Silicon Valley StRUT (Students Recycling Used Technology)

A USB Printer Shared Between 2 Computers on A Network

You have two computers in the same room or in an adjacent room but you only have one printer available.  You want to be able to print to the printer from either computer.  This is the perfect opportunity to setup a small network between two computers and a USB printer. 

In this basic simple setup, you need need a 10/100 Mbps network switch with at least 4 network ports and 2 network cables (get the proper lengths), and USB printer cable.  The current home printer typically does not have a network port available (optional and cost more); so a USB port connection on a printer is standard.  The 2 computers must have a network interface port (definitely available on today's computers). 

Now that you have the proper devices and cables, hook up the 2 network cables from the 2 computers to the network switch. Hook up the USB cable to one of the two computers USB port.  The computer with USB printer attached to it will now be the print server computer. 

The next part of the configuration may get a little confusing but bear with me and try not to get lost in the process.  Do the following steps (on a Windows XP system):

Configuring the Computers:

• Right-click on My Computer on Print Serve Computer 
• Highlight and do a left click on Properties
• Left click on the Computer Name tab
• Left click on the Change button
• Under Computer Name, type a computer name such as "John's computer"
• Under Workgroup dialog box, assign a name of your network such as "Doe" (last name)
• Click OK on Computer Name Changes
• Click OK on System Properties dialog box
• The computer will need to restart for the effects to take place
• Follow the same above steps for the 2nd computer

Configuring the Printer on the Print Server Computer:

• Be sure that you have installed the printer driver on the print server computer and that you see the printer icon under "Printers and Faxes"
• Inside the "Printers and Faxes" window, do a right click on the printer being used as a network printer
• Highlight and Select "Sharing"
• Left click on "If you understand .......,  click here"
• Highlight and select "Just enable network sharing"
• Click on OK
• Click on "Share this printer"
• Inside the dialog box, assign a name such as "Main printer"
• Click on Apply
• Click on OK
• A handshake should show on the printer icon if done properly
• Double-click on My Computer on the 2nd computer
• Left click on "My Network Places"
• Left click on "View workgroup computers"
• You should see two computers on the network
• Doublec-click on the Print Server Computer icon until it says something to the effect "do you want to setup this printer ..."
• Click on Yes and then OK
• The printer driver will be installed on the 2nd computer
• Do a print test on the 2nd computer to make sure everything is setup properly

There you have it on network printing available to 2 computers on a simple network group.

It is very important  that the next time you power up your computers, power up the Print Server computer first and not the other way around.