Slow Printing Response on Network - Vista to XP - Please Help

I wasn't sure the proper place to post this message - here or on printing
message board - so, please forgive the potential lack of etiquette.

I am printing on a small two-computer network -- from a Vista Home Premium
Toshiba laptop to a Compaq laptop running XP. I have two HP printers
connected to the Compaq. When I connect a printer directly to the Vista
laptop, all printing functions respond normally.

However, I when try to print through the network - from the Vista laptop via
wireless or lan cable - the following occurs:

When I send a Word document to print it can take as long 15 or seconds or
more for the print dialog box to appear. When you press OK to print - it is
delayed another few seconds. If I make a minor change in the Word document
and then try to print again, the printing dialog box takes about half the
time to appear - around 6-7 seconds.

I get the same response when I go to look at the page setup settings in
Word. It takes 10 - 15 seconds for the page setup dialog box to appear.
Interestingly, once it appears - I can close it and when I try to open it
again, it will open immediately.

Can someone please make suggestions or recommend settings changes I can make
so that I can print normally from the Vista machine on the network?

We have exactly the same problem and have found no solution. Printing Vista
to XP is slow. Vista to Vista is fine.

I had the same problem using a Lexmark 1200 Series printer attached to a
computer using XP. My remote network computer is running Vista.
Printing would take as long as 7 minutes for a small document.

I downloaded a Vista driver from the Lexmark web site and installed it
on the XP computer and it installed and printed/scanned, etc. just
fine. Then I installed it on the Vista computer. Now everything
prints fast even from other network computers running XP.

You may want to check the web site for your particular printer
manufacturer.

[dustin]

Go to Control Panel. Choose printer. Then choose Add Printer.

Choose Add a local printer. Click on Create a new port. The default in
the drop down box is Local Port. Do not change that. Click Next.

A dialogue box will appear asking for you to enter a port name. Type in
the \\computer name\printer name ie. My computer's name is epc and the
printer name is 8250 so I typed in \\epc\8250

Dustin - this is excellent advice! Solved my problem completely.

I have a Canon LBP 3000 at home on a network, and at the office 'straight
in' via USB. The home printer took a minute or so for the print dialogue to
appear, several minutes to be able to click on the OK button, and several
minutes further for output. At the office this was instant.

Your solution has got me back to a desired outcome: just seconds on the home
network. Well done - have a coffee on me!

I was having the same issue with my HP Officejet d145. Adding the printer
this way fixed my issue with the print dialog being slow enough to be a
productivity drain (60 seconds + to get something printed).

It's not exactly my favorite way of setting up a printer, but, hey - it
works! I'm guessing it was a problem with the XP drivers getting copied to
vista or something...

[doughboi]

I already use this method for my network printers, and I still am having issues with slow printer dialog being displayed. Everything was humming along just fine until I installed SP3. I would HOPE I wouldn't have to redo this - ESPECIALLY with the rest of the users. It's one thing to have to do it for myself, and another to do it for everyone on the network.

[creativev]

Thankyou for the magical advice. You r a genius.