Enabling printer sharing

Enabling printer sharing
Your first task is to enable the printer sharing within the Windows OS of the
computer to which the printer is attached. This is the same process as sharing
a folder (see the earlier section “Sharing a document or folder”) and is
available by default in Windows 2000/XP.
Windows 95/98/Me shares the printer drivers for that printer. It’s the same as
sharing a folder. Because most people will be using a workgroup type of network
(see the earlier section “Setting up a workgroup”), having the printer
drivers easily accessible makes adding those shared printers to your other
computers a lot simpler.
In the shared folder that you create, copy the printer software that came with
your printer. These days, most printers have their software on CD-ROM. The
simplest way to make that accessible is to share the CD-ROM drive of the
computer that the printer is attached to. Now you have full access to the
printer’s software without having to use up space on one of your hard drives.
Setting up sharing for the installed printer
After you enable printer sharing, it’s time to . . . can you guess? . . . share your
installed printer.
Windows 95/98/Me
To share a printer on Windows 95/98/Me, just follow these steps:
1. Go to your Printers folder by choosing Start➪Settings➪Printers and
then right-clicking the printer that you want to share.
2. From the pop-up menu that appears, choose the Sharing option.
3. Select the appropriate radio button to share the printer and then consider
adding some descriptive words in the Comment field like Photo
Printer in Living Room.
Keep in mind the eight-character limit for device names that we mention
earlier.
Just like in file sharing, you can set a password at the same place where
you activate sharing in the Sharing dialog box. We can’t see a reason to
add a password for a printer, but you might want to because some printers
(like photo printers) have high consumables costs (photo paper often
costs more than a buck per sheet). This is likely one of the reasons why
Windows 2000/XP carries its security policy to printers as well as files.
4. Click OK.
Your printer is shared. Didn’t we tell you that this was simple?
Windows 2000/XP
Windows 2000/XP are more sophisticated operating systems and subsequently
have a server type of print sharing. In other words, they offer all the
features of a big network with servers on your local machine. These features
include the ability to assign users to manage the print queue remotely,
embed printer software for easier installation, and manage when the printer
will be available based on a schedule that you define.
To share a printer on Windows 2000/XP, follow these steps:
1. Choose Start➪Settings➪Printers and Faxes (or simply choose
Start➪Printers and Faxes, depending on how your Start menu is
configured).
2. Right-click the printer in the Printers folder and choose Properties
from the pop-up menu that appears.
3. On the Sharing tab of the dialog box that appears, click the Additional
Drivers button.
4. Select which operating systems you want to support to use this shared
printer and also select the other types of drivers needed for your
other computer systems and devices; then click OK.
5. When prompted, insert a floppy disk or CD-ROM and direct the subsequent
dialog boxes to the right places on those devices to get the
driver for each operating system that you chose.
Windows finds those drivers and downloads them to the Windows
2000/XP’s hard drive. Then, when you go to install the printer on your
other computers (see the next section), the Windows 2000/XP machine,
which is sharing the printer, automatically transfers the proper printer
drivers and finishes the installation for you. Darned sweet if you ask us!
Remotely installing the printer on all network PCs
The third step is done at every other PC in the house. Basically, you install
the printer on each of these computers, but in a logical way — logically as
opposed to physically installing and connecting the printer to each computer.
You install the printer just like any other printer except that you’re installing
a network printer, and the printer installation wizard will search the network
for the printers that you want to install.
The process that you’ll use will vary depending on the operating system that
you use and the type of printer that you’re trying to install. In every case,
read the printer documentation before you start because some printers
require their software to be partially installed before you try to add the
printer. We’ve seen this a lot with multifunction printers that support scanning,
copying, and faxing.
With Windows, the easiest way to start the installation of a printer is to look
inside Network Neighborhood (or My Network Places), find the computer
sharing the printer, and double-click the shared printer. This starts the Add
Printer Wizard, which takes you through the process of adding the printer.
This wizard works like any good wizard — you’ll make a few selections and
click Next a lot. When asked for the printer drivers, use the Browse button to
direct the wizard to look in the shared folder or CD-ROM drive where you put
the printer software on the computer that the printer is attached to.
You have two options for installing a network printer:
From your Printers folder: In Window 95/98/Me, choose
Start➪Settings➪Printers to see the Printers folder where your installed
printers are shown. Double-click the Add Printer icon.
In Windows 2000/XP, choose Start➪Settings➪Printers and Faxes (or
simply Start➪Printers and Faxes, depending how your Start menu is configured).
From Network Neighborhood or My Network Places: From within
Network Neighborhood in Windows 95/98/Me (or My Network Places in
Windows 2000/XP), double-click the computer that has the printer
attached. An icon will appear showing the shared printer. Right-click it
and then choose Install from the pop-up menu that appears.
Either route leads you to the Add Printer Wizard, which guides you through
the process of adding the network printer.
Don’t start the Add Printer Wizard unless you have the disks or CDs for your
printer handy. The Add Printer Wizard will install the printer drivers (software
files that contain the info required for Windows to talk to your printers
and exchange data for printing). The wizard gets these from the CD that comes
with your printer. If you don’t have the CD, go to the Web site of your printer
manufacturer and download the driver to your desktop and install from there.
And don’t forget to delete the downloaded file(s) from your desktop when
done with installing them on the computer.
Note also that the wizard will allow you to browse your network to find the
printer that you want to install. Simply click the plus sign next to the computer
that has the printer attached, and you should see the printer below the computer.
(If not, then recheck that printer sharing is enabled on that computer.)
At the end of the wizard screens, you have the option to print a test page. We
recommend that you do this. You don’t want to wait until your child has to
have a color printout for her science experiment (naturally she waits until 10
minutes before the bus arrives to tell you!) to find out that the printer doesn’t
work.
Accessing your shared printer(s)
After you have the printers installed, how do you access them? Whenever
your Print window comes up (by pressing Ctrl+P in most applications), you
will see a field labeled Name for the name of the printer accompanied by a
pull-down menu of printer options. Use your mouse to select any printer —
local or networked — and the rest of the printing process remains the same
as if you had a printer directly plugged into your PC.
You can even make a networked printer the default printer by right-clicking
the printer and then choosing Set as Default Printer from the pop-up menu
that appears.