Windows printer sharing settings how to set printer sharing for windows

This is a common problem at work. The printer purchased by the company does not have the network printing function, but wants to allow all staff in the office to share the printer. Setting the printer to share can solve this problem well. Next, let the editor teach you how to set up printer sharing.

Windows printer sharing settings

1. Configure the printer host

First, we need to configure the printer on the host. For the time being, we call the computer directly connected to the printer "host", while other computers in the Lan that need to share the printer with the host are called "clients ".

Step 1: connect the printer to the host, power on the printer, go to the printer and fax folder through the control panel of the host, right-click the blank area, select the Add Printer Command to open the add printer wizard window. Select "local printer connected to this computer" and check the "automatically detect and install plug-and-play printer" check box.

Step 2: at this time, the host will detect the new printer, and soon you will find the connected printer, as prompted, put the drive CD attached to the printer into the optical drive, after the driver of the printer is installed, the printer icon will appear in the "printer and fax" folder.

Step 3: Right-click the newly installed printer icon, select the share command, open the printer properties dialog box, switch to the share tab, and select share this printer ", enter the name to be shared in the "share name" input box, such as CompaqIJ. Click "OK" to complete sharing settings.

Tip: If you want other versions of the operating system in the Lan to share the host printer, you no longer need to find the driver, on the host, we can pre-install the drivers corresponding to these different versions of the selected operating system. Just click "other drivers" and select the corresponding operating system version, click OK.

2. Configure the protocol

To ensure smooth printer sharing, we must install the "file and printer sharing protocol" on both the host and client ".

Right-click "network neighbors" on the desktop, select the "properties" command, go to the "connection" folder, right-click the "local connection" icon, and select the "properties" command, if Microsoft file and printer sharing is not found in the "This connection uses the following items" list on the "General" tab, click the "install" button, in the displayed dialog box, select "service", click "add", select "file and printer sharing" in the "Select service" window, and click "OK.

3. Client installation and configuration

Now, all the work on the host has been completed. We need to configure the client that needs to share the printer. We assume that the client is also an XP operating system. The print driver must be installed on each computer that wants to use a shared printer.

Step 1: click Start & rarr; settings & rarr; printer and fax to start the add printer wizard and select the printer option.

Step 2: on the "specify printer" page, you can add printers in several ways. If you do not know the specific path of the printer, you can select "browse printer" to find the printer shared by the Lan in the same working group. The computer with the printer installed, select the printer and click "OK". If you already know the printer path, you can enter the path of the shared printer in the "universal naming convention" (UNC) format for resource access, for example, "\ jamescompaqIJ" (james is the host user name), and then click "next ".

Step 3: Enter the printer name again. After entering the name, click "next" and then press "finish". If the shared password is set for the host, enter the password here. Finally, we can see that the shared printer icon has already appeared in the "printer and fax" folder of the client. Our printer has been installed here.

What if windows printers cannot be shared?

Symptom 1: Network neighbors cannot browse normally

To share a printer in Windows XP, do not directly install a network printer in the workstation, instead, you should first check whether the "View working group computer" item in "Network neighbor" can be browsed normally and whether a computer with a printer installed (hereinafter referred to as a printing server) appears ). If the print server can be found, it indicates that the basic conditions for the shared printer are met. If an error occurs, the problem should be solved first.

Solution: after confirming that the LAN working group name is consistent, go to the "local connection" attribute window and click "install" to add the "NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol" Protocol, you do not need to restart now to solve the problem of "you are not authorized to view the workgroup computer" or click "View workgroup computer ......" And so on.

Symptom 2: Unable to browse and print the server

After browsing "network neighbors", double-click the server icon to check whether the shared printer exists, this indicates that the current workstation has the permission to install and print the printer. If you do not see a shared printer or cannot browse the printer server, it indicates that the current workstation has insufficient permissions.
Solution: The problem should be solved from two aspects: 1. Open the Guest account on the print server and go to "Computer Configuration & rarr; Windows Settings & rarr;" in the Group Policy in sequence; security Settings & rarr; local policy & rarr; user rights assignment ", delete the Guest account in" deny access to this computer from the network; second, make sure that the "Microsoft network file and printer sharing" option is selected in the "local connection" attribute of the print server.

Symptom 3: shared printers cannot be found on Workstation

This is the most common problem that most LAN users encounter when installing shared printers on Windows XP workstations. The common form is that only "Microsoft Windows Network" information appears in the shared printer list, the shared printer cannot be found.
Solution: There are three solutions to this problem. First, after the "NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol" Protocol is installed for the "local connection", you can usually find the shared printer; second, double-click "network neighbor" to enter the print server, right-click the shared printer icon, and select "connect" from the shortcut menu ", in the pop-up dialog box, click "yes" to quickly install the shared printer. Third, check whether the "local connection" function of the printing server has been enabled, if this feature is enabled, cancel it. If you want to use the "Internet Connection Firewall" feature and share files and printers, install NetBEUI protocol (non-routing protocol ).

Symptom 4: enable the workstation to install a printer without a driver

Generally, the network administrator needs to transfer the driver file of the shared printer to the workstation to install the shared printer driver in the workstation. However, if dozens of workstations require this operation, the network administrators may feel a headache.
Solution: There are two ways to choose from. First, install "other drivers" on Windows XP. Take the Lenovo 6110 printer installation as an example. Suppose there are now 20 Windows 98 workstations, first install the 6110 for 98 driver in any workstation, and then the workstation "c? Copy the "lgbcpr. inf" file in the windowsinf directory to the print server. Next, go to the print server's shared printer properties window, click "other drivers" in the "share" tab settings interface, in the displayed dialog box, select "Intel Windows 95, 98, and ME", and then specify "lbrcpr. inf file location. When the “lexgo.exe file is specified, specify the "DriversWin_9Xlexgo.ex _" file in the drive disk. The system will automatically copy the required driver file (see figure ). After the replication, you no longer need to provide drivers when installing the shared printer on other workstations. However, this method is cumbersome, and it is difficult for beginners to determine which files are required in this process.

The second method is recommended, that is, the "ING network drive" method. This method is simple and suitable for sharing all printers. Take installing Epson LQ-1600K III printer as an example, first share the printer driver file in the print server. Then, go to the printer server in "Network neighbor" of the workstation, find and select the shared printer driver file, click the "ING network drive" menu item, and select a drive from the drive list, click "OK. Then, when the shared printer needs to provide the driver file, manually specify the mapped drive, and quickly complete the driver installation as prompted.