account and see if that combination (static IP'S plus homegroup) does the trick.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 64bit Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus Notebook N53SV Series
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM)i7-2630 CPU @ 2.0GHz /turbo 2.9Hz
    Motherboard
    Intel® HM65 Express Chipset
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT540M
    Sound Card
    realtek
    Screen Resolution
    1366/768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate 500gb 5400
    Keyboard
    microsoft wireless keyboard 3000 v2
    Mouse
    microsoft wieless mouse 5000
    Internet Speed
    13/16mbs
    Browser
    IE Firefox Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
I have static IP addresses and DHCP disabled as I use an access point router - one router connects the DSL line and the other is the wireless router or access point router - so you need to assign IP addresses to all the computers - you could try these primary and secondary addresses, or your ISP provider would have others on their website :
primary 204 194 232 200
secondary 204 194 234 200

That will fix connection problems connecting to the internet but not sure about your printers dropping out - homegroup would be the go so much easier, and a Microsoft account and see if that combination (static IP'S plus homegroup) does the trick.

Yes, you see the printers are dropping out because the user accounts are tied to the IP of the machine the User accounts were created on. Once the IP changes through DHCP the permissions to use the printers vanishes as well. This is in fact why the printers appear to be offline. There should also be no need to mess with the DNS settings if the router is already using a proper DNS server.

As I just mentioned you don't need to assign static IP's through the IPv4 properties interface IF you have DHCP reservation on the router which is MUCH easier to set up.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro WMC
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    Q9650 @ 4.05 GHz
    Motherboard
    Gforce 780i SLI FTW
    Memory
    8GB Gskill DDR2 1200Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX-480
    Sound Card
    Asus D2 Xonar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HannsG
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Gskill 120GB SSD
    PSU
    Thermal Take 1000watts
    Case
    Thermal Take Xtreme
    Cooling
    9 fans air cooled
    Keyboard
    G15 logitech
    Mouse
    G9 logitech
    Internet Speed
    50mbps
Thanks Chev65 that cleared it up for me - although I would like to point out I have a D-link router (DIR 825) that needs a slave modem, which is also D-link to connect the DSL line, as it doesn't have a DSL socket and according to the manual it is necessary to disable DHCP and create static IPS - originally I had it enabled - I had no problem with the printers dropping out, but I had bad connection problems to a lot of sites, sometimes they would partially load - refreshing worked sometimes, if that didn't you could try restarting the browser and if that didn't work try again later.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 64bit Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus Notebook N53SV Series
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM)i7-2630 CPU @ 2.0GHz /turbo 2.9Hz
    Motherboard
    Intel® HM65 Express Chipset
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT540M
    Sound Card
    realtek
    Screen Resolution
    1366/768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate 500gb 5400
    Keyboard
    microsoft wireless keyboard 3000 v2
    Mouse
    microsoft wieless mouse 5000
    Internet Speed
    13/16mbs
    Browser
    IE Firefox Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Back to my problem.

First, assigning static IP addresses for my three printers isn't a solution for me as none has network capability built in. They are all connected via USB to my Win 8.

Second, a friend who used to oversee network printing for a large organisation has had a go at my problem. He set everything up again and, as happened with me, everything worked. We printed a test page from all three Win 7s as well as some Word pages. My friend was about to leave a little while later when I suggested that he check how things were going. In a matter of minutes we went from a 100% result to just printing from the Win 8. The Win 7s were again reporting server offline. Trying turning off and on the print spooler got a ready message, but when a print was attempted we got the ridiculous message 'Server Offline: 1 document waiting' in Word.

My friend was astonished that printing from the Win 7s could go from everything to nothing so quickly and had no idea why.

Anyone seen this phenomenon and, if so, know a solution? I could accept printing failure if it happened from the outset but to have printing working and then not working minutes later is beyond the pale. It was a doddle with XP and should be with Win 8 as well.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Medion E6234
    CPU
    i3-3120M
    Memory
    4 GB
    Browser
    IE 11
    Antivirus
    Norton IS
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 64bit Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus Notebook N53SV Series
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM)i7-2630 CPU @ 2.0GHz /turbo 2.9Hz
    Motherboard
    Intel® HM65 Express Chipset
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT540M
    Sound Card
    realtek
    Screen Resolution
    1366/768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate 500gb 5400
    Keyboard
    microsoft wireless keyboard 3000 v2
    Mouse
    microsoft wieless mouse 5000
    Internet Speed
    13/16mbs
    Browser
    IE Firefox Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Back
Top