Unshared Printers Are Accessible on Network

[DerbyDad03]

Greetings!

I have three XP Home SP2 systems connected via a 3Com 3C510 router. One system (mainsys) has an HP printer (HP_Printer) connected to the USB port. This printer is NOT shared.

Users on the other 2 systems are able to add this printer via the Add A Printer wizard by choosing the network printer option and entering \\mainsys\HP_printer. They are then able to print to this printer.

I thought a printer had to be shared before other systems could print to it.

Note: In case you are wondering, the router does have a Printer Server built in, but it is only for the on-board parallel port. The manual specifically states that for USB printers, you need to attach the printer to a PC and use File and Print Sharing to share the printer.

Any ideas on why this printer is accessible without being shared?

Thanks!

[cyberpyr8]

You don't have the guest account enabled on mainsys do you?

[KAndle]

I use a program called SafeXP. It has an option to disable printer sharing without affecting the file sharing.

SafeXP

Also you can specifiy permissions on the printer to restrict access if you want to share with some but not all.

XP autoshares in certain setups. I've seen on some systems that \\server shows shared printers but beyond that there is a shared Printers & Faxes folder and everything inside that is shared differently. Never bother to figure out why.

Blah blah hope that helps.