Cannot connect to Brother MFC-240c network printer from Windows 7 computer

 

To share a network printer being hosted by a computer running a 32 bit operating system with another computer running a 32 bit operating system, Vista or XP, you would go to Control Panel > ‘Printers’ > ‘Add Printer’ > ‘Add a network printer’.  Apologies if you consider that I am stating the obvious.

 

Sharing a printer being hosted by a computer running 32 bit Vista or XP with a computer running 64 bit Vista is not obvious, because if you use the above method, it will not work.

 

So how? First, you need to know the name of the computer which hosts the printer, and the name of the printer to be shared.

 

Sitting at the host computer: The procedure is the same for Vista and XP

 

Start > My Computer > Properties > Computer Name tab > Change button. Write down the name that you see here because this is the computer name.

 

Start > Settings > Printers and Faxes > Right click on the printer to be shared > Properties > Sharing tab. Write down the name that you see here because this is the printer name.

 

OK. Now sit in front of the Vista 64 computer:

 

Start > Control Panel > Printers > Add printer > Add a local printer > Click on ‘Create a new port’ > ‘Local Port’ > ‘Next’.

 

The port name will look like this: \\Computer name\printer name

So enter the names already retrieved, ensuring that you use the same format, then click ‘OK’.

 

At this point, you will be presented with the ‘Add New Hardware’ process. You can either select the make and model of your printer from the lists or insert your printer installation disk if you can’t find yours. The printer will be added, and you should be able to print a test page.

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Mike Hall MVP - Windows Desktop Experience http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/

I am assuming you are getting an error stating that the print driver for 64bit is not installed in the Vista machine.  You can either install a 64bit driver that has the same name as the x86 print driver on the Win7 machine and reattempt the connection, install the 64bit driver that has the same name onto the Vista machine (for other 64bit machines) but this is more difficult.

You can also configure the machine to check on Windows Update for a print driver that has the same name as the 32bit print driver.  If gpedit.mcs launches for the Windows version you have.
Computer Configuration
Administrive templates
Printers
Extend point and print connection to search windows update

If there is no matching driver name, you cannot make an RPC connection but you can create an SMB connection.  Search for Local Port.  There are many posts on this.

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Alan Morris Windows Printing Team Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here: http://support.microsoft.com/search/Default.aspx?adv=1