Sharing a printer
In Windows, it’s quite easy to share a printer with several computers, even though it may already be connected by USB to a PC.
In the “Printer” or “Devices and Printers” control panel in Windows, right-click on the icon of the printer you want to share and select “Sharing” from the drop-down menu. Windows will walk you through the steps for sharing the printer and (if necessary) reconfiguring the network settings.
For other people to add the printer to their PC, just look to step 6 under “Setting up a wired or wireless network printer” above. Using the “Add a Printer” Wizard should locate and help install drivers for the shared printer.
The final word
Setting up a USB printer is usually just as easy as plugging it in and inserting a driver CD.
The key to setting up a network printer is connecting it to the network itself and getting the network settings right. If you have those, it should work very much like a USB printer.
