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Printing, Faxing and Scanning with Vista A forum for using printers, scanners and fx with Windows Vista. (microsoft.public.windows.vista.print_fax_scan) |
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Network printer stops printing when IP address changes
I'm using Vista Home Premium. I have a Brother 5170DN (direct network
connection) that has been working fine with my older computers running earlier Windows versions. The trouble is that when the IP address of the printer changes, Vista is no longer able to print to it, so I end up having to reinstall. The reinstallation adds a new TCP/IP port into the driver, and then it works fine until the next time. Since my network is changing frequently right now, due to reconfiguration, this is a pain. Any ideas greatly appreciated. I have searched the support areas but haven't seen anything that answers the question. Thanks |
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Network printer stops printing when IP address changes
5Circles wrote:
I'm using Vista Home Premium. I have a Brother 5170DN (direct network connection) that has been working fine with my older computers running earlier Windows versions. The trouble is that when the IP address of the printer changes, Vista is no longer able to print to it, so I end up having to reinstall. The reinstallation adds a new TCP/IP port into the driver, and then it works fine until the next time. Since my network is changing frequently right now, due to reconfiguration, this is a pain. Any ideas greatly appreciated. I have searched the support areas but haven't seen anything that answers the question. Network printers should always have a static IP. Refer to your Brother manual or their website as to how to do this. The static IP address you assign should be one outside of your DHCP server's pool (usually a router in a home situation). Malke -- Elephant Boy Computers www.elephantboycomputers.com "Don't Panic!" MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User |
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Network printer stops printing when IP address changes
"Malke" wrote: Network printers should always have a static IP. Refer to your Brother manual or their website as to how to do this. The static IP address you assign should be one outside of your DHCP server's pool (usually a router in a home situation). I don't see why network printers should need to have a static IP if Windows is finding them by name, and if previous Windows versions didn't have any trouble. Mike |
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Network printer stops printing when IP address changes
5Circles wrote:
I don't see why network printers should need to have a static IP if Windows is finding them by name, and if previous Windows versions didn't have any trouble. Because then you won't have any problems with dynamic IP addresses. But if you don't want to set your network up properly, that's fine by me. You'll continue to have problems. EOT for me. Malke -- Elephant Boy Computers www.elephantboycomputers.com "Don't Panic!" MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User |
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Network printer stops printing when IP address changes
The Vista network printer search will create the network port using the
current DHCP address. If there is DNS available in your network and you can ping the hostname configured on the printer network card, create a new Standard TCP/IP port with the hostname rather than the IP address, then assign this port to the printer. -- Alan Morris Windows Printing Team Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base he http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1 This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. "Malke" wrote in message ... 5Circles wrote: I don't see why network printers should need to have a static IP if Windows is finding them by name, and if previous Windows versions didn't have any trouble. Because then you won't have any problems with dynamic IP addresses. But if you don't want to set your network up properly, that's fine by me. You'll continue to have problems. EOT for me. Malke -- Elephant Boy Computers www.elephantboycomputers.com "Don't Panic!" MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User |
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Network printer stops printing when IP address changes
"Alan Morris [MSFT]" wrote in message
... The Vista network printer search will create the network port using the current DHCP address. If there is DNS available in your network and you can ping the hostname configured on the printer network card, create a new Standard TCP/IP port with the hostname rather than the IP address, then assign this port to the printer. -- Alan Morris Windows Printing Team OK, but firstly, when exactly is the name-to-IP lookup performed? Is it once only, when the TCP/IP port is created? Or is it dynamically looked up every time the port is used? Or something else? I could test this, but frankly can't be bothered. I have a feeling the lookup may be performed once-only, at port creation time ( but I may be wrong ). That makes a huge difference, if the IP address ( and relevant DNS record ) changes after the port is created. Secondly, what printers DHCP client support Dynamic DNS update to keep their A-records updated when their IPs change? None that I know of. So we rely on the DHCP server to update DNS on behalf of the legacy clients. What domestic-grade router DHCP servers will do this? I know of none. If there was a win2k /2k3 DHCP server involved, it could, but I doubt that's the environment. I just don't think this is going to work reliably. To the OP: I would strongly advise the OP to follow Malkes advice, and put the printer on a static IP. It's what every professionally-run network does. It just eliminates these issues. The people who give this advice do so for a reason :-) -- Ron |
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Network printer stops printing when IP address changes
1 no lookup is performed when the port is created, thus the IP address
usage as opposed to actually using the hostname of the device If one creates a port using the hostname, then the lookup will be performed on the network stack. -- Alan Morris Windows Printing Team Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base he http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1 This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. "Ron Lowe" ronATlowe-famlyDOTmeDOTukSPURIOUS wrote in message ... "Alan Morris [MSFT]" wrote in message ... The Vista network printer search will create the network port using the current DHCP address. If there is DNS available in your network and you can ping the hostname configured on the printer network card, create a new Standard TCP/IP port with the hostname rather than the IP address, then assign this port to the printer. -- Alan Morris Windows Printing Team OK, but firstly, when exactly is the name-to-IP lookup performed? Is it once only, when the TCP/IP port is created? Or is it dynamically looked up every time the port is used? Or something else? I could test this, but frankly can't be bothered. I have a feeling the lookup may be performed once-only, at port creation time ( but I may be wrong ). That makes a huge difference, if the IP address ( and relevant DNS record ) changes after the port is created. Secondly, what printers DHCP client support Dynamic DNS update to keep their A-records updated when their IPs change? None that I know of. So we rely on the DHCP server to update DNS on behalf of the legacy clients. What domestic-grade router DHCP servers will do this? I know of none. If there was a win2k /2k3 DHCP server involved, it could, but I doubt that's the environment. I just don't think this is going to work reliably. To the OP: I would strongly advise the OP to follow Malkes advice, and put the printer on a static IP. It's what every professionally-run network does. It just eliminates these issues. The people who give this advice do so for a reason :-) -- Ron |