[sirk63]

Hey there, I'm trying to share a printer from one network to the other. The current network is as follows..

Building-A has a Cable modem that connects to the WAN port on a wireless router. The wireless router connects three computers in Building-A wirelessly with internet and networks them fine through file and print sharing.

One of the available ports on the wireless router has an ethernet going from it to the WAN port on a wired router in Building-B, which then feeds another computer in Building-B.

I just installed a printer on the computer in Building-B and want it to be shared by the other computers in Building-A. All computers are running XP Home and all have had the Network Wizard run, firewalls set to off (software and hardware), and have unique computer names, however, I cannot get the printers or shared folders to show up in Building-A within My Network Places.

Mind you the computer in Building-B connects to the internet just fine but fails to show up in Building-A's network.

I have tried everything I can think of...

Your input is much appreciated.

[cajalat]

First of all, your description of the problem is excellent. I was able to draw it very easily.

Second... what you're experiencing should actually be the exact behavior you should be getting. You can't share the printer in building B because the LAN side of building B is not visible to the Internet. In this case anything connected to the WAN side of the router in building B is considered the Internet and of course you're protected. So this is all perfectly OK and expected behavior.

What you can do however to accomplish what you want is this:

- Connect the LAN side of the router in Building A to the LAN side of the router in Building B. i.e. LAN to LAN
- Disable DHCP on the router in Building B (this is very important and must be done to avoid a gateway/IP conflicts)

This will make the router in B act more like a switch and thus an extension of the router in building A. This will definitely solve your problem.

[sirk63]

Spending many hours researching this last night I have concluded that your answer cajalat is right on the money and appreciate taking the time answer my question.

I've also read that the routers IP in Building B should have the same subnet as Building A but not be in the same IP range.

[cajalat]

Thanks... I hope you tell us how it worked for you.

Also on router B... it really doesn't have to be in the same subnet at all. The only IP that you need to worry about on B is the LAN side IP to make sure it doesn't conflict with A's LAN side. You're only using it as a switch basically and not a router. Now if you're using the wireless aspects of B then that's a different story all together but you didn't mention wireless on B so I gave you the easiest fix.

Casey