1. I’ve a linksys wireless router.
2. The router connects my two desktops with a standard ethernet cable. It also connects my laptop wirelessly.
3. One of my printers has a usb cable, the other has a standard parallel printer cable. My router, on the other hand, does not have ports for usb or parallel printer cables.
None of my printers are wireless.
How can I set up a network on my personal so that I can share printers?
Thank you so much to the people that answer! Please be as detailed as possible!
Answer:
Simple all you need to do is get a print server. These run anywhere from $19 and up. I use 3 of these: D-Link Express EtherNetwork DP-301U Print Server.
1 USB 1.1/2.0 port
1 10/100 LAN port
Very simple to setup the printer to use with this. And the trick is to have one Computer act has the host for the drivers and software. Best way to do it is to duplicate the CD to a hard drive folder. Let's give it a name: HP4100. Now you would share out this folder HP4100.
Each Print Server has it's own name. Let's call it PRTS1 IP address 192.168.1.12 Printer Name HP4100.
Now using the print server you can setup the printer anywhere in the home you want. Just make sure you have enough LAN cable to reach it. If all your 4 ports on your router are filled up you can buy 5-port or 8-port switch to extend the features of your router.
Setup Example:
Router—-external 8-port switch —pc1 —- pc 2 — print server
If you’ve wireless laptops they can connect via wireless to the printer server. Doesn't really matter how they connect but they do.
Remember with a print server you don't need to have a Computer left on just leave the print server on. That's it..
To access or to setup the printer on each Personal computer all you’ve to do is this:
On my network places under xp if you have xp running. You would go under view work group computers. Look for PRTS1 double click on that. Then right click connect. You will be given a message but just click okay. Now choose the printer make then click on browse for the driver which in this case is HP4100 HDD folder that you had shared out on another PC. In that folder there’s an autorun.inf click on that. This will do the rest for you. Once that is done the printer connected to the print server will appear and be ready to use.
If you’ve more than one USB printer you can had as many print servers you need. These min print servers can work with all-in-one printers and laser printers.
Answer:
Setup the printer to one of the desktops and install the driver.
Next goto printers under control panel.
right click the printer and click share
check the box next to share this printer on my network (may be worded differently)
on the laptop and the other desktop go to printer under the control panel and click add new printer
select add new network printer.
you should be able to see your printer, just click add and try printing a test page.