atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Computers & Programming Computers, Software, Accessories remote desktop printing

Strictly speaking RDP. You may need to install the printer on to the host machine before RDP will initiate the printer connection. However USB printers and RDP is very finicky and i suggest you do a Bing search for help and suggestions (RDP and USB printer redirect). We setup RDP with clients on a weekly basis, and invariably this always comes up; you either need to go with a parallel printer or one with a network card installed for guaranteed success.

This may be obvious, but do you have printers checked under the local resource tab?

Of course all the suggestions above are a work around, assuming the PC are on the same network; but windows printing and sharing protocols have nothing to do with RDP and the ability to print.

Printers is checked under local resources of the RDP setup. I cannot sit at PC B and add the printer on PC A via Control Panel | Printers, as the two PC's are in separate towns and separate networks. The old printer I had was connected via parallel port. Not sure what else to try.

Connect remotely, download driver and install. However like i said, it may not solve the problem, and i suggest you do a search on what i spoke about above.

"as the two PC's are in separate towns and separate networks"

Oh. Now we're talking a slightly different ballgame.

Ok, well then we have to put RDP back into the picture. Can you try the add printer option as above, but instead of going to the PC, just try it via RDP?

Another question: When you connect via RDP, do you use the PC name, or it's IP address?

I connect via IP address.

OK, that's what I thought. Before we can worry about printing, we need to first make sure that PC A is visible from PC B.

The above steps I listed should help you determine that. Optionally, you could use windows explorer to browse your workgroup computers.

So the next question - can you "see" PC A from PC B?

So, you are saying once I Remote Desktop to PC B from PC A, I should be able to see PC A from PC B's Network and Sharing Center?

NOOOOO!

Matt,

No offense but I don’t think you know what you are talking about here. He is connecting over the internet to the host machine via a routable/public address. Windows workgroup name resolution will not resolve over the internet, unless he has some sort of VPN setup. But even that typically requires some sort of domain controller with DNS and/or WINS server for NetBIOS resolution, which is what windows workgroup typically uses. If indeed he does have that type of setup, he certainly would not be here asking how to install a printer on an RDP host, his skill level would be far beyond that, or the network administrator would be involved at this point.

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