Wireless Printing
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...
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Posted by Bob Rankin on December 5, 2006 07:55 PM
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Article information: AskBobRankin -- Wireless Printing (Posted: December 5, 2006 07:55 PM)
Source: http://askbobrankin.com/wireless_printing.html
Copyright © 2005 - Bob Rankin - All Rights Reserved
Most recent comments on "Wireless Printing"
(See all 198 comments for this article.)Posted by:
Ilya
08 Jun 2010
Thanks a lot. You made my life easier
Posted by:
Alan
14 Jun 2010
So simple! Thanks for getting me back into my wife's good books again.
Posted by:
WineFlirt
30 Jun 2010
Hi Bob! I've spent many hours online searching for a fix. Fixyourownprinter.com had no fix either. Hope you can help. My HP C6180 All in One Printer had a "Ink System Failure" message which was fixed with a hard reset. HOwever, I lost the wireless capability of the printer and can only operate my printer with an ethernet cord. What can I do? The printer is only 1.5 yrs. HP says buy a new printer! Please help!
EDITOR'S NOTE: Have you tried removing the software and reinstalling?
Posted by:
Alan Hobby
08 Jul 2010
This worked perfectly for my wife's laptop (see the Alan comment above). I tried the same thing with my work laptop (also running XP). After "Add a printer", I have the choice of "Find printer in directory", or "Connect to this printer (or browse for a printer)", or "Connect to a printer on the internet or home or office network". Having selected the second and then browsed, I can see the home PC below MSHOME but not the printer. (nor can I see the printer under the other options). I can see it (as I write) on my wife's. I am not networked as such at home (neither is my wife) but connect to the internet on both via a wireless router, which is wired to the home PC that has the printer connected to it. Help, please.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Did you check to make sure the workgroup names are the same on all three computers? I would not be surprised if your work computer has a different workgroup name.
Posted by:
R.Melton
03 Aug 2010
On my laptop the printer is listed ad the default printer and is shown as being offline. The laptop is running Vista and the PC the printer is networked with is running XP. What is my next step?
Posted by:
Bob Weber
05 Aug 2010
First thank you for your help. I was able to follow your advise and set up my laptop ( Windows XP) to print on our home printer (Brothers MFC-7820N USB cable)using a wireless router(Linksy).
But now I am trying to set up a new laptop for my wife (Windows 7) to print to the same printer as mention above through the same wireless router. I can print from this new computer immediately after booting the computer on. But after an undefinted time, the printer shows as having gone "off line" int eh print screen for this computer. Can you help me mee the printer in the "ready" state on this Windows 7 machine?
Thanks
Posted by:
Ken T.
09 Aug 2010
Hi Bob. I followed your advice for setting up a home network. My work laptop does not seem to recognize the home network. Do I need admin privileges on my work laptop in order to make it recognize the network? [Desktop is a Gateway running NT. Laptop is a Dell Latitude D610 running NT. My printer is an HP OfficeJet V40. I have a Verizon Wireless Router [Model 327W].) (I have already successfully connected the laptop directly to the printer using the printer cable, and so the HP OfficeJet V40 is already set as my default printer.) Thank you.
Posted by:
Ken T.
11 Aug 2010
Hi Bob. Continuing my post from 9 Aug. I was able to ping each computer fom the other one. I ran the Newtork Setup Wizard on my Gateway, and created a Network Setup Disc. When I inserted the disc on my laptop and tried to execute, I received the error "Cannot Complete the Network Setup Wizard. The wizard detected that this computer belongs to a domain. Therefore, you cannot use this wizard to set up a network." Any ideas on my next move? Thank you.
Posted by:
Erin
25 Aug 2010
Hi, and thanks for the straightforward explanation...you got me closer than anywhere else!
I have a Mac desktop which is connected wirelessly to a printer, and I am trying to connect my PC laptop to it wirelessly, too.
I can now SEE the printer on my wireless laptop under Printers and Faxes, but when trying to connect, it said that the driver was not available on the desktop computer. I followed the wizard and found the driver, and I downloaded Bonjour, but it still says "access denied, unable to connect" on the Printers and Faxes tab. What should I do?
Thanks so much!
Posted by:
Erin
25 Aug 2010
Hi again,
OK so now I restarted and used Bonjour and I am connected to the wireless printer...but when I send a print job it comes out as a blank sheet of paper! So frustrating, please help!
Thanks!