My house has two computers both networked together. The one upstairs runs vista, and the one in the basement runs XP. Recently the printer we had hooked up to the XP computer broke, and I am trying to network the printer upstairs (Lexmark Z611) to the one downstairs. I am having some trouble though, because while both computers recognize the Lexmark, only the one upstairs will print to it. The computer in the basement says that it has an error sending information to it. Does anyone know how I can fix this, so we don't have to run up and down the stairs just to print one document?

Did you share the printer on the vista machine then connect to the share on the xp machine?

Sorry, I've been out of town this week.

I am trying to share the printer connected to the vista computer with the xp computer.

Has the XP computer running using a PW'ed protected account (same with Vista)?

Vista, as a security precaution, won't allow network-connecting unless btwn PW protected user accounts

Um, what does PW stand for?

PW = Password

Neither accounts have a password. I have a folder of files shared between the two computers set up and working though.

Maybe MS lightened the restriction, as I know very well that this was not the case when Vista was first released, as I hit that very same stumbling block.

OK, next idea. Usually Windows will auto install drivers for shared printer on the connecting PC (in this case, the XP machine). Am wondering if Windows actually installed VISTA drivers on your XP box - thus incompatibility or connectibility issues. Have you tried DL'ing XP drivers for the printer and installing those (you will likely have to bring printer downstairs for a few minutes as will need to be connected LOCALLY for the drivers to properly install). Just make sure you uninstall drivers and network printer from the XP machine before you install the correct drivers.

Following that, each time you connect remotely (over the network), it should use the correct driver set

I have manually installed drivers on both machines from the disk that came with the printer. It said that it was for both vista and xp.

Hmmmm... am running out of ideas, as either option should have worked. If the right driver is installed on either machine, the printer on host machine is set as "shared" (please tell me you have set as shared??), and you have network access to the other computer over network, in theory we should have checked all the boxes so to speak.

Now have done a little digging on Lexmark's own site for a little guidance. Was going to post a direct link but setup of site makes that impossible. Instead have printed guide to PDF and uploaded to Megaupload. Link below for download... maybe this will help out. Just remember to uninstall currently installed drivers on XP machine so as to avoid complications.

I don't know if will rectify prob, but am all out of other options

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IPC7V80J