Setting Up Shared Printers for a Home Network
A terrific side effect of installing a computer network in your home is the ability to share a printer. Households without networks face some difficulties when it comes to printing. Network-deficient households have to rely on some less-than-perfect solutions.
If you want all the computers on your network to be able to access a single printer, you have to set up the Windows printer-sharing feature. Then you have to set up the printer for sharing. You perform these tasks at the computer to which the printer is connected.
The most difficult part of setting up network printing is deciding which computer gets the printer. Here are some common guidelines you can follow:
   * Location. If you have room for a table at one computer location (and storage space for paper), that’s the computer to choose.
   * Usage patterns. If one computer on the network is used far more often than any other computer, that’s the computer to select.
Some households have more than one printer. You may have a black-and-white printer as well as a color printer. When you enable printer sharing, each user can choose a printer every time he or she wants to print.
You can attach two printers to one computer if that’s more convenient, as long as the computer has sufficient ports. If one printer uses the printer port, and the other printer connects to the USB port, just plug them in. If both printers use printer ports, you can add a second printer port to the computer (it’s expensive). If both printers use USB connections, you probably have a second (or third or fourth) USB port. If you don’t have any empty USB ports, you can buy a USB hub (which adds ports).
Enabling printer sharing
The first thing you have to do is tell Windows that the printer attached to the computer should be shared with other users on the network. If you didn’t set up printer sharing when you originally set up your network, follow these steps to accomplish this simple task:
1. Open the Properties dialog box for your network connection in Control Panel.
In Windows 98 and Windows Me, choose Start –> Settings –> Control Panel and then double-click the Network icon. (Alternatively, right-click Network Neighborhood and choose Properties.)
In Windows 2000, choose Start –> Settings –> Network and Dialup Connections. Then right-click the Local Area Connection icon and choose Properties.
In Windows XP, choose Start –> Control Panel and click Network and Internet Connections. Click Network Connections, right-click the Local Area Connection icon, and choose Properties.
The Local Area Connection Properties dialog box opens.
2. Enable file and printer sharing.
In Windows 98 and Windows Me, click the File and Print Sharing button and click the I Want to Be Able to Allow Others to Print to My Printer(s) check box to put a check mark in the check box. Then click OK twice. You must restart the computer to put the new settings into effect.
In Windows 2000 and Windows XP, click the File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks check box to put a check mark in the check box. Then click OK. You do not have to restart the computer.
Sharing a printer
Naturally, household members who are using the other computer(s) on your network want to print, too. Follow these steps to share the printer with others on the network:
1. Open the Printers folder.
An icon for the printer you installed on this computer is in the folder window.
2. Right-click the icon for the printer you want to share and choose Sharing from the shortcut menu that appears.
The printer’s Properties dialog box opens and the Sharing tab appears in the foreground.
3. Select the option to share the printer.
The wording of this option differs, depending on the version of Windows.
4. Type a name for the printer in the Share Name text box.
You can accept the name that Windows automatically enters, which is usually a shortened form of the printer model name. Or, you can use a name of your own choice.
5. In Windows 98 and Windows Me, optionally type a description in the Comment text box.
Large companies with large networks and lots of printers use the Comments text box to help users identify the printers, such as “Den printer” or “Color printer.” Users see the comment text only if they select the Details view in Network Neighborhood or My Network Places when they double-click the icon for the computer that is directly connected to the printer.
6. In Windows 98 and Windows Me, optionally enter a password for the printer.
If you choose to require a password, users who don’t have the password won’t be able to use the printer. Use the Security tab of the printer’s Properties dialog box to set permissions, but usually the default permissions are fine – everyone can use the printer and manage their print jobs.
7. Click OK.
You are returned to the Printers folder, and your printer icon has a hand under it, indicating that this printer is a shared resource. This computer is now a print server.
Source :: http://tech.yahoo.com/gd/setting-up-shared-printers-for-a-home-network/153491
Categories: News Technology Tags: network printer, News-Technology, wireless
Tricks and Tips for Using Your Network Printer
The printing processes in Windows run smoothly and automatically most of the time, even across a network. However, knowing a few tricks makes network printing easier for all the users on your network.
Using a printer shortcut on the desktop
Sometimes you just need a printed copy of an existing document and you don’t want to open the software, open the document, and use the commands that are required to print the document. If you put a shortcut to the printer on your desktop, you can drag documents to the shortcut icon to print them effortlessly. Follow these steps to create a printer shortcut on your desktop:
1. Choose Start –> Settings –> Printers.
The Printers folder opens.
2. Right-drag the printer icon to the desktop.
When you release the right mouse button, a shortcut menu appears.
3. Choose Create Shortcut(s) Here from the shortcut menu.
A printer shortcut appears on your desktop.
Using the printer shortcut is easy and timesaving. You can use it whenever you have any folder or window open (such as Windows Explorer, My Computer, or My Documents) that contains document files. Just drag a document file to the printer shortcut on the desktop. That’s all you have to do – Windows does the rest.
If you right-click a document file instead of dragging it to a desktop shortcut, you can choose Print from the shortcut menu that appears. Again, Windows takes care of the rest.
Using separator pages to identify users
If everyone in your household uses the printers, you are likely to experience a lot of printer traffic. It’s less messy if each job comes out of the printer with a form that displays the name of the owner. Luckily, such a form exists in Windows, and it’s called a separator page. A separator page (sometimes called a banner) automatically prints ahead of the first page of each document.
The downside of separator pages is that they can be a huge waste of paper. They work best if most of your print jobs are made up of multiple pages. You may end up spending the money you save on ink purchasing ream after ream of paper. Also, if your household is filled with people who don’t believe that “neatness counts,” you’ll just have one extra piece of paper per print job to get shuffled around in a big ugly pile.
Adding separator pages in Windows 95, 98, and Me
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For a Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me print server, go to the computer that has the printer attached to turn on separator pages using these steps:
1. Choose Start –> Settings –> Printers.
The Printers folder opens.
2. Right-click the appropriate printer icon and choose Properties from the shortcut menu that appears.
The printer Properties dialog box opens, with the General tab in the foreground.
3. Click the arrow to the right of the Separator page list box and choose a Separator page type.
The Separator page choices are None, Full, and Simple. Both the Full and Simple separator pages contain the document name, the user name, and the date and time that the document was printed. The Full option uses large, bold type, whereas Simple uses the Courier typeface that’s built into the printer.
4. Click OK.
Adding separator pages in Windows 2000 and Windows XP
If you have a Windows 2000 Professional print server, follow Steps 1 and 2 in the previous section “Adding separator pages in Windows 95, 98, and Me,” and then follow these steps:
1. Click the Advanced tab.
2. Click the Separator Page button.
The Separator Page dialog box appears.
3. Click Browse to select a separator file.
Separator files have the .sep extension. Choose Sysprint.sep for PostScript printers or Pcl.sep for non-PostScript printers.
4. Click OK twice to close the dialog box.
Troubleshooting network printing
Sometimes when you’re printing to a remote printer, you see an error message indicating that there was a problem printing to the port. (The port is the path to the remote computer that has the printer attached.) Before you panic, check the condition of all the hardware.
Check the print server
Computers that have printers attached (called print servers) have to be turned on if you want to print from a remote computer. If the computer is turned off, turn it on.
It doesn’t matter whether you know the logon password for the user name that appears during the logon process; nobody has to be logged on to a computer to use its shared printer. The Windows operating system on that computer simply must be started.
Check the printer
Make sure that the printer is turned on. Check any buttons, indicator lights, or message windows that may be trying to tell you that something is amiss. When the printer’s “ready” light isn’t on, the most common problems are that the printer is out of paper, a paper jam has occurred, or the cartridge is out of toner (or ink).
Check the network cable
If the computer is on and the printer is fine, check the network cable. A cable that isn’t connected properly can’t send data.
Check the Windows XP SP2 Firewall
If a shared printer is on a computer running Windows XP SP2, make sure that the firewall is configured to allow access to the printer by remote computers. Use the following steps to view or change the firewall’s settings:
1. Open the Properties dialog box for the network adapter.
2. Click the Advanced tab.
3. Click the Settings button.
4. Click the Exceptions tab.
5. Be sure a check mark appears in the File and Printer Sharing option.
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Categories: News Technology Tags: network printer
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