Sharing Printers on a LAN

Sharing a printer on a LAN has two steps. First, you sit at the computer that is directly attached to the printer and configure the printer to be a network printer or shared printer so that other computers on the network can print to it. Then you configure the other computers on the LAN so that they know about the network printer-with luck, Windows on each computer automatically detects the existence of the newly sharable printer and installs the new printer driver itself.

Caution  

Not all printers come with printer drivers that work for sharing the printer on a LAN.

Making Your Printer Sharable

If you want other people on the LAN to be able to print on your printer, first install the printer on your own computer and make sure that you can print to it. Once the printer is correctly installed, you can share it.

The computer that the printer is attached to is called a print server. The print server can also be someone's PC, the usual arrangement on a small network, or a computer that does nothing else. You give the printer a share name, the name that other people will see when they connect to the printer. The share name can be the type of printer (for example, HP1100A), the group that uses the printer (for example, Accounting), or some other name. A straightforward name makes it easier for others on the network to figure out which printer they are using.

To share the printer so that other computers on the LAN can print to it, follow these steps:

1. Click Start Control Panel Network And Internet Network And Sharing Center.

2. Choose Printer Sharing, click the arrow button to expand the section, and click Turn On Printer Sharing. Next, click Apply. Your printer is now available for sharing on the network. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

3. Select Turn Off Printer Sharing to discontinue sharing the printer.

Printing to a Network Printer from Another Computer

When Windows detects a shared printer on another computer on the LAN, it tries to install the printer's driver automatically. When you print from an application, check the list of available printers-the list may already include shared printers on other computers. To see the list of printers you can use, choose Start Control Panel Hardware And Sound Printers to display the Printers folder. The icon for a shared printer has a cable beneath it.

If the printer doesn't appear on the list, you need to install a driver for the printer. Here's how:

1. Open the Printers window.

2. Click Add A Printer. You see the Add Printer Wizard. The wizard asks the following:

   • Whether you're installing a local or network printer You're installing a network printer.

   • The network path for the printer Unless you can type the path for the printer from memory, use the Browse button to find it. To find the printer, first find the computer to which it is attached by expanding the My Network Places hierarchy; click My Network Places, then Entire Network, then the computer to which the printer is attached, and then the name of the printer.

   • Which driver to install If you already have a driver installed for this type of printer, the wizard asks whether you want to keep the existing driver or install a new one (one of these options will be recommended). If you don't have a driver installed, the wizard prompts you to install one-you'll probably need your Windows Vista CD-ROM or a printer driver from another source (many can be found at the printer manufacturers' web sites).

   • What name you want to call the printer This should be a name that enables you to identify the printer. If you have three DeskJets on your network, you probably don't want to call it just "DeskJet"-instead, you might want to call it "Cindy's DeskJet" since it's attached to Cindy's machine. That way, when you print to this printer, you'll know where to go to pick up your printout.

   • Whether you want this printer to be your default printer If you want to print automatically to this printer every time you print, then the answer is Yes. If you usually want to print to another printer, choose No.

You can print to the shared printer from this computer any time you want. If you defined the shared printer as your default printer, then anything you print automatically goes to that printer. If you didn't define the network printer as the default printer, then you have to choose it from the list of defined printers before you print. This is usually done in the Print dialog box of the application you are using.

If the network printer is unavailable, any print jobs will be held on your computer until the printer is again available.

Tip  

A quick way to connect to a network printer is by using the Run dialog box. Choose Start Run and type the UNC path of the printer. For example, if the printer is called Deskjet900 and it's attached to a computer called Inspiron8000, type \\Inspiron8000\DeskJet900 as the UNC path. When you click OK, your computer connects to the printer.

If you need to print to a network computer from DOS programs, you can type the NET USE command in a Command Prompt window. At the command prompt, type:

 net use Ip2 \computername\printername 

This command maps the LP2 (second parallel printer) port to the printer you specify.