Remote Desktop Connection: printer not redirecting

Networking, connecting to the internet, wi-fi and home entertainment
User avatar
John Gray
PlatinumLounger
Posts: 5401
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 08:33
Location: A cathedral city in England

Remote Desktop Connection: printer not redirecting

Post by John Gray »

I have a situation where two XP PCs are running Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection 7.0 each to connect to a (separate!) Windows 7 PC.

Each of the XP PCs has a directly-attached printer, one an HP Deskjet and the other a Brother Laser, each of which is shared on the WorkGroup in which both XP PCs are members.

All the MSTSC options are set so that, when connected to their corresponding Windows 7 PC, they should be able to print on either of the 'home' printers, by the usual automatic printer redirection method which RDC provides.

However, only the HP DeskJet appears in the Devices and Printers window on the Windows 7 PCs.

The only way I can get the Brother printer to appear on the Windows 7 PCs is to connect to it as \\XPpc1\Brothersharename, which causes a huge amount of (presumably print driver) data to be transferred across the connection (which is only about 0.5 Mbps, and so takes a couple of minutes for each logon).

I have tried installing the Brother printer drivers on each of the target Windows 7 PCs, but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

Just to add to the annoyance, everything worked correctly with regard to printer redirection for both printers when the target PCs ran Windows XP!

Has anyone any suggestion about how to proceed, to make the Brother printer redirect correctly, as the HP one does? Thanks!
John Gray

Venison is quiet deer, and quite dear.