Learn how to connect your printer to another computer through a network with this step-by-step guide. Share your printer easily and efficiently. If your home or office has two or more work computers connected via a common network, then you need to know how to properly connect a printer via a network and, accordingly, how to configure a printer via a network. We will now tell you how to make the settings and show you clearly.
How to Connect Printer to Another Computer Through Network
The first step in connecting your printer to another computer through a network is to ensure that your printer is set up for network sharing. Follow these steps to set up your printer for network sharing:
Connecting a printer over a network
It is worth knowing that printers can be connected either via a USB cable or via a Wi-Fi network. Printing devices connected via a router via Wi-Fi are more convenient to use, since they are mobile. This means that they can be moved to any place, and they can also work regardless of whether other computers on the home network are included in the general network.
Preparing to connect the printer via a local network.
Still, how to properly connect a network printer ? First of all, you need to make sure that all PCs that are included in the common network are prepared for operation, that is, they are put into operation. Then check whether the printer’s printing software is installed. If these conditions are met, then you can start working on the printer.
Setting up a printer over a network consists of several steps:
1 . Connecting a printer to two computers over one local network begins by connecting your laser or inkjet device to the main PC. Next, you need to allow shared access (that is, allow other computers to connect to the printer). Let’s look at this using Windows 7 as an example. First, launch the “Start” menu on the PC to which the printer is physically connected, and there we will find “View devices and printer.” Here we select our device and click on it with the auxiliary (right) mouse button and in the window that appears, click “Properties”. In the window that appears, find the “Access” section and write down the network (SSID) name of the selected device there and distribute access to all connected computers. We leave the bird next to the “Sharing” inscription, and confirm the action by clicking “Ok”.
MPORTANT! In Windows 7, 8, 10 you should also enable network discovery. Through the “Start” menu, launch “Network and Internet”, there we find “Manage networks”, now select “Change advanced settings” and here we enable “Network discovery” and “Sharing”.
Then we will find “Disable password protected sharing” and “Save changes”. We carry out the same manipulations in the “General” subsection.
2 . In order to connect the remaining PCs into one common network, some manipulations will be required. We launch “Devices and Printers” through “Start” only on any other computer that should be connected to the network for printing. This procedure must be performed from each computer that will print from the printer.
You need to know that the PC to which the printer is connected via USB is called the host or server. Therefore, to print from another PC, the main computer must be running. This is the main drawback of this type of connection using a wire.
Then we re-launch “Devices and Printers”, from scratch we request the context menu using the right mouse button and select “Install printer”. In various Windows XP, Vista, the settings are similar. Only sections may be named slightly differently.
Next, add the printer itself, in the new “Install Printer” window, select our printer. The system will automatically find the network printing device. We need to select it and confirm by clicking the “Next” button.
If the printer is connected, check whether the installed cartridge is refilled; if not, then they can really refill it cheap here , after which you can print a test page. If the output is a sheet with stripes when printed, you can find out more about this.
The system did not find the network printer, what should I do?
In this situation, you must specify the printer name, as well as the IP address of the PC manually.
Through “Start”, go to “Devices and Printers”, select “Add a Printer” and “Add a Printer”. Next, look for the field “The printer you need is not in the search.”
You need to select “Find printer by address” and enter \\IP of the main computer\printer name. Also confirm the action with the “Next” button. This way the system will detect the desired printer connected to the home network.
Connecting a laptop to a printer via Wi-Fi.
How to install a network printer wirelessly. And connect it to a laptop? This connection is only possible if the printer has a Wi-Fi module.
Method 1. This is done using the Wi-Fi protected program. We activate Wi-Fi on the printer, then you need to press the button with this icon on the router to activate it.
After both connections are activated, you need to install the printer software. After installing the program, the printer will automatically appear on your computer in “Devices and Printers” and will be ready for use. In the same way we connect other laptops or PCs located on the local network.
Method 2. How to connect a printer to a laptop if it does not have a Wi-Fi receiver. To do this, you need to connect the printer via a USB cable to a Wi-Fi adapter. It will connect the printer and router. Then open “Hardware and Sound” through the “Start” menu, then “Devices and Printers” and “Add a Printer”. The PC then automatically starts searching for devices.
If we see a message that the printer was not found, select “The required printer is missing.” Now click “Add a printer by its IP address ”. Then we write the data into the cells. Click the “Next” button. Thanks to these steps, the printer will appear on your PC or laptop. And again, we carry out such actions on all laptops that are included in the home or local network.
