Share a Printer from XP to Windows 7

Posted by Aseem on Sunday, January 17th 2010

17
Jan

One common problem I have run into with clients is trying to share a printer connected to a Windows XP machine with Windows 7. There are lots of people out there that have USB connected printers attached to one computer, usually a Windows XP machine.

If you get a new laptop running Windows 7, it makes sense to share that printer so that any computer can print to it. Unfortunately, trying to print to an shared printer on XP from Windows 7 is not as simple as it should be!

In this article I will walk you through the steps for XP to Windows 7 printer sharing. I am assuming your printer is directly attached to a Windows XP machine and you want to print from a Windows 7 machine.

Step 1: First make sure that the printer on the XP machine is shared. You can do this by right-clicking on the printer and choosing Sharing.

Click the Share this printer radio button and give your printer a share name. Make sure is less than 8 characters and does not contain any symbols.

Step 2: Make sure you can see the printer share from the network browsing area in Windows 7. You can do this by going to Control Panel and clicking on Network and Internet.

Then click on View network computers and devices under Network and Sharing Center.

At this point, you should see the name of your XP computer in the list of computers. Mine XP machine is called Aseem.

Double-click on the computer name and you should see your shared printer in the list. Here you can try to add the printer by right-clicking on it and choosing Connect.

If everything goes perfectly, Windows 7 should automatically add the printer to your set of printers. However, if you get a message like “Cannot connect to printer”, follow the next steps.

Step 3: Click on Start and then click on Devices and Printers. At the top, click on the Add a printer link.

Step 4: Next choose Add a local printer. Yes, that sounds counter-intuitive, but this is what you have to do!

Step 5: Next, click Create a new port and choose Local port from the list of options.

Step 6: Click Next and in the Port name box, type in the path to the shared printer. It should be something like \\Aseem\HPXP, where Aseem is the name of your XP machine and HPXP is the shared name of the printer.

Step 7: Now choose the printer driver from the list or download the latest driver for the printer and choose Have Disk. Note that if you printer is a little older, it’s a good idea to download the Windows 7 driver for the printer and click Have Disk.

That’s it! Windows 7 will load the driver and you’ll be able to print to the XP machine from Windows 7! The main things to remember are sharing the XP printer and downloading the latest driver for the printer on the Windows 7 machine.

If you have any problems sharing your printer on XP and printing from Windows 7, post a comment here and I will try to help! Enjoy!

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20 Comments Already

Tregonsee Said,

January 17th, 2010 @3:40 pm

Interesting article. It solved a VISTA problem for me.

Dale Said,

January 18th, 2010 @6:03 pm

Sweet, this was really helpful. I’ve had a Windows 7 PC since Christmas now and was not able to print to my printer connected to my XP machine. I didn’t realize you had to go through all these steps! Maybe I should update that one to Win 7 too!

Elaine Said,

January 19th, 2010 @8:57 am

Thank you, thank you, thank you. We’ve been trying to do this for 3 days and managed it first time with your instructions! I’m very grateful!

GCTECH Said,

January 21st, 2010 @4:52 pm

it doesn’t work with mine. first of all, when i go to the PC that has windows 7, and i go to ” view network printer and devices ” , i don’t see my computer there( the one with the xp ). can you tell me how do i make it discoverable on my windows 7? please, give me the steps.

thanks

Tamer Said,

January 21st, 2010 @6:21 pm

thanks a lot Aseem for ur organized answer but it didn’t work for me. I still can’t use the printer even when the printer name is shown in the network menu on Vista …but it says it cannot connect to the printer???

Vlen Said,

January 23rd, 2010 @3:30 pm

Thank you Thank you Thank you. Your instructions worked the first time. Now I can print from Windows 7 to the printer on my XP machine. Much appreciated.

rjp370 Said,

January 23rd, 2010 @9:01 pm

After at least a dozen attempts to network the printer attached to the XP machine with very complicated instructions from a dozen different sites it didn’t work. Your simple instructions worked. I can’t tell you how you have cured my frustration. IT WORKED !
Thanks a million.

Spike Said,

January 24th, 2010 @1:11 am

I can’t connect to an HP Deskjet 3740 on from my Win 7 laptop to my win XP desktop. Hard to believe, but even though I have the disk that came with it, none of the drivers work, and MS and HP both state there is no driver for this printer!! So I guess it’s screw backward compatibility and the consumer at the same time. Small wonder I’m still running a box with Win2k. I hate to ‘upgrade’ when the upgrade is a downgrade. If anyone knows how to get around this, I’d appreciate a tip.

seibertesq Said,

January 24th, 2010 @8:44 pm

I have a slightly different problem. I *can* share my printer from XP to Windows 7 but cannot share it with a laptop running Vista. I get to the part where I see my XP PC, but when i double click on it, the Shared Printer does not display — instead I get a message “Windows cannot access \\(Printer Name). When I click on details, it says “Error Code 0×80070035 The network path was not found.” Any ideas?

old one Said,

February 3rd, 2010 @6:15 am

Hi. Very well written in plain English. My problem is that I can see my home router (which is connected to my XP PC) listed in the computer network and devices but I am unable to see my XP computer listed and therefore cannot select the shared printer (which is connected by USB to the XP PC). All very frustrating. Please help.

Eddy Said,

February 7th, 2010 @12:04 am

This also works for sharing a printer on a Win7 computer with an XP computer. I followed the instructions on the XP machine and I was able to connect. I did have to install the printer on XP first, connecting to a bogus port.

Caspies Said,

February 12th, 2010 @9:27 pm

I have a Windows 7 laptop, but my problem is a bit different. I was able to install and access via my wireless router to an XP machine that has a HP3740 printer; however, everything I print comes out as a mirror image! This is regardless of application, and is not effected by the “mirror” setting on the preferences page. The HP tech I chatted with said HP would be working a fix, but did not have one now. I would be eternally greatful if anyone could help.

yan Said,

February 19th, 2010 @12:42 am

hi there,

thanks for this wonderfull tips. the connect function from the shared printer doesnt work for me, i got the `cannot connect to printer error and on the add local printer on step 6, i got error too, the access is refused. can someone help me. took me all day to set the network and all is working fine for file sharing execpt this print share.

thanks in advance, yan

kevin Said,

February 19th, 2010 @8:28 pm

We have been struggling with this for at least a week now, and even canon couldn’ t give us clear instructions…your were much easier to follow and we have success! Thank you!

Nadya Said,

February 23rd, 2010 @7:47 pm

i did exactlly what u said for sharing printer with window 7 and i can see my printer on winodw 7 but i cann’t still print from my laptop window 7.any suggestion.

thanks

palmerr Said,

February 25th, 2010 @7:50 pm

When I double click on my XP computer it asks me my my network
user ID and Password. Where do I find this information? Why do
I need to enter it?
Thanks

tpayne105 Said,

February 27th, 2010 @1:09 am

wow that was fairly easy! Thank you so much

KirtlandJohn Said,

March 6th, 2010 @11:19 am

Your instructions are perfect! After trying dozens of “help Geek” internet articles on this topic, yours is the first one that covers ALL the steps. Thank you!

morganj1 Said,

March 10th, 2010 @7:38 am

The instructions are correct for what I want to do. However one of the last steps says to down load the win 7 driver. That I have not found on Dell or microsoft. MS says use the vista driver which did not work.