Re: Printer sharing

paul wrote:
I'm trying to share a printer can anyone help please?

I have a PC thats hard wired to a wireless router. The printer is attached
to this PC. Then I have a laptop which connects wirelessly to the router.

I want to be able to print wirelessly from the laptop. Is there a way to do
this without buying more equipment?

(laptop and PC both have XP)

Yes of course. Set up file/printer sharing, share out the printer, install the printer on the laptop. The printer will be seen during the installation routine or, if not, you will use the Add Printer Wizard.

Assuming both laptops are running XP, here are general networking instructions:

For XP, start by running the Network Setup Wizard on all machines (see caveat in Item A below).

Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally caused by 1) a misconfigured firewall; or 2) inadvertently running two firewalls such as the built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party firewall; and/or 3) not having identical user accounts and passwords on all Workgroup machines; 4) trying to create shares where the operating system does not permit it. Read through the general networking tips below and if you still are having difficulties, MVP Hans-Georg Michna has an excellent small network troubleshooter here:

http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm

Taking the time to go through his troubleshooter will usually pinpoint the source of the problem(s).

Here are some general networking tips for home/small networks:

A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network (LAN) traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing File/Printer Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network Setup Wizard on XP will take care of this for those machines.The only "gotcha" is that this will turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a third-party firewall or have an antivirus with "Internet Worm Protection" (like Norton 2006/07) which acts as a firewall, then you're fine. With third-party firewalls, I usually configure the LAN allowance with an IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct subnet. Do not run more than one firewall.

B. Create identical user accounts and passwords on all machines. If you wish a machine to boot directly to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for convenience, you can do this:

Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) - http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm

C. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center:

1. If you need Pro's ability to set fine-grained permissions, turn off Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab) and create identical user accounts/passwords on all computers.

2. If you don't care about using Pro's advanced features, leave the Simple File Sharing enabled.

Simple File Sharing means that Guest (network) is enabled. This means that anyone without a user account on the target system can use its resources. This is a security hole but only you can decide if it matters in your situation.

I think it is a good idea to create the identical user accounts/passwords in any case and it isn't an onerous task with home/small networks.

D. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users' home directories (My Documents) or Program Files, but you can share folders inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared Documents folder.

After file sharing is set up and you've successfully transferred a file between the computers, go to the Printers applet in Control Panel, right-click on your printer and share it.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
.

Relevant Pages

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