8.1 finds printer in other room but I blocked all sharing

feedgatorbill4

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I have everything I can see disabled for sharing. Everything in:
-Start > PC settings
-When I go to Start and type in 'homegroup', 'Network', 'workgroup', etc.
-This Computer > Network
-All file explorer folders and drives.
I think W8.1 installed like this.

I have a printer that's like 15 years old and worked fine in XP but couldn't get it to work with W8.1. I made a thread and we tried basically everything but I gave up and am getting a new printer. I'm waiting from the manufacturer if there's a universal driver or if it definitely can't be used with W8.

But anyway, when I tried to print, Windows couldn't find the 15 year old printer and asked to 'install a printer?" When I hit yes, it tries to install the printer on a computer in the other room (I know because of the printer name). That printer IS on a workgroup and can be printed from other computers here and most likely without a password or anything (but never printed from my PC using XP that I noticed).


I have "sharing and the ability to see other computers and devices on this network" turned off, so how did I find the device? Is it because the device is set to share without a password and windows thinks it's doing me a favor by allowing me to see it despite it saying I have even seeing other devices blocked?

I don't want to share anything at all to the network/workgroup/homegroup. I installed W8.1 about a week ago and haven't retreived my XP data from my external because of possible unaware sharing.

And, I'm pretty sure the workgroup here is called WORKGROUP, and even though I don't think I'm sharing on it, it says I'm on WORKGROUP under my 'System', so I also changed that to random jumbled letters. Is that an extra step to insure no sharing or actually prone to more accidental sharing, or it doesn't matter?

Any help appreciated. Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    w8
It would be helpful to specify the system specs. Also make and model of printer. You say it connected to a printer in another room so it's wireless? Is it possible to just connect it wired to the XP machine?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.0 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satelite C55D-A Laptop
    CPU
    AMD EI 1200
    Memory
    4 gb DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Raedon 340 MB dedicated Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Built in
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    640 GB (spinner) Sata II
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Touch pad
I doubt if you'll find a Windows 8 driver for a 15 year old printer. As for the computer finding another printer; I imaging that it is connected wirelessly to the network and not connected through a computer.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP ENVY 700-074
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 4430 @ 3.00 GHz
    Motherboard
    MS-7826 (Kaili)
    Memory
    12 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce GT 740
    Sound Card
    Integrated IDT 92HD68E2 Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung S27C230B
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    240 GB Kingston SSDNow V300 Series
    PSU
    stock
    Case
    stock
    Cooling
    stock
    Keyboard
    Logitech K520
    Mouse
    Logitech M310
    Browser
    Fire Fox
    Antivirus
    Eset Smart Security 7
If you don't want to use the printer in the other room, uninstall its driver.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
I might have figured it out sorta.

I could never get my Dell XPS 630 motherboard's onboard NIC to work with XP. Instead, I plugged my internet wire into a SMC1211TX add-on card that has a built-in driver and always worked.
In device manager, SMC1211TX is called "Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC". Device Manager shows the onboard NIC as "NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller" and it works with Windows 8.1.

I'm %98 sure that both cards don't have wireless capabilities. Although this site calls the SMC1211TX a wireless card and I read people installing drivers to make it wireless but I'm not sure if that requires additional hardware:
SMC SMC1211TX Wireless Network Adapters - Deals and Reviews - PriceSpider.com
All I can search out is people trying to add wireless to the Dell XPS 630's NVIDIA NIC and people saying that it does not come with wireless. I can't seem to find an exact model # for the onboard NVIDIA NIC to see if it has Ethernet, but according to this, it has Ethernet Dell XPS 630 Desktop specs

Someone mentioned "Is the printer on Ethernet, or is it connected directly to a PC? If it's on Ethernet, anything on the local network can see it."
The printer has a fax line from the wall phone jack, power cords, and the data cable's USB'd to the computer in the other room. The printer has Wireless enabled. The computer that the printer's plugged into might have an Ethernet card (I checked network controllers in Device Manager etc on that PC and didn't see the word Ethernet, but it might be). So, I turned off the computer in the other room that the printer's connected to, but I still found the printer when I tried to print when using my Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC. So I'm thinking that maybe since that NIC has Ethernet that I'm also getting wireless by being connected to a wireless router and it picks up the wireless printer? And that this still doesn't breach me sharing anything from my computer because everything's private right?

I also plugged into the onboard NVIDIA NIC. I tried to print and see if the onboard card would find the printer in the other room and it did; however, when I tried a few more times, it wouldn't find the printer anymore, so I thought maybe this card doesn't have Ethernet and that's why I could still find the printer with the other Ethernet card. But then even after rebooting a few times, I could still find the printer with the NVIDIA NIC with the computer in the other room turned off, so I'm thinking that maybe the NVIDIA NIC also has Ethernet? Or that maybe it doesn't and it only tried to install the printer because the info was cached from using the Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC?

Also worth mentioning that the first thing I did after installing 8.1 was download drivers (chipset first then BIOS then one or two others). The only chipset driver from Dell was for XP so I tried it anyway but it didn't install. The BIOS flash seemed to work. I tried their automated assistant to find and install drivers but it just showed the same XP drivers.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    w8
If your computer is hooked to a wireless router that is why your finding the printer. If you don't need the wireless on the printer you should be able to turn it off. Any reason why you don't want to use the printer with your computer?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP ENVY 700-074
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 4430 @ 3.00 GHz
    Motherboard
    MS-7826 (Kaili)
    Memory
    12 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce GT 740
    Sound Card
    Integrated IDT 92HD68E2 Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung S27C230B
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    240 GB Kingston SSDNow V300 Series
    PSU
    stock
    Case
    stock
    Cooling
    stock
    Keyboard
    Logitech K520
    Mouse
    Logitech M310
    Browser
    Fire Fox
    Antivirus
    Eset Smart Security 7
If your computer is hooked to a wireless router that is why your finding the printer. If you don't need the wireless on the printer you should be able to turn it off. Any reason why you don't want to use the printer with your computer?

I print shipping labels and make notes on them as they print which is more complicated doing in separate rooms. It's a rather loud printer and might wake people. And I'm looking for reasons to get my own color laser instead of using that inkjet.

I found out that both my NIC cards are Ethernet but I have nothing wireless for hardware, so can other computers on the router/network/Homegroup see my computer and possibly files (even though I have all sharing disabled)? The wireless/wi-fi is PW protected from the neighbors, but people who come here with Wi-Fi phones might know the PW. Just making sure. Thanks
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    w8
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