I had the same problem and this worked for me. Even though my client is XP and the "printer-computer" is Vista it still worked like a charm. Just swap "XP" for "Vista" if that's the case.
"1. Make sure the XP drivers are up to date and make sure the XP machine is set up to share the printer. In other words it should have a share name like Canon4000.
2. On the Vista machine add a new printer. Tell Vista it's a local printer and use an existing port such as lpt1. Make sure you add the type of printer that is hooked up to the XP machine. i.e. Canon Pixma IP 4000 for example. Click next. Don't print a test page because it wouldn't print on anything at this moment. So click finish.
3. After Vista successfully adds the new printer highlight it and right mouse click and select properties.
4. Click on the ports panel.
5. Click on add a port
6. click on "new port" .... not to be confused with "new port type"
7. It will then ask you to enter a port name. You must enter the name of the xp computer followed by the shared printer name on that computer. So if my wife's computer is called Ann and her Canon printer is shared as Annscannon then your port name will look like this:
\\ann\annscannon
8. If possible turn on bi-directional printing."
After installing printer on client machine (Step 2) I disconnected it and plugged it back into the "printer-computer."
Also, around Step 5, when you add a new port, I added a "Local Port."
Hope this helps you too!
"1. Make sure the XP drivers are up to date and make sure the XP machine is set up to share the printer. In other words it should have a share name like Canon4000.
2. On the Vista machine add a new printer. Tell Vista it's a local printer and use an existing port such as lpt1. Make sure you add the type of printer that is hooked up to the XP machine. i.e. Canon Pixma IP 4000 for example. Click next. Don't print a test page because it wouldn't print on anything at this moment. So click finish.
3. After Vista successfully adds the new printer highlight it and right mouse click and select properties.
4. Click on the ports panel.
5. Click on add a port
6. click on "new port" .... not to be confused with "new port type"
7. It will then ask you to enter a port name. You must enter the name of the xp computer followed by the shared printer name on that computer. So if my wife's computer is called Ann and her Canon printer is shared as Annscannon then your port name will look like this:
\\ann\annscannon
8. If possible turn on bi-directional printing."
After installing printer on client machine (Step 2) I disconnected it and plugged it back into the "printer-computer."
Also, around Step 5, when you add a new port, I added a "Local Port."
Hope this helps you too!
