I am adding a Windows 7 Home 32-bit laptop (HP ProBook 4510s) to my home network. There is already an XP machine there with a shared USB printer (HP cp1160) which is in regular use from XP and Vista laptops on the network. I've attempted to add it to the new Windows 7 machine (the wizard found it and downloaded the driver from the XP machine) and I then tried to print a test page. I can see the test page being spooled (when I See what's printing - though I notice that it is shown with owner Guest). But if I look at the print queue on the XP machine, nothing ever appears there. Eventually, the queue clears at the Windows 7 machine as well - but nothing comes out of the printer! I have tried browsing to the printer, right-clicking and selecting Connect, but this makes no difference. So how is this supposed to work? And why is it so much harder than under XP?! Will

Hi Will, According to your description, I recommend you restart the Print Spooler service. You must be logged on as an administrator to perform these steps. 1. Open Administrative Tools by clicking the Start button , and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type administrative tools, and then click Administrative Tools. 2. Double-click Services. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. 3. Right-click the Print Spooler service, and then click Properties. 4. On the General tab, next to Startup type, make sure that Automatic is selected. 5. If the service is not already running, under Service status, click Start, and then click OK. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. In addition, please also clear the spooler files under %WINDIR%\system32\spool\printers after disabling Print Spooler service and update the printer drivers. Hope it can help you! Best Regards, Miya Yao This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. | Please remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, 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.

Thanks for the suggestion Miya, but unfortunately it didn't help. I checked that the primter is listed as Windows 7 compatible - it is, and says that no extra drivers are required. Yet when I plug it into a USB port on my Win7 pc, it tries to install the USB printing support (successfully) and then says that it cannot find a driver for the HEWLETT-PACKARDcp1160 device (but I thought it didn't need one?)! The Event Log contains the following entry: - EventData 4545305 5 PnPDriverNotFound Not available 0 x86 USBPRINT\HEWLETT-PACKARDcp1164C70 The closest I can get to having it work is to connect the printer to my XP machine, where it is shared; then to browse to it on the Win7 machine and right-click/Connect to it. Then I can look at its properties and request a Test page. I can see this spooling if I look at the print queue from the Win7 machine, but not if I look from the XP machine to which the printer is attached. After a while, the queue goes empty - but nothing prints! I notice that the Properties of the hp cp1160 printer on the XP box has Additional Drivers accessible from the Sharing tab, and this lists additional drivers that users can download automatically when they connect. There is only one checked entry there: Intel, Windows 2000 or XP - is this adequate to allow Win7 clients to share the printer (note the x86 in the Event log entry above, though it isn't clear if that might be the driver-type being sought)? Anu other ideas? Will

One problem solved - another one found! With the aid of Windows Restore, I was able to step back to a time before I had attempted to connect to the HP cp1160 on my XP machine. The following sequence must be followed to connect to the printer successfully: 1. Connect the printer directly to a USB port on the Windows 7 laptop. Windows 7 recognises the printer, connects to Windows Update and installs drivers for it – Print Test Page proves that this has worked. 2. Now disconnect the printer, and reconnect it to a USB port on the networked XP machine. 3. Select Start/Devices and Printers and click on the menu item “Add a printer” – allow the wizard to find the shared cp1160, or enter its share name (eg. \\my_XP_box\hp cp1160). The connection is made and no new drivers are downloaded from the XP machine. Bring up the Properties dialog for the printer and use Print Test Page to prove that a satisfactory connection has been made. Note that if you don’t perform Step 1 above, then a set of drivers is downloaded from the XP machine (and saved in \windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3) which doesn’t work! I imagine these must be the drivers for NT/XP/Vista. There then appears to be no way to persuade Windows 7 to download the correct set. Now I just need to find out how to get Windows 7 to use the duplex mode of the printer - it isn't shown as an Installable Option on the Printer Properties, Device Settings dialog - any suggestions? XP was never this difficult! Will