If you have one printer and several computers at home, then you probably wondered how to set up a printer over a network. After all, running with a flash drive from one computer to another, just to just print a document, is very inconvenient. In this article, we will show you how to set up printing over a network.
Configuring a printer for printing over a network involves two steps:
- Setting up the computer to which the printer is connected;
- Setting up a second computer that will use the printer over the network;
If the printer must be accessible from a large number of computers, then the second configuration step must be repeated on all computers on which you plan to use the printer over the network.
Stage 1. Setting up the computer to which the printer is connected.
First of all, we need to configure the printer to work over the network on the computer to which the printer is connected via USB. On this computer, we need to share the printer, or, more simply, share the printer. To do this, open the Control Panel and go to the "View devices and printers" section.
After that, you will see a list of connected printers and other devices. Here you need to find the printer that you want to use over the network and open its properties. To do this, right-click on it and select "Printer Properties"(not to be confused with the item "Properties").
After that, a window with printer properties will appear in front of you. Here you need to go to the "Access" tab.
On the "Access" tab, you need to check the box next to "Sharing this printer".
Then close this window by clicking on the "OK" button. That's all, this completes the setup of the computer to which the printer is connected. Now it remains to configure the computers that will use this network printer.
Stage number 2. Setting up a second computer that will use the printer over the network.
The second step is to configure the computer that will use the network printer. On this computer, add the network printer to the list of connected printers. To do this, open the Control Panel and go to the same section "View devices and printers". In this section, we need to click on the "Add Printer" button. This button can be found at the top of the window (see screenshot).
This will open the Add Printer window. Here you need to click on the "Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer" button.
The operating system will then search the local network and display a list of available printers. The printer we just shared should appear here. Select it and click on the "Next" button.
After that, the system will download the drivers and configure the network printer. The message "You have successfully installed the printer" will appear on the screen. Here we just click on the "Next" button again.
And then click on the "Finish" button. You can also order a test page to be printed at this stage of the setup, if necessary.
After clicking on the "Finish" button, the network configuration of the printer is completed. Now a new network printer will appear in the list of printers, which can be used in any program, just like a regular, directly connected printer.
We solve problems with finding a network printer.
Please note that if the operating system does not find anything at the stage of searching for available network printers, then you can specify the path to the printer manually. To do this, click on the button "The required printer is not in the list."
Then a window will appear in which you can manually specify the address of the network printer. To do this, select "Select a shared printer by name" and enter the printer address in the following format: \\ IP Address \ PrinterName.
Solving the problem related to how to connect a printer via a local network is not such a problematic matter and almost any home user of such office equipment can cope with it. In general, installing a network printer on a computer running windows 10 or some other version of this system is an excellent solution if there are several PCs at home or at work, but only one MFP. Instead of constantly approaching and printing documents from one computer, many users prefer to combine their home or office computers into one local network or simply "local area".
To answer the question of how to connect a printer via a network, first of all, you will need a cable for organizing the connection and a CD with a driver and utility specially designed for your device. If there is no CD in one set with the device, then either from the official website of the manufacturer. It is also worth noting that almost all modern printing devices are equipped with USB ports for connecting to a PC. For this reason, motherboards of most system units are no longer equipped with COM and LPT ports. But if you decide to connect old equipment together with a new computer, then for this you need to find the appropriate adapter.
To connect a network printer, first, establish a reliable connection between the physical device and the PC using a USB cable. Then place the driver disc into your computer's floppy drive and run the software installer. After the drivers are installed, you just need to restart your PC and print a few test pages. Having thus prepared the basis for installing a network printer on windows 7, also perform the following sequence of steps:
- Open the control panel of your Windows operating system and find a section called "Devices and Printers" among the list. You can also go there through the right panel of the Start menu.
- Find among the installed the device that will connect and configure as a network device. Look at the list carefully, because this window displays not only physical, but also.
- Go to the properties of the desired device and check all the settings specified in it.
How to install a network device
In order for the printer to connect via a local network to be available to all local users, you need to open shared access to this device for all network members. In addition, to make the printer networked, you need to include all computers in one special workgroup. This step is especially necessary if the local network also has PCs with earlier versions of Windows, for example, XP.
To share your printer with windows 7 or later and create a workgroup, carefully read the following instructions:
- First, open the drop-down list by right-clicking on the My Computer icon. Then select Properties.
- Next, go to the item where additional parameters are displayed - for this, pay attention to the left side of the window that opens.
- Click on the tab under the name "Computer Name" and click on "Change" at the very bottom. Then a new window will open in front of you, where you have to create a name for the new group and save the change made by clicking on "OK".
In order for the network printer to be configured successfully, you must also grant access permission. Otherwise, setting up a windows 7 network printer can be a waste of time. other PCs connected to your local network will not be able to use this device. To set up your network printer properly, follow the steps below:
- Open the "Network and Sharing Center" and on the left side of the window, find the item that implies changing advanced settings. Click on it to make the necessary changes to the configured device.
- Go to My Network Places through the section called Home or Work.
- There you need to check the box that allows you to turn on the sharing of printers. After the made changes do not forget to save them by clicking on the corresponding button.
In general, with the installation of a network printer in windows 7, with a competent and serious attitude, there should not be any problems, because the procedure is not a complicated process. Next, you can learn how to properly connect an already installed device.
How to properly connect a network MFP?
This action consists of two stages. The first is carried out directly on the PC to which the printing device is physically connected.
- In the control panel, you need to find the section with the list of printers and faxes, and go to it.
- Next, determine the desired device to which you want to provide access over the network and click on it.
- In the new window, double-click on the device settings, then open the "Access" tab.
- Find and check the box for sharing.
- It is also advisable to check the box next to "Drawing print jobs on client computers".
The second stage of such a process as installing and configuring the printer over the network must be performed on all other PCs connected to the current local network.
- Open the folder called "Network". Find Install Printers on the top menu bar and click on it.
- Open the section for adding a network device.
- After the system searches for printers that are currently available for connection on the network, it will display a list of them in the same window. Select the desired device among them and click on "Next".
- After the connection is made, the system will definitely inform you about it. After that, the selected printer will be permanently displayed in the section with devices and printers.
But sometimes the question arises about how to install and how to set up a printer if the system cannot find any network device. Such a problem can appear even in the case of open sharing and correctly configured LAN settings. To answer the question of how to make this printing device visible, you will have to register the path to it manually.
- Open the Add Printer window after Windows cannot find any device available for printing over the network and click on the item that implies that the printer you want is not listed.
- Next, you will be asked to find the device by the network address or its name. Check the box next to "Select printer by name".
- Enter the computer name after the double backslash, then write in one backslash and write down the name of the printing device. You can find out the current network name by opening the "Access" section in its properties.
In general, an MFP made networked and connected via a local network will save money on the purchase of several such devices. As you can see, setting it up is a snap. This is especially true for using the device at home or in an organization with a large number of PCs, where buying dozens of printing devices is an inexpedient purchase.
Installing a printer on a local computer with Windows 7 is not a problem for most home users: plugged in, inserted a disk with drivers - in five minutes everything worked. But today, quite often, each family member has his own PC, and everyone has one printer. How to share? Some people solve the problem like this: you need to print something from one computer - they carry it and connect the printer to it, you need it from another - they carry it to another. It is unlikely that at least someone seems comfortable.
Many users have already learned how to integrate home computers into a local area network for general Internet access. In the same way, it is not difficult to install a network printer - physically it will be connected only to one of the network nodes, but it is accessible from everyone. Let's figure out how this is done.
Installing a Local Printer on Windows 7
What you need to install
To begin with - briefly about how to connect and install a printer on one computer. In addition to the PC and printer directly, you will need:
- connecting cable, which sometimes needs to be purchased separately;
- a disc with drivers and utilities for the printing device - usually supplied with it in the kit, but if there is no disc, download the driver from the manufacturer's website.
Almost all modern printers and multifunctional combines (scanner-printer-copier) are connected to a PC via a USB interface. Computer motherboards are no longer equipped with special printer LPT and COM ports. Therefore, to connect older models, you will need an adapter - COM-USB or LPT-USB.
How to connect a USB printer
- place the driver disc into the laser drive of your computer;
- turn on the printer in the power supply and use the connecting cable to connect it to the PC;
- run the driver installer (usually the Setup.exe file);
- after installation, restart your computer and you can start printing.
To access printer settings and change print settings, click Devices and Printers in the Windows 7 Control Panel.
The same option is also available in the right Start panel:
Select the one you just installed from the list of printers. Not only physical devices are displayed here, but also virtual ones, so look carefully.
Clicking on the icon of the selected printer opens its properties: a window for changing parameters, a window for setting and viewing print results.
Installing a local COM or LPT printer
- Navigate from the Computer folder to the Network folder. Click on the “Add Printer” button in the top panel.
- Select “Add a local printer”.
- Select the printer connection port.
- Select make and model. If you have a driver disc, click the Have Disc button.
- Open the drive and provide the path to the installation information file - it has the extension .inf and is usually located in the root folder.
- Return to the previous window and click “Next”. After the message that the installation was successful, click “Finish”.
- Restart your computer to use the printer driver correctly with Windows 7.
Installing a network printer
In order for all PCs on the home network to use the printing function, the computer to which the printer is physically connected must be allowed to be shared. And also include all PCs in one workgroup. This is especially true if there are machines on the network not only with Windows 7, but also with earlier releases of this OS.
Working group
To create a common workgroup, repeat the steps below on each machine on the network.
- Expand the system properties: in the context menu of the “Computer” folder, click on the “Properties” item. Or open the System applet through the control panel.
- Click on the Advanced System Settings navigation bar.
- Switch to the Computer Name tab. Click “Change”. In the next window, write down the name of the new workgroup and click “OK” to save the changes.
Access permission
- Go to the "Network and Sharing Center". Click in the navigation bar item "Change advanced settings ..."
- In the “Home or Work” device group (if you have a home or small office network) - “Network Discovery” check “Enable Sharing of Printers and Files”. Click “Save Changes”.
Connecting a network printer
The first step is performed on a computer to which the printer is physically connected.
- Open "Printers and Faxes" through Start or Control Panel. Select a printer for network access and click on the icon with its image.
- In the next window, double click “Printer Setting”. In the properties of the device, go to the “Sharing” tab and check the box next to “Share this printer”. Here it is also desirable to mark “Drawing print jobs ...”. If there are computers not only with Windows 7 on the network, you will need to install additional drivers (the button of the same name at the bottom of the window).
The second stage is performed on the rest of the computers in the network (Windows 7).
- Go to the "Network" folder. On the top bar, click Add Printer. This time you will need to select the bottom item - “Add a network, wireless, etc. printer”.
- After searching for network printers available for connection, Windows 7 will display a list of them. If the desired device is present, select it. Click “Next”.
- After connecting, the system will notify you about the successful installation.
- This completes the installation of the network printer. It will be displayed in the list of devices in “Devices and Printers”.
It happens that Windows 7 cannot find a single network printing device, although public access is open and all other settings are made correctly. Then you will have to manually register the path to your printer. To do this, in the “Add Printer” window, after the system has searched and found nothing, click “The required printer is not in the list”.
- The next step will ask you to find the printer by name or network address. Check the box next to “Select printer by name”. Examples of the correct entry are indicated right under the line: after a double backslash, the computer name is written (if you forgot, look in the system properties), then a single backslash and the name of the printer are written. If you do not remember the network name of the printer, check its properties in the "Access" section.
In our example, the correct entry looks like this: \\ 112-PC \ HP Deskjet 1050 J410 series... After confirming the entered name, the system will most likely find the device.
Solving Common Printer Installation Problems
Sometimes, despite literally following all the recommendations, the printer will not be installed. Neither local nor network. This is most often due to the following:
- incorrect or unsupported Windows 7 device drivers - this sometimes happens when trying to connect a very old printer;
- other hardware conflicts with the printer;
- the printer driver is blocked by security software - this is especially the case when installing unsigned drivers;
- a printer of a different brand was previously installed on this computer, and its traces remain in the system (utilities or drivers);
- the computer is infected with viruses;
- the current user account does not have permission to install hardware;
- the system has security policies that restrict access to certain resources - for example, to temporary folders.
Before attempting to troubleshoot the crash, make sure the available driver is correct for your version of Windows 7. There are different drivers for 64-bit and 32-bit operating systems. If installing from a disc, see if it is damaged - perhaps the driver cannot be read correctly due to scratches on the surface. Also, it will not be superfluous to try to install a more recent driver from the hardware developer's site.
Remove any software left over from previously installed printing devices. To do this, use the uninstaller tools or your own system tools - “Programs and Features”.
Make sure your account has sufficient rights. If you are a member of the Administrators group for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions, open the Group Policy Management snap-in (command gpedit.msc through the Start search bar) and carefully review all permissions.
To check for hardware conflicts, open System Information (C: \ Windows \ System32 \ msinfo32.exe), expand Hardware Resources, and Conflicts and Sharing.
If your printer is listed in the right half of the window, disable the device that is sharing resources with it. Of course, if there is such an opportunity.
Correcting some bugs
Error 0x000006d9 when sharing a printer
The reason for the error lies in the disabled Windows Firewall service.
Go to the section “ Services and Applications
Hello dear readers! This article, or even instructions, will describe in detail the most reliable way to set up and connect a printer over a network. Also, we will touch on all the system settings that are necessary to connect the printer and figure out why when you try to log into a computer over the network, a message about the denial of access to the server may appear. (to the PC on which the printer is locally configured).
To put it simply, the following will describe the connection of two or more computers to one printer, so that they both have constant access to printing. Of course, this option is most often practiced in various offices and enterprises. But it also happens that users at home, using even an ordinary router, make their own small network and connect several machines to one computer.
The instruction itself will be divided into several parts. First, we will deal with all the basic system settings, that is, what should be turned on or off, so that another computer could connect via the network to the PC on which the printer is installed.
You do not have permission to log into this computer
If you try to connect to a machine with a configured printer, you may receive this or a similar message, which means, most likely, you need to adjust some security settings.
I recommend making changes in the system parameters, which will be discussed below, on all computers to which the printer is installed, and on all those with which you will connect to it. So you will definitely save yourself from facing mistakes related to lack of rights or something like that.
So what do we need to connect the printer over the network?
Step 1
The first thing to do is to enable the local “Guest” account, which will be used to log on to the PC from the network.
- By clicking on "My Computer", right-click, select the item "Management".
- Next, go to " Local users"-" Users ".
- In the list of available accounts that appears, find the "Guest" and double-click to open it.
- Now, in the account properties, uncheck the item " Disable account", And" Apply "the changes.
If later, each time you turn on the computer, you will be prompted to select an account with which you will be logged into Windows, it does not matter, this can be disabled by disabling the guest's local logon. Although after turning on the guest in this way, this situation should not bother the user.
Step 2
The second point will be to disable the prohibition of logging on to the computer over the network by a previously unblocked guest.
Actually, in this way, we will exclude the guest from the list of users who will be denied access to this computer. Note that in Windows version "Home Edition", there are no local security policies, so on such versions most likely it will not be possible to share the printer, but only if it will connect to it using another computer.
Step 3
Well, and the final point will be the Windows firewall. This, of course, is a rather controversial point, since some recommend not touching it at all, others insist on the opposite. As for my opinion, I, for Windows XP users, in principle, recommend disabling it down to the service that is responsible for this component.
Regarding users of Windows 7 and above, everything is not so categorical here, and the firewall should be turned off only in the corresponding section located in the control panel. But, do not completely disable the service, otherwise you will not be able to share the printer in the future.
In general, usually in Windows 7, the need to disable or enable this component occurs depending on the situation, therefore, I recommend, just in case, to check the connectivity to the printer in both cases.
Disable Firewall on Windows 7 and above:
Stop the firewall in Windows XP services:
Once again, just in case, I repeat that you should not disable the service in Windows 7, otherwise in the future you will have to face a problem when sharing the printer, which will be discussed later.
Setting up the printer
So, having finished with the system settings, you can now go directly to the printer itself. A little higher, we opened network access directly to the computer itself. Therefore, we will be able to go to the computer, but unfortunately we will not see the installed devices on it until the printer is shared.
In order to do this, you need to follow a few more simple steps:
But, do not rush to close this window as it is also recommended to set security rules so that other users, in case of failure, at least could clear the print queue.
Well, what about the printer and operating system settings we figured out, now you can safely proceed to connecting the printer over the network.
We connect to the printer from another computer
Well, what are we already at the home stretch, now we just have to connect all the other computers to our shared printer, this is done quite simply.
But, it is so simple, it is not always the case, sometimes when trying to connect, the system may say that it does not have the necessary software for this device, so you will have to do it manually.
In addition to this option for connecting a network printer, there are several really good ways to connect, which you will learn about in future articles, so there is only one recommendation, either subscribe to our blog updates or even better
Updated - 2017-02-16
How do I set up sharing a printer? Until you know what a local network is, you don't seem to really feel the inconvenience of working without it. But when you already know its benefits, you want to use them to the fullest. And it is right!
It is foolish to rush with a flash drive from computer to computer, which are located a couple of meters from each other. And in order to go online to wait for their turn, while other household members play enough there. Try sticking to them while playing.
They will hiss so that you will forget why you needed the Internet. Here you will not regret a couple of hundred rubles, just to have your own personal access to the vastness of the World Wide Web, and go about your business, without disturbing anyone.
We have already configured, created a common network for all computers, now it's time to set up a shared printer.
How to set up printer sharing
On the computer to which the printer is connected, open the window Printers and faxes (Start - Settings - Printers and Faxes) ... A window will open Printers and faxes ... Right click on the icon of the connected printer. From the dropdown menu select General access… .
In the newly opened window on the tab Access put the switch on the label Sharing this printer ... Don't touch anything else. Click on the button Apply and OK .
Your printer icon will now look like this. A small share picture will appear on it.
- We pass to another computer to which it is necessary to connect the printer via the network.
- Open the folder network (or by icon network on the desktop, or through Start - Settings - Control Panel - Network Connections - Network Neighborhood - Display Workgroup Computers.
- In the next window, select the icon of the computer on which the printer is installed and open it by double-clicking it.
- In the new window, click the printer icon again.
An entry will appear in which you will be asked whether to install the necessary drivers. Feel free to press the button Yes .
Ultimately, this window will appear.
