Windows 10: Unable to install Network Printer

I have a strange problem with a couple of laptops in a network of some 30 machines. We have recently had a couple of Lexmark networked colour laser printers installed and all machines have successfully had the new printers installed - with the exception of two laptops.


These two laptops are not normally connected to the company network as they are used primarily at home but in the event of them being in the office it's desirable for them to print to these new printers.


The correct Windows 10 drivers are installed but the printers show an error state on the PC when anything is attempted to print. Attempting to add a new printer through the "Add New Printer" link, the printers are detected in their correct IP addresses (and they respond to a PING and the printer web page is accessible) but when Windows attempts to interrogate the printer it reports "Device cannot be found". If I manually install the printer on a new TCP/IP port with the correct IP address Windows refuses to talk to it.


The same problem is seen for any network printer, not just these new Lexmarks.


Because these laptops are not usually connected to the company network I did wonder if the workgroup name was relevant (they defaulted to WORKGROUP) but changing to the in-house workgroup name appears to make no difference. I've checked the firewalls and sharing options and all look good.


Both laptops are currently on Windows 10 1803 and I would like to get them on 1903 before too long.


I'm struggling to understand how Windows 10 can detect the printers at the scan stage of "Add New Printer" but fail to connect at the interrogate stage. The Troubleshooter is of no help at all as it reports it cannot find the problem.


Any suggestions would be gratefully received.




***Modified title from: Network printer installation***

:)

 

networking a printer

It can be networked through the computer through control panel settings<view installed printers<your printer< share this printer I think is simple way someone else correct me if I'm wrong. Once you do that try connecting on your other comps by adding printer over network.

 

networking a printer

true ive done it at my courses *Smile
so you just have to connect it to the pc and that one should be connected with the network *Smile

 

Historical printers are trolling me

Hi Joe,

Welcome and thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

I understand that you are unable to add the printer to the network.

Please provide us the following information:

• Are you on domain network?
• Do you get any error message\ code while adding new printer?

I suggest you to follow the steps from the below article:

• • 
    Install a printer.
    
    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows/install-printer#install-printer=windows-8
    
  • 
    Add a device or PC to a network
    
    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-IN/windows-8/add-device-or-pc-to-network
    

Hope it helps.

Let us know if you have any further on Windows, we are glad to assist you.