Windows 7 Homegroup printer - OK when setup, not working when rebooted
I have a printer on a main Win 7 X64 pc and a networked Win 7 x86 pc. I can set up the printer on the x86 pc by creating a new local printer with the port set to the main pc + printer name (\\remotepc\printername) and it will work correctly. However when the x86 is rebooted it wont work and if I look at the printer properties the port previously set isn't there and has to be re-added.How can I stop this happening?IanIan Haynes
March 1st, 2010 1:20pm

Correction: I have to completely reinstall the printer to get it to work, simply adding the missing port does nothing.IanIan Haynes
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March 1st, 2010 1:28pm

Hi Ian, Thank you for your post. Please try the following method: Fix printing problems by resetting the print spooler In addition, I would like to share the following with you Why can’t I print to a printer in my homegroup? Troubleshoot printer problems Hope this helps. Thanks. Nicholas Li - MSFT
March 5th, 2010 8:40am

Thanks Nicholas,I've looked at most of these tips/suggestions already without sucess.Out of interest I upgraded my laptop to Win 7 x86 in the last couple of days and have set that up on the same homegroup. All settings appear identical to the other x86 box. It prints to the homegroup printer after reboot. If I look at the port setting for the printer after reboot it's still there. When I close the other x86 box and reboot, the printer port has been removed. So there's something doing that which I need to find. Guess I can compare registry entries for the printer and see what they look like.Any further thoughts appreciated.IanIan Haynes
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March 5th, 2010 12:41pm

Hi Ian, Thank you for your update. You may also check the printer driver; different drives are needed due to the difference of the system architecture. Manually install the driver on the Windows 7 32bit computer and see if it works. Thanks. Nicholas Li - MSFT
March 8th, 2010 9:32am

I've deleted and re-installed the printer driver with no change. The port is removed when the machine is rebooted. This doesn't happen on the laptop.Looking at the registries on both machines the printer settings are different, despite being set up in exactly the same way.The laptop has no subkeys under HKCU - Printers - Connections other than a blank default entryThe desktop has an Connections key ",,IH-001,Canon MP600 Printer" which has subkeys for the LocalConnection, Provider and Server.The laptop has a key 'Defaults' with uid as the name and a 'Default' subkey as the printer name.The desktop has no 'Defaults' key.The laptop has no entries under DevModePerUser; the desktop has a subkey for it's own printer driverThe laptop has no entries for DevModes2; the desktop has an entry which looks like it's pointing at the remote printer.As noted, the connection to the printer was set up exactly the same way on both.IanIan Haynes
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March 8th, 2010 7:24pm

I ran into this exact same thing - here's how I fixed it, I believe it will work for you. My wife and I had a Windows 7 homegroup with two PCs; the printer was connected to my machine (call it 'master'), and shared out via the homegroup; and she could print to it after we added the printer, but after a reboot, it would stop working; we'd have to remove the printer (on her machine - call it 'client') and re-add it, to be able to print again. And again, it would only work until a reboot! The problem, for us, was that one of us was running 32-bit Win7, and the other was running 64-bit Win7, and in the settings for my printer, on the 'Sharing' tab, the 'Render print jobs on client computers' checkbox was not checked. There are two ways to fix this. When it comes to drivers, 32-bit and 64-bit don't mix; so you either have to install both the 32-bit AND 64-bit driver on the master PC (...uncommon and potentially difficult), and un-check that box; ...or you can just check that box. :) To do the latter: 1. On the master PC (the one that is physically connected to the printer), go to Devices and Printers, open the printer, select 'customize your printer', and click the 'Sharing' tab. Make sure that both checkboxes (Share this Printer, and in particular, Render print jobs on client computers) are checked. 2. After doing that, on the PC that is NOT physically connected to the homegroup printer, remove the printer and re-add it. You should now be able to print from the client machine, even after a reboot. The alternate/harder solution is to install both the 32-bit and 64-bit drivers on the master computer, but this can be a big pain; I wouldn't really recommend trying it. (I tried, and because my printer's drivers ship with Windows, but Windows thinking 'why on earth would you want the other driver?', it was going to be a huge pain.) My theory as to why it was just working for one session was that it was temporarily rendering the print job on the master computer, intending to install the driver on the slave, or some other such thing, at the next reboot. However, for some reason, that thing wasn't happening (on a reboot) - perhaps a 32-vs-64-bit bug - and you were just left hanging. Hope this helps!
April 18th, 2011 2:41am

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