How to share a printer

E

erict

New Member
I am totally blind to networking. I just purchased a laptop and I would like to share my printer. My printer is connected to my desktop running xp with an usb cable. Am I able to set up my laptop that is running vista to print at my desktop printer? If so how do I go about setting it up? Do I have to load printer software in my laptop? If I am able to hook it up do I have to leave my desktop on to print?
 
If I don’t use a print server then I would have to turn on my desktop to print from my laptop, correct?
 
Yes you would have to have the machine the printer is physically attached to on if you dont use a print server.
 
network printer

I’m setting up my printer as a network printer that is connected to my desktop. Do I also set my printer up as a network on my laptop or do I just add a printer? And do I also need to install the printer software on my laptop?
 
yes i believe you will have to install the software for the printer on all machines that you will print from. mostly you just want the drivers for that printer, so if the software asks you to install a bunch of thing, all you will have to accept is the drivers.

GL
 
CharmPeddler said:
yes i believe you will have to install the software for the printer on all machines that you will print from. mostly you just want the drivers for that printer, so if the software asks you to install a bunch of thing, all you will have to accept is the drivers.

GL
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Thank for the reply. One other question I have is my desktop runs xp and my laptop runs vista. Do I have to download drivers for vista when adding a network printer on my laptop?
 
i have not used vista, but you will have to install the drivers on both os's so i would just try to install them with out worrying about what os you have. other than that i'm not sure. GL
 
Vista may not support your printer. It doesn't support many peripherals. You may want to check that before you spend any cash.
 
erict said:
Thank for the reply. One other question I have is my desktop runs xp and my laptop runs vista. Do I have to download drivers for vista when adding a network printer on my laptop?
Click to expand...

If your printer is older than two years, check out the website for the printer manufacture. You maybe surprised that they have a printer driver for VISTA for that printer. If it's not listed... try an XP driver, you might not be able to use all the function features of the printer... but you might be able to use the basic print functions instead.

Good Luck!
 
Thanks for all the info. Everything works fine on my network I set up. I went to HP’s website and they said I don’t not need a driver because its already installed on vista. The printer and all functions work fine on my shared printer when printing from my laptop.
 
erict said:
Thanks for all the info. Everything works fine on my network I set up. I went to HP’s website and they said I don’t not need a driver because its already installed on vista. The printer and all functions work fine on my shared printer when printing from my laptop.
Click to expand...

Good, then it means that Microsoft installed the printer driver on the CD. In Vista. Which printer to do you have, so in case in future cases if I run into a customer having this problem we will know already the solution?

Thanks!
 
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