Shared Printer No Longer Working

[stem]

I have a fairly new acer laptop in purchased in July with Windows 11. It's connected via USB to a wired Epson Stylus Printer / Scanner model SX410.

My wife has a HP laptop also with Windows 11. In JuIy I set it up so that she can use the same printer via our home network, provided that my laptop is switched on, and it has worked fine for the last 3 months.

Suddenly it no longer works with my wife's laptop. It may be coincidence, but we came home from holiday and both machines received a Windows update, and it's only since then we have noticed the problem.

When I try to install the printer on my wife's laptop, I can see my laptop and select it, and I can also see the printer and select it.

But when I select 'next' I get the message:

I've restarted the printer spooler and checked that the network discovery is on, password protected sharing is off, and both laptop settings allow sharing but to no avail. I'm at a loss as to why since I set it up in July it's been working fine but has suddenly stopped without us changing anything.

The printer is working fine with my laptop which it is hard wired to.

I've spent about 4 hours trying to fix this but have not made any progress. Any suggestions anyone?

 

[RandomGrinch]

Can you try connecting the printer directly to your wife's laptop, and then see if you can share that connection to yours?

 

[CBW]

I’ve found some links: HP, Microsoft but this one seems most likely beneficial?

 

[stem]

Thanks Guys

@RandomGrinch. I'd not thought of trying it the opposite way around. However, the same thing happened. I could see her laptop and also see and select the printer. It tried for a while.....

.....before giving a slightly different message.

@CBW. I had tried most of those with the exception of 'Nearby Sharing' and disabling the Firewall. So, I tried both, but unfortunately nothing changed.

 

[CBW]

Have you tried to right-click on the printer setting? Might give an indication. Also, there used to be a function of rolling windows back to a known date, not sure if this is still an option or would work?

 

[RandomGrinch]

Seems to be a known issue for one of the last Win11 updates, this might give you some ideas?:

Fix: 'Windows couldn't connect to the printer' on Windows 11

A lot of Windows are reporting that they're no longer able to connect to their network printer after installing the KB5006746 update on Windows 11. Upon

appuals.com

 

[foxhole]

Why not share via WiFi ?

 

[stem]

Interesting, I'll try some of the suggested fixes later. The info in the link makes sense as it was only after an update we noticed it had stopped working. Using the Registry Editor to create and configure the RpcAuthnLevelPrivacyEnabled value, was something I had to do when initially setting up the laptop a couple of months back, and it's still correct as far as I can see, but I'll give the other suggestions a try later.

It's an old printer / scanner so it doesn't have WiFi facilities. I guess I should change it really but I'm lothe to generate WEEE waste unnecessarily as the machine itself works perfectly. Because of its age there's another problem in that the EPSON Scan software it I used to use with Windows 7 to operate the scanner doesn't show the scan button anymore on Windows 11, I know where it was and if I click on the vacant space it still scans, but the app disappears everytime Windows upgrades and I have to reinstall it. I have found a generic app on the Windows store but it is very basic and doesn't facilitate making multipage scans.

 

[RandomGrinch]

Using the Registry Editor to create and configure the RpcAuthnLevelPrivacyEnabled value, was something I had to do when initially

It's worth checking again, updates regularly mess with the reg entries

 

[CBW]

Failing any of that, perhaps the HP app might work? https://123.hp.com/gb/en/devices/mobile