Add home printer to work server through VPN

[netfitters]

And the moron of the year award goes to... ME! Keep reading to find out why. I desperately need assistance re-configuring a home printer (Brother HL-2140) to display on a remote work server (Windows 2003), so that while connected through Remote Desktop, I can print a file from the server to the home printer through a VPN tunnel. I know this is possible as it was working fine until I was installing another printer locally on the server and saw a printer that I didn't recognize (HL-2140), so I deleted it... duh! Here is what I do know:
- The HL-2140 connects to the home PC (I believe running XP) and there is no wireless capability so I don't believe I can assign a unique ip address to the printer.
- The server is running Windows 2003 and is located at the work location. We are trying to print reports from Quickbooks from the server to the home printer while connecting through a secure remote desktop.
- The VPN tunnel is setup through SonicWall and our internet provider is Time Warner. I did not initially configure the printer, but when I looked at the Printers & Faxes on the server, I believe it was listed as "Brother HL-2140 series (from XXXXX) in session 1"

I already tried adding the printer through various ports on the server (while using the home PC), but was never able to get a test page to print. Please, please, please help me if you have any suggestions, or better yet... a solution! My apologies if this problem has already been discussed and "solved", but I have searched the threads and have found things that were close, but didn't address my unique situation. TIA,

- Jeff

 

[eibgrad]

I don't use MS remote desktop, but iirc, doesn't the client automatically install drivers on the remote system so you can print files on the remote site, locally? IOW, it’s effectively a “virtual printer”, and it’s the remote desktop app that initiates that install on the server, when necessary. Perhaps remote desktop still believes it's there and now the client and server have become (for lack of a better word) "decoupled"? I’d be looking at the remote desktop app and its configuration first, not the server. Maybe it can be reinitialized, perhaps disabling remote printing and re-enabling??

 

[netfitters]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I think the problem is that the server does not recognize (or see) the remote home PC through the VPN tunnel, thus not recognizing the printer. Since the printer doesn't have a wired/wireless connection (only usb), I don't believe I can use the "Add a printer using a TCP/IP address or hostname". I already tried using the network assigned ip address and wasn't successful. I wasn't sure which one to use, so I tried 192.168.1.2, 192.168.1.5 and 192.168.1.8. There is another option to "Select a shared printer by name", but I don't know what information to eneter for the following format that is listed in the example eg http://computername/printers/printername/.printer -or- \\computername\printername