Is there a limit as to how many clients can use a shared printer shared from an XP workstation?

5,532

Unfortunately I cannot tell you the exact error but I can confirm sharing a printer from a workstation does impose a 10 client connection limit. However I have previously seen this article to get around the problem.

I have not tested the steps in the article but it certainly seems plausible.

5,532

Austin ''Danger'' Powers

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

Austin ''Danger'' Powers almost 2 years

We have over 20 workstations using a shared printer on an XP workstation (not a server OS).

Could the 10 inbound connection limit potentially cause problems here? Or does that only apply to shared files, not printers?

If it could cause problems with people accessing shared printers, how would the problem appear from the users' perspective? Would it say "printer offline" or "printer not available"?

We have been having problems where a couple of users (maybe 2 or 3 times per week) have been seeing "printer offline" for all shared printers on this XP system. Rebooting the XP print server has been resolving it. We also have LogMeIn Hamachi running as a gateway on the XP system- I'm not sure if that could cause these problems.

Any input would be appreciated.
- Yass almost 11 years
  
  It could just be that a certain (large) document is getting stuck in the print queue. You should consult your print queue when the problem occurs again. Then again, I'm sure you don't get the "Printer offline" message if there is a job stuck in the print queue.
- Austin ''Danger'' Powers almost 11 years
  
  I've been checking the queues and nothing ever seems to get stuck, nor are there any error messages in Event Viewer. Also, it seems that sometimes some people can print, but others cannot (which is why I was thinking it could be related to a connection limit).
- Yass almost 11 years
  
  I don't know to be honest, but that seems to be the most likely explanation.
- Doktoro Reichard almost 11 years
  
  Well, my faculty's network had (when they used XP) tens of computers connected to printer devices so there might not be a physical limit other than a self-imposed limit on XP.
- cybernard almost 11 years
  
  for file sharing 10 is the limit of concurrent connection. If one pc drops then another can connect. I assume that is the limit for both.
Ramhound almost 9 years

This does not even attempt to answer the author's question.