Printer sharing over a Windows domain network

[jrichrds]

I am having a hit-and-miss experience with printer sharing over a Windows domain network. Sometimes, it works. Othertimes, the printer status reports as "Access denied, unable to connect" from some of the computers. What causes this?

The setup is a dozen WinXP Pro computers that are part of a local domain with a Windows 2000 Server computer as the domain handler. The 2 printers being shared are connected to a couple of the WinXP Pro computers.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: jrichrds
Any ideas? Is there a limit to how many computers can connect to a shared printer?

You are probably exceeding XP Pro's maximum simultaneous connection limit of ten connections.

 

[jrichrds]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: jrichrds
Any ideas? Is there a limit to how many computers can connect to a shared printer?

You are probably exceeding XP Pro's maximum simultaneous connection limit of ten connections.

Thanks for the suggestions. The XP computers are still on SP1 though, so there is no limit on the TCP/IP connections.

 

[amdskip]

Just get a couple print servers. BTW you shouldn't be running SP1 still.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: jrichrds
Thanks for the suggestions. The XP computers are still on SP1 though, so there is no limit on the TCP/IP connections.

Windows NT, 2000 Professional and XP Professional, including ALL Service Packs, limit simultaneous network connections to ten.

Microsoft's description of the ten simultaneous connection limit of XP Professional.
Microsoft: Inbound Connections Limit in Windows.
In order to connect to a shared printer, you have to CONNECT to the computer that is hosting it. If you want to test this, turn off a couple of the connected PCs and see if others can now connect to the shared printer.

"Printers attached to client computers and shared: This option is suitable for branch offices where the number of users is less than ten. This option can be used in scenarios where only a limited number of users need to access the shared printer. For example, in scenarios where a specialized printer needs to be shared among a small group of users. This option provides low performance and a limited number of concurrent connections. For example, Windows XP Professional has a limit of ten concurrent connections."