Printers

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The current A+ Operating Systems Technologies exam is likely to make sure that you are familiar with file and printer sharing, as well as methods used to create and rename printer shares and change printer properties.

In Windows 9.x, if you want to add a printer, rename a printer, share a printer, connect to or disconnect an already shared network printer, or change a currently installed printer’s properties, you can select Start > Settings > Printers, or My Computer > Printers, or Control Panel > Printers. Once you have navigated to the printer’s applet, you can right-click an already installed printer and rename it, change its shared name, cancel current print jobs, or select Properties to change advanced features and settings for a printer. If you want to add a local or networked printer, simply select the Add Printer icon, select Next, and choose Local Printer or Network Printer. If you select Local Printer, you will be required to choose a printer manufacturer and printer, or choose the Have Disk option and insert your local printer’s driver disk or CD-ROM. If you select Network Printer, you will need to specify the UNC name for the location of the shared Network Printer or browse to the printer on the network with the Browse radio button. Remember for the exam that the proper UNC syntax to browse to a shared network printer is “\\Computername\Printername”.

A shared printer can utilize spooling techniques. When spooling is implemented, print jobs are stored on a networked computer system’s hard drive. The print jobs are sent to a printer when it is available to print. If you want to print directly to a printer without print jobs being spooled, you can change a printer’s spool settings to “Print directly to the printer.” This can be accomplished by right-clicking a currently installed printer, selecting Properties > Advanced, and choosing the “Print directly to the printer” option.

So that others can access your locally installed printers and files, you must enable File and Print Sharing on your local system in the Network applet in the Control Panel. The same is true if others in a Windows 9.x workgroup or network wish to share their printers and files. Besides printers and files, you can also share CD-ROM devices and modems in Windows 9.x.

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