Are you SURE you've got password protected sharing turned OFF in Win7 ?
Just double checked and it’s definitely turned OFF, the settings are exactly the same as the screenshots you posted earlier
I found that (after lot of hair pulling) Win7 does not play nicely with other non Win7 computers if it is set to Homegroup.
Try setting it to Work network then it will behave like it used to before (much better cooperation).
See here for options.
Regardless which option you choose all the computers should be on the same subnet and in the same work group like WORKGROUP or MSHOME or anything else you fancy.
This is really strange but I just tried connecting with my grand-daughters PC running Peppermint and it connects no problem
Try setting it to Work network
I’m not sure how to do that ?
Basically same place where you chose (or Win 7 defaulted to)
Open the Control Panel (all items view), and click on the Network and Sharing Center icon.
See here
Go to Network and Sharing Centre
below where it says “View your active networks” … you’ll probably have a picture of a house with some blue writing underneath that says “Home network” or similar.
click that blue writing.
Select “Work Network”
Thanks SeZo
Before I do that just to update you a strange thing happened, firstly the Windows PC suddenly rebooted by itself for apparant reason then I tried to connect with my Grand-Daughters PC and it found the printer and connected no problem, I’ve just tried to connect with my PC and now it’s connecting ok as well but it still won’t connect via the laptop.
Graeme
Reboot the laptop
Ok I rebooted the laptop but we seem to have taken a bit of a backward step, neither my PC or the laptop will list anything under WORKGROUP in the printer SMB Browser although my PC will still print to it because it was previously installed, Chloes PC finds the printer no problem in the printer SMB Browser, so still no further ahead with the laptop 
What’s the difference between Chloes PC and the laptop … are they both Peppermint 3 ?
are the networkmanager settings the same for both ?
What's the difference between Chloes PC and the laptop .. are they both Peppermint 3 ?
They are both peppermint 3, the only difference I see between Chloes PC and my PC and the laptop is under connection Information the interface on Chloes PC is listed as 802.11 WiFi (ra0) and the other 2 are listed as 802.11 WiFii (wlan0)
what I meant was they are both using DHCP/Static IP’s … they both have IPv6 enabled/ignored … they both have the same DNS settings … etc.
And whilst you’re at it … is there a difference in output from:
dpkg -l | grep avahi
and the contents of:
gedit /etc/nsswitch.conf
what I meant was they are both using DHCP/Static IP's .. they both have IPv6 enabled/ignored .. they both have the same DNS settings .. etc.
All machines are set to Automatic (DHCP) and IPv6 settings are set to automatic, connect automatically and available to all users there’s no difference I see between any of them
Chloes PC
chloe@Linux2 ~ $ dpkg -l | grep avahi
ii avahi-daemon 0.6.30-5ubuntu2 Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD daemon
ii libavahi-client3 0.6.30-5ubuntu2 Avahi client library
ii libavahi-common-data 0.6.30-5ubuntu2 Avahi common data files
ii libavahi-common3 0.6.30-5ubuntu2 Avahi common library
ii libavahi-core7 0.6.30-5ubuntu2 Avahi's embeddable mDNS/DNS-SD library
ii libavahi-glib1 0.6.30-5ubuntu2 Avahi glib integration library
ii libavahi-ui-gtk3-0 0.6.30-5ubuntu2 Avahi GTK+ User interface library for GTK3
chloe@Linux2 ~ $
Laptop
Laptop
pat@Pats-Laptop ~ $ dpkg -l | grep avahi
ii libavahi-client3 0.6.30-5ubuntu2 Avahi client library
ii libavahi-common-data 0.6.30-5ubuntu2 Avahi common data files
ii libavahi-common3 0.6.30-5ubuntu2 Avahi common library
ii libavahi-glib1 0.6.30-5ubuntu2 Avahi glib integration library
ii libavahi-ui-gtk3-0 0.6.30-5ubuntu2 Avahi GTK+ User interface library for GTK3
pat@Pats-Laptop ~ $
Chloes PC
# /etc/nsswitch.conf
#
# Example configuration of GNU Name Service Switch functionality.
# If you have the `glibc-doc-reference' and `info' packages installed, try:
# `info libc "Name Service Switch"' for information about this file.
passwd: compat
group: compat
shadow: compat
hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4
networks: files
protocols: db files
services: db files
ethers: db files
rpc: db files
netgroup: nis
Laptop
# /etc/nsswitch.conf
#
# Example configuration of GNU Name Service Switch functionality.
# If you have the `glibc-doc-reference' and `info' packages installed, try:
# `info libc "Name Service Switch"' for information about this file.
passwd: compat
group: compat
shadow: compat
hosts: files dns
networks: files
protocols: db files
services: db files
ethers: db files
rpc: db files
netgroup:
ni
OK, on the laptop run:
sudo apt-get install avahi-daemon libavahi-core7
then
sudo gedit /etc/nsswitch.conf
and change the line:-
hosts: files dns
to
hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4
SAVE the file … REBOOT … test network browsing etc.
Sorry Mark still not working
sudo apt-get install --reinstall samba smbclient
if that doesn’t work … try:
sudo apt-get remove --purge samaba
then
sudo apt-get autoremove
then
sudo apt-get install samba
No that didn’t work either I’m afraid
It’s getting late can we continue this tomorrow if that’s ok ?
No problem …
When you’re ready can you compare the “global” section from Cloes and the laptops:
gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf
Here’s the bit I’m after:
[global]
## Browsing/Identification ###
# Change this to the workgroup/NT-domain name your Samba server will part of
workgroup = WORKGROUP
# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
server string = %h server (Samba, Ubuntu)
# Windows Internet Name Serving Support Section:
# WINS Support - Tells the NMBD component of Samba to enable its WINS Server
# wins support = no
# WINS Server - Tells the NMBD components of Samba to be a WINS Client
# Note: Samba can be either a WINS Server, or a WINS Client, but NOT both
; wins server = w.x.y.z
# This will prevent nmbd to search for NetBIOS names through DNS.
dns proxy = no
# What naming service and in what order should we use to resolve host names
# to IP addresses
; name resolve order = lmhosts host wins bcast