How To Share Printer In Windows

Over the years, Windows has gotten much ameliorate virtually how information technology handles networked printers. But if you desire to share a printer over the network, you may still need to exercise a little legwork to get it all up and running. Here's how it all works.

Setting up a printer on your network involves two steps. The first step is getting the printer connected to the network, and there are 3 ways you lot tin can do that:

Connect the printer to the network directly. This is the easiest way to set upwards a network printer. It doesn't crave that another PC exist turned on to print (like the below methods practice), and you don't have to go through the hassle of setting up sharing. And, since most printers made within the last few years accept networking congenital in, there's a adept chance your printer supports this option.
Connect the printer to one of your PCs and share information technology with the network over Homegroup. If connecting a printer directly to the network isn't an choice, yous tin connect it to a PC on the network and share it with Windows Homegroup. Information technology's easy to set up, and is optimal for networks that are made upwards of mostly Windows computers. This method, all the same, requires that the figurer its continued to be up and running in order for you to use the printer.
Connect the printer to i of your PCs and share it without Homegroup. This is ideal if your network has other computers running different operating systems, if you want more than control over file and printer sharing, or if Homegroup simply isn't working very well. Like the Homegroup method, this requires that the computer its connected to exist upwardly and running in guild for you to employ the printer.

The 2nd step, once you've hooked up your printer, will be connecting other PCs to the network printer…which depends a lot on how you hooked it up. Dislocated yet? Don't worry. We're about to go over all of this.

Update: Microsoft removed the HomeGroup feature from Windows 10 in the Apr 2018 update. Y'all can still use HomeGroups if you're using Windows vii or 8, but they won't be accessible past computers running Windows 10 (at least with the latest updates) unless y'all besides fix up traditional file sharing.

Step Ane: Connect Your Printer to the Network

Kickoff, allow's talk about getting that printer connected to your network. As nosotros mentioned to a higher place, you have three options here. You can connect information technology direct to the network, you can connect it to a PC and share it through a Homegroup, or you tin can connect it to a PC and share it without using Homegroup.

Connect Your Printer Directly to the Network

Near printers these days take networking congenital in. Some come equipped with Wi-Fi, some with Ethernet, and many have both options bachelor. Unfortunately, we tin can't give you precise instructions for getting this done, since how yous do information technology depends on the type of printer you have. If your printer has an LCD display, chances are y'all can detect the network settings somewhere in the Settings or Tools portion of the menus. If your printer has no display, yous'll probably have to rely on some series of physical button presses to tell it whether it should employ its Wi-Fi or Ethernet network adapter. Some printers fifty-fifty take a defended like shooting fish in a barrel connect push button that tin can set up the Wi-Fi for y'all.

If y'all're having trouble setting upward a printer that connects directly to the network, the manufacturer should take instructions for making it happen. Cheque the manual that came with your printer or the manufacturer's web site for information on hooking it up.

Share a Printer Connected to a PC by Using a Homegroup

Sharing a printer with Homegroup is super easy. Start, of class, y'all'll want to make sure that the printer is continued to ane of the PCs on the network and set upward properly. If that PC can print to the printer, then yous're practiced to go.

Outset past firing up the Homegroup control panel app. Click Start, type "homegroup," and then click the pick or hitting Enter.

What you do next depends on what you meet in the Homegroup window. If the PC you have the printer connected to is already office of a Homegroup, you'll see something similar the post-obit screen. If it shows that yous're already sharing printers, and then you're done. You can skip on to step two, where yous connect other PCs on the network. If you're non already sharing printers, click the "Change what you're sharing with the homegroup" link.

On the "Printers & Devices" drop-down bill of fare, choose the "Shared" option. Click Next and so you tin can close the Homegroup options and movement on to pace two.

If there is already a Homegroup created for other PCs on the network, simply the PC you've got your printer connected to isn't a member, the primary screen when yous offset the Homegroup control panel app will look something like the ane below. Click the "Bring together now" button so click "Next" on the following screen that only tells you a chip near Homegroups.

Set your sharing options, making sure that "Printers and devices" is ready to "Shared," and then click "Next."

Type the password for the Homegroup and then click "Adjacent." If you don't know the password, get to one of the other PCs on the network that is already a fellow member of the Homegroup, launch the Homegroup control panel app, and you can look it upwards there.

If y'all're connecting from another PC that you've signed onto using the aforementioned Microsoft account as the PC that's already a member of the Homegroup, Windows 8 and 10 won't inquire for your password. Instead, Windows will authorize you automatically.

On the terminal screen, click the "Finish" push and so you tin can motion on to step two and become your other PCs on the network continued to the printer.

And finally, if in that location is no Homegroup at all on your network, you'll run across something like the following screen when y'all open the Homegroup control panel window. To create a new homegroup, click the "Create a homegroup" push button.

The following screen simply tells you a little about Homegroups. Go ahead and click "Next."

Cull whatsoever libraries and folders you want to share with the network from the PC yous're on. But make sure that you select the "Shared" option for "Printers & Devices." Click "Next" when y'all're done making your selections.

The concluding screen shows the countersign you lot'll need for other PCs on your network to connect to the Homegroup. Write it downwardly then click the "Stop" button.

Now that you've got your Homegroup set upwardly and your PC is sharing its printers with it, you can skip downward to stride 2 and get those other PCs on the network connected to the printer.

Share a Printer Connected to a PC Without Using a Homegroup

If you lot take computers or mobile devices on your network that run an OS other than Windows seven, eight, or 10–or you lot just don't desire to utilize Homegroup for some reason–you can e'er utilise the sharing tools that take always been a part of Windows to share a printer with the network. Once again, your get-go step is making sure the printer is connected to a PC and that you can print to information technology.

Click Start, type "devices and printers," and and so striking Enter or click the issue.

Right-click the printer you want to share with the network and then select "Printer properties".

The "Printer Properties" window shows you all kinds of things you can configure about the printer. For now, click the "Sharing" tab.

RELATED: Customizing Your Network Sharing Settings

Y'all are informed that the printer will non be available when your computer sleeps or information technology is close downward. Also, if you are using password protected sharing, you are informed that only users on your network with a username and password for this computer tin print to information technology. Credentials are a i-time thing you lot'll take to enter the offset time y'all connect another PC to the shared printer; yous won't accept to do information technology each time you print. If you'd prefer, you tin can make sharing bachelor to guests so that passwords aren't necessary, but that setting will likewise employ to any files you have shared. We suggest y'all read up on customizing your network sharing settings before making that decision.

To proceed, enable the "Share this printer" option and, if you lot want, give the printer a friendlier name and so that others on the network can more than easily identify the printer.

The other selection you tin can set here is whether you would like to return print jobs on client computers. If this setting is enabled, all the documents that will be printed are rendered on the computers where people are doing the printing. When this setting is disabled, the documents are rendered on the computer to which the printer is attached. If it's a PC that someone uses actively, nosotros recommend enabling this setting then that arrangement performance is not impacted every fourth dimension something gets printed.

When you're done setting things up, go ahead and click "OK."

Now that you've shared the printer, other PCs on your network should be able to connect to it. And then, you lot're ready to movement on to step two.

Stride 2: Connect to Your Printer from Whatsoever PC on the Network

At present that you've got your printer connected to the network using i of the above methods, information technology's time to turn your attention to the second part of the process: connecting other PCs on the network to that printer. How you do that really just depends on whether you're using Homegroup or not.

Connect to a Printer That's Shared by a PC Using a Homegroup

This is probably the easiest step in this whole tutorial. If you've got the printer connected to a PC and that PC is sharing the printer as function of a Homegroup, all you have to do is brand sure that other PCs on the network are besides joined to the Homegroup. You can use the same process we went over in Stride Ane to get them joined. When PCs are role of the aforementioned Homegroup, Windows will automatically connect to whatsoever printers shared from other PCs. They'll simply show upwardly in your Devices and Printers window automatically and any PC in the Homegroup tin can impress to them. Super elementary.

Connect to a Printer Without Using Homegroup

If your printer is continued directly to a network, or is shared from a PC without using Homegroup, you'll take to do a footling more than work to connect to it from other PCs on the network. Information technology's nevertheless pretty straightforward, though. Click Start, blazon "devices and printers," and then hit Enter or click the result.

The Devices and Printers window shows a drove of devices on your PC. Click the "Add together a printer" link to become started adding your network printer.

Windows will perform a quick browse of your network for discoverable devices that are not notwithstanding installed on your PC and display them in the "Add together a device" window. Chances are high that you'll come across your printer on the list, whether information technology's straight connected to the network or shared from another PC. If y'all run into the printer you're looking for, and then your chore just got super easy. Click the printer you want to install. Windows will handle the installation, download drivers if needed, and ask yous to provide a name for the printer. That'south all you have to do.

If you don't see the printer you desire to install–and you're sure you've got information technology properly connected to the network–click the "The printer that I want isn't listed" link. The next window will present y'all with several options for helping you find it:

My printer is a picayune older. If you select this choice, Windows will perform a more thorough scan of your network looking for the printer. In our experience, though, information technology rarely finds anything that it didn't already notice during its initial scan. Information technology'due south an easy plenty option to try, but it may take a few minutes.
Select a shared printer by proper noun. If the network computer is shared from some other PC, this is the best pick for finding it. If y'all know the exact network name of the computer and printer, you tin type it here. Or you tin can click the "Browse" push to wait through the PCs on your network that have sharing enabled and come across if yous can notice the printer that way.
Add a printer using a TCP/IP address or hostname. If your printer is attached direct to the network and you know its IP address, this is probably the simplest and surest option. Well-nigh network printers take a function that lets you lot determine their IP accost. If your printer has an LCD display, you lot may be able to find the IP accost by scrolling through the printer settings. For printers without a display, yous tin usually perform some sequence of button presses that will print the settings for you. If all else fails, you can e'er use an IP scanning app like Wireless Network Watcher to locate devices on your network. Check out the terminal department of this guide for more information on how to do that.
Add together a Bluetooth, wireless, or network discoverable printer. If you choose this option, Windows will scan for those types of devices. Again, we've rarely seen it pick up a device that information technology didn't find during the initial browse. Only, it still may be worth a endeavour.
Add a local printer or network printer with manual settings. This selection may help you lot become a printer added if zip else works. It'south mostly for configuring a local printer by specifying exact port information, but there is i setting in item that tin assistance with network printers if you lot know the model. When asked to specify a port, you can choose a Windows Self Discovery choice, which is listed toward the bottom of the available ports as "WSD" followed past a string of numbers and letters. When y'all choose that, Windows will ask y'all to specify a model then that it tin install drivers. When you lot're done, Windows will so monitor the network for that printer. It's a longshot, but information technology's worth a endeavor if all else fails.

You'll notice all these options are pretty straightforward and feature short wizards for walking you through the process. Since TCP/IP is the surest fashion to get a printer added, we're going to go on with that as our instance. Select "Add together a printer using a TCP/IP address or hostname" and and so click "Next."

Type the IP address for the printer into the "Hostname or IP address" box. Make sure the "Query the printer and automatically select the commuter to use" check box is selected and then click "Next."

Blazon a new name for printer if the default proper name doesn't suit you and then click "Next."

Cull whether to set the new printer as the default, print a test page if you want to make sure everything's working, then click "End" when you're washed.

Hopefully, you lot never demand to bother with near of this stuff. If your network printer is properly connected to the network, the chances are high that Windows will pick it up and install it for you right off the bat. And if your network is mostly Windows machines and you utilize Homegroup for sharing files and printers, things should also happen generally automatically. If it doesn't–or if you have a more complicated setup–at to the lowest degree y'all know you lot have some options.

Source: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-7/share-files-and-printers-in-windows-7-with-homegroup/

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