Hi..I have spent countless hours, (im serious) trying to figure this out. I have researched and everything I found
didnt work, or I didnt do it correctly....

My friend has a hp desktop(new) with Vista, they have a new photosmart printer connected via usb.

They have a laptop with XP.  I am unable to set it up so they can print from the laptop.

Now, before the new p/c, they had a p/c with xp, so the printing setup was fine.

But now with the printer connected to a vista OS, its screwed up, or I am for that matter.

The computers are set up with Linksys, as they were before with the previous setup.
and we can connect to the internet just fine.


Would someone kindly go step by step what I need to do to get this thing going.

The laptop prints fine if the usb cable is attached to it, but when I take the usb out
it wont print.

Ive tried changing ports, sharing files, all the tips on google and it still wont freaking work..,

In plain english, what do I need to do to the Desktop and then to the laptop.

Thanks so much, if the laptop was mine, it wouldve been crushed already.....LOL Make sure the printer is shared FIRST by checking out the printer properties.

Next find the IP address of the system with the printer plugged into it via usb. To find your IP address, at Start RUN ENTER CMD then type IPCONFIG...you should see the number like 192.168.1.2 or something like that...if you see a 169.x.x.x number then your dhcp isnt working on your router and you will want to turn DHCP on...If you are getting out to the internet from both of these computers then your DHCP is working or you have static IP addresses entered in the network configuration.

Next from the laptop go to add printer and enter \\IPaddress\sharename and click next or ok, where IPaddress will be a number like 192.168.1.2 or something like that.

Last that could be a problem is if the firewall of either system is blocking the printer. You would need to go into the system security and select firewall, then exceptions, then the checkbox to allow file and print sharing.

If that doesnt do it let us know...Thanks so much, ILL try these suggestions and will let you know if they work.
Thanks  again for your time!I  hope it WORKS!