I recently caved and purchased a Win7 Home Premium 64 workstation. All my other workgroup terminals/laptops are either Win2k SP4+ or WinXP SP3 that have been working very well together over wired/wireless connections, including connected printers (in particular a Canon MP780 MFP connected via USB to a Win2K workstation). I had to get a Win7 WS because newer software releases (in particular TurboTax) just are not being released in versions compatible with older OSs — not surprising. Otherwise I’m happy to stick with what works and what I know.
Here’s my problem: I went to the Canon site and downloaded their latest drivers for my old printers in the Win7HP64 variety. Gratefully they were there! I have successfully connected my CanonMP780 to the new Win7 WS using a direct connect USB port, but I’ll be %)*&ed if I can get it to work over my workgroup connection (Homegroup disabled because I have no other Win7 devices) with all my other connected devices. I’ve searched high and low for an answer to no avail. I made the recommended registry change adding a DWORD LmCompatabilityLevel value (1), I altered the working USB port descriptor to connect via the TCP/IP address of the Win2K print server, I altered the working USB destination to connect via TCP/IP to the hostname of the \[Server][PrinterName], all, again, with no success. When I then revert to the direct USB connection, it’s OK and I can print from the Win7HP64 terminal. But no workgroup connection! BTW, all other terminal devices are visible and file accessible in the workgroup — just not the printers!
It’s no surprise why I am so reluctant to upgrade to Microsoft’s latest “advances” in operating systems when they make it this hard to maintain good working productivity on MS networks that otherwise work just fine, thank you very much. This is completely unnecessary. 
Can anyone help? Please! TIA a lot.
