Wireless Printing
I have a laptop with no printer attached. But I do have a wireless network in my home, and one of the desktop computers on the network has a printer. How can I print from the laptop, over the wireless network, to the printer that's hooked up to my desktop?
| Check out this week's most popular articles. |
Sharing a Printer On a Wireless Network
Although it may seem like printing over a wireless network requires come special magic, it's really no different than printing with a regular wired network. It doesn't matter if you connect your laptop to the network router in your home with a network cable, or if you use an invisible wireless beam to connect. (If you need help setting up a home network, see my illustrated Home Networking tutorial.)
If one of the computers on the network has a printer attached, all of the computers on the network should be able to access it -- as long as your printer is designated as a "shared" printer for the network. To make sure your printer is network shared, open the Control Panel (on the computer that has the printer), click Printers and Other Hardware, then View installed printers.
Select your printer from the list of installed printers, then smack the Share this printer button. Now click the radio button next to Share this printer, enter a Share name, then press OK. (The example below shows the Lexmark 3100 printer on my desktop computer... yours will most likely be different.) Mac users, make sure the printer is shared in the Mac OS Sharing control panel.
Now your desktop computer's printer is shared, so any computer on the network can send print jobs to it. Oh, and it really doesn't matter if you're printing from a laptop to a desktop, a desktop to a laptop, a desktop to another desktop, or a laptop to a laptop. As long as both computers are on the network, and the printer is designated as shared, it should work.
Setting Up Network Printing
Now on your wireless (or direct wired) laptop, you will need to visit the Control Panel, click Printers and Other Hardware, then Add a printer. This will define the connection between your laptop and the printer on the network.
When the Printer Wizard opens, tell it you're looking for a network printer, then browse for the desired printer on your network. You should select the printer that you just designated as the shared printer on your desktop. In the example below, there are two printers connected to a computer named GW3. You may have more than one computer on your network, with or without printers attached.
Press Next and the necessary printer software will be copied from the desktop to your laptop. In some cases, you may need to insert the CDROM with the printer driver, but usually not. The Printers and Faxes window should show your newly configured printer.
If you're connecting to a printer on a Mac computer, you'll need to download Bonjour for Windows so your Windows computer can access the Mac-connected printer.
If you have more than one printer defined, take note of which is the default printer. When you print from the laptop, the print job will go to whatever printer you have defined as your default printer. To change the default printer, right-click on the desired printer and select the Set as default option, or just select the printer you want to use from the application that you're working in.
Got comments or questions about networking printing from a wireless laptop? Post them below...
|
|
|
Posted by Bob Rankin on December 5, 2006 07:55 PM
| Need More Help? Try the AskBobRankin Updates Newsletter. It's Free! |
 |
Prev Article: Revealing Your Email Address |
|
Next Article: Is Genuine Advantage Spyware? |
 |
|
Link to this article from your site or blog. Just copy and paste from this box: Related Keywords: Printing wireless network printing laptop desktop |
Most recent comments on "Wireless Printing"
(See all 144 comments for this article.)|
Posted by:
|
Bob, very simple instructions, I got all the way though them, until the last step. When I clicked on the printer I wanted my laptop to print to (from the network category) I saw the printer that I had named clicked on it and a box appeared that said Windows cannot connect to the printer. Access is denied. I'm running windows xp from the Desktop where the printer is hooked up to and the laptop is running windows vista....can you help with this issue? |
|
Posted by:
|
Recently moved offices. Printer too far away from computer. Old printer without wireless. New computer with wireless. However, we are now hooked to DSL. I could get extra long wires, but I thought that there was a way to go wireless between the computer and the printer. Help!! EDITOR'S NOTE: You need a Wireless Print Server, which allows you to connect a USB or parallel printer to a wireless network. |
|
Posted by:
|
hello i can hook up my wireless printing just fine but i have a question. when hooked to wireless network do you still have to have one computer as the "main" computer because when that comp is off my other comps cant print..i was thinking if its on wireless network it can print from any comp it doesnt matter if the others are on or off?? |
|
Posted by:
|
Installed new desktop,vista, connected to Netgear gateway and a laptop, vista. Can't print remotely from the laptop even after following your instructions, It could not find the printers on the desktop. I could not access the desktop, even after propted for the IP address. I can see the laptop from the desktop but I can't see the desktop from the laptop. |
|
Posted by:
|
Problem resolved. On Laptop went to start button typed in (\\name of my desktop) and pressed enter. I was able to see the desktop on my Laptop. Right clicked on printer and then clicked on connect. The printers do not show on my Laptop under printers. When I click on a document or website to print both remote printers come up. I found the answer at Microsoft Techet under file and printer shaing in Windows. |
|
Posted by:
|
I followed your advice on how to setup up the wireless laptop to print to my desktop printer. Everything seems OK, on the laptop, the printer icon shows on the info line with a "?", I now have 5 docs in queue but nothing is printing! |
|
Posted by:
|
This is how I set my 5 hardwired computers to print from one printer however for wireless as soon as you unplug your cat5 and use wireless you cannot access the shared printer. used to work a few years ago but after thousands of windows updates now wireless sharing apparently doesn't work. |
|
Posted by:
|
Bob, Currently I have a wired (ethernet 100baseT) network printer. My network has both wifi 'g' and wired. The printer is not a 'wireless' printer. I need to move it where I cannot wire it (cat5). I do not wish to go USB. What device can I get that will wirelessly bridge to the printer? Basically, I am looking to have two wired segments that are connected wirelessly. Does anybody make this 'bridging' product? EDITOR'S NOTE: Mike, you need a Wireless Print Server. Check at TigerDirect or other online retails. |
|
Posted by:
|
After following Bob's explicit instructions and the instructions provided by HP for my Officejet Pro L7500 series [all-in-one] printer, I still cannot print from my laptop. |
|
Posted by:
|
Bob: I was set up for wireless printing from my Laptop using my base computer in the network. It worked fine and now has stopped printing. (Troubleshooting was no help) Since I last printed from the Laptop I have downloaded Microsoft updates, (including MS Suite) and added a new Virus program (Avast). I confirmed that something was changed in one of thoses processes by doing "restore" to an earlier date and being able to print. I don't know how to trouble shoot to fix since I did not set up. Any ideas? EDITOR'S NOTE: I would try removing Avast, to see if that fixes the problem. If so, try AVG or Avira instead. |
There's more reader feedback... See all 144 comments for this article.
Post your Comments, Questions or Suggestions
|
Ask Bob Rankin Home Page
Subscribe to AskBobRankin Updates: Free Newsletter |
|
| Copyright © 2005 - Bob Rankin - All Rights Reserved | ||
Article information: AskBobRankin -- Wireless Printing (Posted: December 5, 2006 07:55 PM)
Printed from: http://askbobrankin.com/wireless_printing.html
Copyright © 2005 - Bob Rankin - All Rights Reserved