Post by drcard on Dec 9, 2019 13:41:12 GMT -5
How to Share a Printer at Home
Overview:
Many users have more than one PC, but don’t want a printer for each PC. They would like the one printer they have to serve as a printer for all the PCs they have. The PC with the printer installed on it and all the other PCs are connected to their home router making them all part of a LAN (Local Area Network). This is called sharing the printer with other PCs over a home network. What follows are instructions on how to set this up.
Note:
Many users have reported the inability to do this because the add printer wizard of the PCs can’t find the printer over the network so they can’t connect to it. There are many different reasons for the add printer wizard to fail finding the printer in your network and some of reasons are not fixable. The instructions that follow are manual instructions that do not depend upon the wizard finding the printer; thus, these instructions usually succeed where the wizard method fails. The PCs that share this printer can be running different versions of Windows and do not have to be part of a Workgroup or Homegroup. In my set up: the PC that the printer is installed on is running Windows 10 and I have 4 other PCs sharing this printer…2 running Windows 7 and 2 running Windows 10.
For this to work for you the following conditions must be met:
The printer is installed on one of the PCs.
The drivers for the printer installed on this PC are up to date. Not Sure? Update those drivers before trying to
share the printer.
All PCs wishing to share this printer are connected (wired or wireless) to the same router.
You have administrative rights on all the PCs.
Instructions can get confusing when dealing with several PCs. I will call the PC that the printer is installed on as the Alpha PC. I will call any PC that is trying to use this printer installed on the Alpha PC as a Client PC.
How to Share a printer over a LAN:
Step 1: Change the settings of the printer on the Alpha PC the printer is installed on.
Display the Properties of this printer. This can be tricky as there are two different Properties windows that can display for a printer. A short version and a long version. You will need the long version as this is the only properties window that will have the Sharing tab accessible. To access this long version of properties you must use the Control Panel and NOT Settings or Device Manager.
Type Control Panel in the Start Search box and it will display Control Panel above to click and open. In the Control Panel select Hardware and Sounds and then select Devices and Printers. There will be many “printers” listed depending on the version of Windows, if Office is installed, and the type of printer (all in one printers will have each function (print, FAX, scan, etc.) listed as a separate printer). Find your printer and right click to display the context menu. The bottom entry of the context menu with say Properties…this is NOT the properties you want as this is the short version of the properties. Listed near the top of that context menu will be Printer properties > click that to display a list of printers (if you have an all in one type) and select the printer. Example: mine offers Canon MX 330 series printer and Canon MX 330 series FAX. You must select the printer properties. You will know that you have opened the correct long version of properties when you see in that properties window that the second tab is labeled Sharing.
Select the Sharingtab of this properties windows.
Click the box next to Share this printer to activate the share function.
In the box next to Share name: will be the name of the printer as it appears in the control panel and will be highlighted to allow you to change the name. This is the name the Client PCs will see. It avoids confusion and errors to change the default name of the printer. Why? If that printer was installed at one time on the Client PC, that printer’s default name is already in the Client PC and could cause confusion when setting up this shared printer. I named mine “Alpha” so I’ll know for sure that I select the correct printer I want to install.
Under the Share name is a box next to Render print jobs on client computers. Rendering for a printer means turning the data to be printed into a grid map telling the printer exactly what prints or doesn’t print, pixel by pixel (this is that delay before the printer actually starts printing…its rendering). This rendering requires CPU time and the printer drivers that perform this rendering. If this is checked then the rendering is done on the Client PC using the Client PC’s CPU and drivers. In order for the Client PC to do the rendering it has to have the drivers that are installed on the Alpha PC for that printer. This may be a problem if the two PCs are running different versions of Window. The drivers installed on the Alpha PC running Windows 10 may not install of the Client PC that is running Windows 7. I leave this Render print jobs on client computers unchecked and all print jobs use the drivers installed on the Alpha PC and thus, avoid installing drivers on each Client PC.
Click Apply and OK to save your settings.
Step 2: Find the Computer name of the Alpha PC that the printer is installed on.
On the Alpha PC: type in the Search box Computer Name and press the Enter key. Depending upon the version of Windows it will be labeled as Device name: or Computer name:. Record this name down exactly as shown. For my example my Alpha PC’s computer name is Dana-8.
Step 3: Set up the shared Alpha PC printer onto the Client PC.
Note: This has to be done for each Client PC that you want to share the Alpha PC printer.
The Alpha PC must be on and not in sleep or hibernation modes.
On the Client PC: Open the Control Panel, select Hardware and Sounds and then select Devices and Printers.
Select Add a printer from the top menu and this will open the Add printer wizard.
On some versions of Windows the next screen will display two options – add a local printer or add a network, wireless, or Bluetooth printer. Choose the Add a network, wireless, or Bluetooth printer option. This option is not offered in Windows 10 and the wizard opens to the next page.
The Add printer wizard will open and start scanning to find a new printer. Don’t worry about the searching for a new printer … it usually doesn't find the printer you want. Click the The printer that I want isn’t listed statement to proceed to the next page.
On the next page click the radio button next to Select a shared printer by name. Enter the following replacing the ComputerName with your Alpha PC computer name and replace the printer’s name with the Share name you gave your printer.
\\ComputerName\PrinterName
With my example above of a computer name Dana-8 and a printer name of Alpha mine will look like:
\\Dana-8\Alpha
Notice the two backslashes (\\) before the ComputerName, this indicates that the ComputerName is a different PC. Press the Enter key to enter the printer. The next page will open and a small window will open stating that it is connecting to the printer. Relax, as this can take several minutes to set up the printer; and even longer when the connections to the router are wireless. One of my low powered laptops took 10 minutes to set the printer up.
When the installation is complete a message will appear that the printer was installed successfully. You will see the printer’s name will be the default printer’s name the printer has on the Alpha PC. The Share name is only used to find the right printer.
When you finish it will present a window with the option to print a test page. Print the test page…it proves the shared printer is working.
Rinse and repeat the above for each Client PC.
Step 4: Using the shared printer:
The Alpha PC that the printer is installed on and the shared printer must be on for the shared printer to be used.
You will have to physically go to the printer to get your printed material…Shared printers do not deliver.
Overview:
Many users have more than one PC, but don’t want a printer for each PC. They would like the one printer they have to serve as a printer for all the PCs they have. The PC with the printer installed on it and all the other PCs are connected to their home router making them all part of a LAN (Local Area Network). This is called sharing the printer with other PCs over a home network. What follows are instructions on how to set this up.
Note:
Many users have reported the inability to do this because the add printer wizard of the PCs can’t find the printer over the network so they can’t connect to it. There are many different reasons for the add printer wizard to fail finding the printer in your network and some of reasons are not fixable. The instructions that follow are manual instructions that do not depend upon the wizard finding the printer; thus, these instructions usually succeed where the wizard method fails. The PCs that share this printer can be running different versions of Windows and do not have to be part of a Workgroup or Homegroup. In my set up: the PC that the printer is installed on is running Windows 10 and I have 4 other PCs sharing this printer…2 running Windows 7 and 2 running Windows 10.
For this to work for you the following conditions must be met:
The printer is installed on one of the PCs.
The drivers for the printer installed on this PC are up to date. Not Sure? Update those drivers before trying to
share the printer.
All PCs wishing to share this printer are connected (wired or wireless) to the same router.
You have administrative rights on all the PCs.
Instructions can get confusing when dealing with several PCs. I will call the PC that the printer is installed on as the Alpha PC. I will call any PC that is trying to use this printer installed on the Alpha PC as a Client PC.
How to Share a printer over a LAN:
Step 1: Change the settings of the printer on the Alpha PC the printer is installed on.
Display the Properties of this printer. This can be tricky as there are two different Properties windows that can display for a printer. A short version and a long version. You will need the long version as this is the only properties window that will have the Sharing tab accessible. To access this long version of properties you must use the Control Panel and NOT Settings or Device Manager.
Type Control Panel in the Start Search box and it will display Control Panel above to click and open. In the Control Panel select Hardware and Sounds and then select Devices and Printers. There will be many “printers” listed depending on the version of Windows, if Office is installed, and the type of printer (all in one printers will have each function (print, FAX, scan, etc.) listed as a separate printer). Find your printer and right click to display the context menu. The bottom entry of the context menu with say Properties…this is NOT the properties you want as this is the short version of the properties. Listed near the top of that context menu will be Printer properties > click that to display a list of printers (if you have an all in one type) and select the printer. Example: mine offers Canon MX 330 series printer and Canon MX 330 series FAX. You must select the printer properties. You will know that you have opened the correct long version of properties when you see in that properties window that the second tab is labeled Sharing.
Select the Sharingtab of this properties windows.
Click the box next to Share this printer to activate the share function.
In the box next to Share name: will be the name of the printer as it appears in the control panel and will be highlighted to allow you to change the name. This is the name the Client PCs will see. It avoids confusion and errors to change the default name of the printer. Why? If that printer was installed at one time on the Client PC, that printer’s default name is already in the Client PC and could cause confusion when setting up this shared printer. I named mine “Alpha” so I’ll know for sure that I select the correct printer I want to install.
Under the Share name is a box next to Render print jobs on client computers. Rendering for a printer means turning the data to be printed into a grid map telling the printer exactly what prints or doesn’t print, pixel by pixel (this is that delay before the printer actually starts printing…its rendering). This rendering requires CPU time and the printer drivers that perform this rendering. If this is checked then the rendering is done on the Client PC using the Client PC’s CPU and drivers. In order for the Client PC to do the rendering it has to have the drivers that are installed on the Alpha PC for that printer. This may be a problem if the two PCs are running different versions of Window. The drivers installed on the Alpha PC running Windows 10 may not install of the Client PC that is running Windows 7. I leave this Render print jobs on client computers unchecked and all print jobs use the drivers installed on the Alpha PC and thus, avoid installing drivers on each Client PC.
Click Apply and OK to save your settings.
Step 2: Find the Computer name of the Alpha PC that the printer is installed on.
On the Alpha PC: type in the Search box Computer Name and press the Enter key. Depending upon the version of Windows it will be labeled as Device name: or Computer name:. Record this name down exactly as shown. For my example my Alpha PC’s computer name is Dana-8.
Step 3: Set up the shared Alpha PC printer onto the Client PC.
Note: This has to be done for each Client PC that you want to share the Alpha PC printer.
The Alpha PC must be on and not in sleep or hibernation modes.
On the Client PC: Open the Control Panel, select Hardware and Sounds and then select Devices and Printers.
Select Add a printer from the top menu and this will open the Add printer wizard.
On some versions of Windows the next screen will display two options – add a local printer or add a network, wireless, or Bluetooth printer. Choose the Add a network, wireless, or Bluetooth printer option. This option is not offered in Windows 10 and the wizard opens to the next page.
The Add printer wizard will open and start scanning to find a new printer. Don’t worry about the searching for a new printer … it usually doesn't find the printer you want. Click the The printer that I want isn’t listed statement to proceed to the next page.
On the next page click the radio button next to Select a shared printer by name. Enter the following replacing the ComputerName with your Alpha PC computer name and replace the printer’s name with the Share name you gave your printer.
\\ComputerName\PrinterName
With my example above of a computer name Dana-8 and a printer name of Alpha mine will look like:
\\Dana-8\Alpha
Notice the two backslashes (\\) before the ComputerName, this indicates that the ComputerName is a different PC. Press the Enter key to enter the printer. The next page will open and a small window will open stating that it is connecting to the printer. Relax, as this can take several minutes to set up the printer; and even longer when the connections to the router are wireless. One of my low powered laptops took 10 minutes to set the printer up.
When the installation is complete a message will appear that the printer was installed successfully. You will see the printer’s name will be the default printer’s name the printer has on the Alpha PC. The Share name is only used to find the right printer.
When you finish it will present a window with the option to print a test page. Print the test page…it proves the shared printer is working.
Rinse and repeat the above for each Client PC.
Step 4: Using the shared printer:
The Alpha PC that the printer is installed on and the shared printer must be on for the shared printer to be used.
You will have to physically go to the printer to get your printed material…Shared printers do not deliver.
