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Setting Up Your Printer on a Network

Sharing the printer
Setting up your printer as a shared printer
Setting the clients

Sharing the printer

This section describes how to share the printer on a standard Windows network.
The computers on a network can share a printer that is directly connected to one of them. The computer that is directly connected to the printer is the printer server, and the other computers are the clients which need permission to share the printer with the printer server. The clients share the printer through the printer server.
According to the versions of Windows and your access rights on the network, perform the appropriate settings for the printer server and clients.
Setting the printer server
See Setting up your printer as a shared printer.
Setting the clients
See Setting the clients.
Note:
When connecting to a Windows XP shared printer, error and warning notifications do not appear during printing. Installing Windows XP Service Pack 1 or later will solve this problem.
When connecting to a shared printer beyond a router, error and warning notification for shared printers during printing is not available in some cases because of the router’s settings.
The printer server and clients should be set on the same network system, and they should be under the same network management before making the settings.
The screen shots that are shown on the following pages may differ depending on the version of Windows that you are using.
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Setting up your printer as a shared printer

Note:
You must log on to the printer server computer as the administrator.
For Windows 7:
Click Start, and then click Devices and Printers.
For Windows Vista:
Click Start, click Control Panel, click Hardware and Sound, and then click Printers.
For Windows XP Home Edition:
Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Printers and Faxes.
For Windows XP Professional:
Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
For Windows 2000:
Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
For Windows 7:
Right-click your printer icon, click Printer properties, and then click the Sharing tab in the dialog box that appears.
For Windows Vista, XP, or 2000:
Right-click your printer icon, and then click Sharing in the menu that appears.
For Windows XP:
If the following menu appears, click either Network Setup Wizard or If you understand the security risks but want to share printers without running the wizard, click here.
In either case, follow the on-screen instructions.
For Windows 7, Vista, or XP:
Select Share this printer, and then type the name in the Share name box and click OK.
For Windows 2000:
Select Shared as, and then type the name in the Shared as box and click OK.
Note:
Do not use spaces or hyphens for the shared printer name. Otherwise, an error may occur.
For Windows 7 or Vista, you cannot select Share this printer until you click Change sharing options.
You need to set the client computers so that they can use the printer on a network. For more information, see Setting the clients.

Sharing the printer when the firewall is on

Note:
To share files and printers when the Windows firewall is on, perform the following procedure.

Windows 7

Click Start, click Control Panel, click System and Security, and then click Windows Firewall.
Click Turn Windows Firewall on or off in the window on the left. Make sure that Block all incoming connections, including those in the list of allowed programs is not selected, and then click OK.
Click Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall in the window on the left.
Select Share file and printer, and then click OK.

Windows Vista

Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
Click Security, and then click Windows Firewall to open the Windows Firewall dialog box.
Click Turn Windows Firewall on or off in the window on the left. When the User Account Control dialog box is displayed, click Continue.
Make sure that Block all incoming connections is not selected in the General tab.
Click the Exceptions tab, select File and Printer Sharing, and then click OK.

Windows XP

Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
Click Security Center.
Click Windows Firewall to open the Windows Firewall dialog box.
Make sure that Don’t allow exceptions is not selected in the General tab.
Click the Exceptions tab, select File and Printer Sharing, and then click OK.
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Setting the clients

This section describes how to install the printer driver by accessing the shared printer on a network.
Note:
To share the printer on a Windows network, you need to set the printer server. For more information, see Setting up your printer as a shared printer.
This section describes how to access the shared printer on a standard network system using the server (Microsoft workgroup). If you cannot access the shared printer due to the network system, ask the administrator of the network for assistance.
If the printer drivers are not already installed on the client, please install them before performing these settings.
For Windows 7:
Click Start, and then click Devices and Printers.
For Windows Vista:
Click Start, click Control Panel, click Hardware and Sound, and then click Printers.
For Windows XP Home Edition:
Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Printers and Faxes.
For Windows XP Professional:
Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
For Windows 2000:
Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
Right-click the icon for the printer you want to change the settings for, and then click Printer properties (Windows 7) or Properties (Windows Vista, XP, or 2000).
Click the Ports tab, and then click Add Port.
When the Printer Ports dialog box appears, select Local Port, and then click New Port.
Enter the following information for the port name, and then click OK.
\\Name of computer connected to the target printer\name of shared printer
After returning to the Printer Ports dialog box, click Close.
Check that the name you entered for the port has been added and selected, and then click Close.
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