Can't view printers over the network
This may be something that simply doesn't work any more, but I'm hoping that's not the case. Here's the background; We have publicly accessible computers which are connected to network printers. In order to control costs, we've implemented what I like to call "redneck print management" which involves pausing the printers on the publicly accessible computers and allowing staff to connect over the network to the printers share on the computer to resume printing when the print job is paid for, then pause it again when it's done. This works just fine under Windows XP Professional. The method is quite common in environments such as ours. The problem arose when I went to replace some of the publicly accessible computers with new ones running Windows 7 Professional. When I browse to the computer over the network, I see nothing. No printers share, just a blank screen. I am able to connect to an administrative share (c$) just fine so connectivity is not the issue. Did Microsoft decide to hide the printers ?? Haven't found any documentation that covers that, so if you know of anything, please point me to it. Thanks in advance.
February 21st, 2012 6:55pm

Hi, 1. Are you able to ping the printer from the Win7 machine? 2. Try locating the printer by opening "Devices & Printers" and click "The printer that I want isn't listed" and type the printer name or directory to search it. 3. Check if the firewall on Win7 machine is blocking the access to "spoolsv.exe". allow this executable unlimited access on the network. Thanks, Girish --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please remember to click "Vote As Helpful" on the post if the information is useful to you ! Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you to fix the issues, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights.
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February 21st, 2012 10:58pm

Couple of things to check for 1. What is the network type that your computer is connected to (home, work, public)? 2. Enabe file and printer sharing (Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center\Advanced sharing settings) on your network home/work or private
February 22nd, 2012 12:52am

Try reading my post again. You obviously missed the issue altogether.
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February 23rd, 2012 6:44pm

I don't think you quite understand the question, but; 1: It's a domain network. 2: Already enabled.
February 23rd, 2012 6:48pm

Depending on the network type connection windows firewall get automatically configured. See if this link helps you http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-7/share-files-and-printers-between-windows-7-and-xp/
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February 23rd, 2012 7:00pm

Doesn't apply. I'm not sharing the printers under Windows 7.
February 23rd, 2012 8:07pm

You may need to enable "Remote administration exception" on the firewall netsh.exe firewall set service type=REMOTEADMIN mode=ENABLE scope=ALL http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc738900(v=ws.10).aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms365170.aspx
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February 24th, 2012 2:30am

@Girish Parashar; Try reading my post again. You obviously missed the issue altogether.
February 24th, 2012 2:40am

@Brano Lukic; I don't think you quite understand the question, but; 1: It's a domain network. 2: Already enabled.
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February 24th, 2012 2:44am

Firewall is off. Let me see if I can clear up the issue a little bit with a scenario; Let's say we have ourselves a domain network consisting of Server 2003 and Windows XP Professional. The clients are public access computers, so they're pretty well locked down with group policy. Firewalls are off since the entire network is well guarded at the gateway and connectivity is well established. I log in to the DC as a Domain Administrator and begin to browse the network. I choose one of my XP clients to browse and I see two items; Printers and Faxes and Scheduled Tasks. Sheduled Tasks is of no interest to us, but I mention it because it's there. Also, since I don't have any explicit shares on any of my clients, I don't see anything else when I browse a particular computer. If I double click on Printers and Faxes, I see the printers that are set up on that client computer. I can control them also since I have the credentials as a Domain Admin. All I really care about is the ability to Pause and Resume printing, so the rest is moot. Also, I'm not interested in printing to them. I print directly to the printer just as my XP client does, so I have no need to share it on the client, much less print to it as a shared printer from another computer. Now lets add to our happy little network a new computer running Windows 7 Professional. The addition goes smoothly with all policies being applied as they should and connectivity as solid as it is with XP. I even have Roaming Profiles working, so I can push out a standardized desktop which I can reconfigure on a whim if I so desire. The only thing that's missing is my ability to see the printers on my Windows 7 Professional client. This is an issue for us since we use this method to control print costs. Specifically, pausing the printers keeps the public from sending multipage print jobs to the printer they have no intention of picking up or paying for. We simply resume the printer once the public user pays for it, then pause the printer again when it's done. My hope is that there's some obscure setting, or even a registry hack, that will allow me to view the printers from the network. If such a setting is documented, I'd appreciate a pointer to the documentation. If I've left any ambiguity, feel free to ask for more clarification.
February 24th, 2012 12:39pm

I do understand that firewall is off. However i do think you still need to set GPO for Windows 7 to enable following: Windows Firewall: Allow inbound remote administration exception Windows Firewall: Allow inbound file and printer sharing exception
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February 24th, 2012 4:59pm

I do understand that firewall is off. However i do think you still need to set GPO for Windows 7 to enable following: Windows Firewall: Allow inbound remote administration exception Windows Firewall: Allow inbound file and printer sharing exception So,,,, have you reported this bug to Microsoft ?? I'm pretty sure they'd want to know that their firewall is blocking traffic even if it's off. Sorry I can't confirm the bug for you since I've never experienced it myself.
February 27th, 2012 6:45pm

I was just trying to help you with the problem. But if you don't need help, that's ok. Good luck. http://www.sevenforums.com/network-sharing/143380-remote-computer-management-configuration-help-please.html http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731857.aspx
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February 27th, 2012 7:06pm

your trying to browse the network for the printers. this will require enabling network sharing / discovery. can you ping the printer? is the computer browser service running? not sure why you dont share these printers through a single machine (a print server) and allow all access through that machine.
February 27th, 2012 7:52pm

I was just trying to help you with the problem. But if you don't need help, that's ok. Good luck. http://www.sevenforums.com/network-sharing/143380-remote-computer-management-configuration-help-please.html http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731857.aspx If you have a legitimate reason for suggesting I create a GPO that makes an exception in a firewall that isn't even on, then by all means share that.
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February 27th, 2012 8:10pm

your trying to browse the network for the printers. this will require enabling network sharing / discovery. can you ping the printer? is the computer browser service running? not sure why you dont share these printers through a single machine (a print server) and allow all access through that machine. Network Sharing and Network Discovery are already enabled. I'm not sharing the printers through a machine because they're network printers that I print to directly. I'm not trying to control access. I want to control the printer (pause and resume printing) so paper and toner aren't wasted on print jobs the public has no intention of paying for.
February 27th, 2012 8:12pm

OK you didnt answer my other questions. need more info.
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February 28th, 2012 10:17am

OK you didnt answer my other questions. need more info. and you apparently didn't read my original post or my much more detailed scenario. I can ping the printer and print to it. That's not the problem. I can browse the network, see all the computers, connect to them, etc. Again, that's not the problem. I'm not having trouble seeing or using network printers. I'm having trouble seeing the printers folder on Windows 7 Professional. I can see "Printers and Faxes" on computers with XP Professional and am controlling the printers over the network. I need to be able to do the same thing under Windows 7 Professional. Are we on the same page now ???
February 28th, 2012 12:20pm

I'm having trouble seeing the printers folder on Windows 7 Professional. I can see "Printers and Faxes" on computers with XP Professional and am controlling the printers over the network. I need to be able to do the same thing under Windows 7 Professional. I understand exactly what you mean, unfortunately I don't have an answer as I found this thread looking for the answer myself. This last post seems to summarize the issue nicely. Fact: A printer (eg: laserprint) is shared from a computer (eg: sharingPC) , and can be accessed to print to just fine from Windows XP and Windows 7. Fact: When browsing to this computer (eg: \\sharingPC) from a Windows XP client, you see shared folders (if any) and shared printers (if any). You will always see a "Printers and Faxes" folder, with a comment "Shows installed printers and fax printers and help you add new ones." If the server (sharingPC) is running Windows XP, you will also see a "Scheduled tasks" folder listed. Fact: When browsing to this computer (eg: \\sharingPC) from a Windows 7 client, you see shared folders (if any) and shared printers (if any). That's it. The issue: If no folders or printers are shared, you get nothing. This last point is the issue the original poster was bringing up, and why I stumbled into this thread. From Windows XP, you can go into the "Printers and Faxes" folder and view the properties of the printers (drivers, ports, etc), as well as pause and unpause them as needed, without installing the shared printer. This functionality is missing from Windows 7.
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March 21st, 2012 1:06pm

I'm having trouble seeing the printers folder on Windows 7 Professional. I can see "Printers and Faxes" on computers with XP Professional and am controlling the printers over the network. I need to be able to do the same thing under Windows 7 Professional. I understand exactly what you mean, unfortunately I don't have an answer as I found this thread looking for the answer myself. This last post seems to summarize the issue nicely. Fact: A printer (eg: laserprint) is shared from a computer (eg: sharingPC) , and can be accessed to print to just fine from Windows XP and Windows 7. Fact: When browsing to this computer (eg: \\sharingPC) from a Windows XP client, you see shared folders (if any) and shared printers (if any). You will always see a "Printers and Faxes" folder, with a comment "Shows installed printers and fax printers and help you add new ones." If the server (sharingPC) is running Windows XP, you will also see a "Scheduled tasks" folder listed. Fact: When browsing to this computer (eg: \\sharingPC) from a Windows 7 client, you see shared folders (if any) and shared printers (if any). That's it. The issue: If no folders or printers are shared, you get nothing. This last point is the issue the original poster was bringing up, and why I stumbled into this thread. From Windows XP, you can go into the "Printers and Faxes" folder and view the properties of the printers (drivers, ports, etc), as well as pause and unpause them as needed, without installing the shared printer. This functionality is missing from Windows 7. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, for actually reading enough to understand what I'm after. I get so tired of cookie cutter responses that have not a damned thing to do with the problem. Anyway, I found the solution. Crazy as it seems, once you share a printer, ANY printer, the printers folder suddenly and miraculously appears, AND remains visible even if you stop sharing the printer. Here's what I did since I didn't want to share the printers on the public computers; I have on all of them a PDF converter called "CutePDF". I shared that on each of the computers as "pdf$". That shared printer is invisible, but the fact that something is shared makes the folder visible over the network and I can now control the printers (pause and resume, specifically) from the server. (Server 2003) It even sees it as "Printers and Faxes". Now, I did not test to see if sharing nothing after sharing something would work long term, since these computers are at a remote location and I frankly don't need the extra headache right now with as many irons as I have in the fire. If your environment is different you might try it that way (share, then stop sharing) and see what happens. I figure the hidden share of the PDF converter can't get anybody in too much trouble. Good luck with yours and I hope you read the post soon. Joe
March 22nd, 2012 8:01pm

I'm having trouble seeing the printers folder on Windows 7 Professional. I can see "Printers and Faxes" on computers with XP Professional and am controlling the printers over the network. I need to be able to do the same thing under Windows 7 Professional. I understand exactly what you mean, unfortunately I don't have an answer as I found this thread looking for the answer myself. This last post seems to summarize the issue nicely. Fact: A printer (eg: laserprint) is shared from a computer (eg: sharingPC) , and can be accessed to print to just fine from Windows XP and Windows 7. Fact: When browsing to this computer (eg: \\sharingPC) from a Windows XP client, you see shared folders (if any) and shared printers (if any). You will always see a "Printers and Faxes" folder, with a comment "Shows installed printers and fax printers and help you add new ones." If the server (sharingPC) is running Windows XP, you will also see a "Scheduled tasks" folder listed. Fact: When browsing to this computer (eg: \\sharingPC) from a Windows 7 client, you see shared folders (if any) and shared printers (if any). That's it. The issue: If no folders or printers are shared, you get nothing. This last point is the issue the original poster was bringing up, and why I stumbled into this thread. From Windows XP, you can go into the "Printers and Faxes" folder and view the properties of the printers (drivers, ports, etc), as well as pause and unpause them as needed, without installing the shared printer. This functionality is missing from Windows 7. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, for actually reading enough to understand what I'm after. I get so tired of cookie cutter responses that have not a damned thing to do with the problem. Anyway, I found the solution. Crazy as it seems, once you share a printer, ANY printer, the printers folder suddenly and miraculously appears, AND remains visible even if you stop sharing the printer. Here's what I did since I didn't want to share the printers on the public computers; I have on all of them a PDF converter called "CutePDF". I shared that on each of the computers as "pdf$". That shared printer is invisible, but the fact that something is shared makes the folder visible over the network and I can now control the printers (pause and resume, specifically) from the server. (Server 2003) It even sees it as "Printers and Faxes". Now, I did not test to see if sharing nothing after sharing something would work long term, since these computers are at a remote location and I frankly don't need the extra headache right now with as many irons as I have in the fire. If your environment is different you might try it that way (share, then stop sharing) and see what happens. I figure the hidden share of the PDF converter can't get anybody in too much trouble. Good luck with yours and I hope you read the post soon. Joe
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March 23rd, 2012 2:58am

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