Network Printing: Print with a network printer

Business and schools alike rely on the core concept of printing. Printing produces pages full of valuable information needed for studying, filling out forms, even for writing research papers. In an enterprise environment, the printer is typically situated at the center of a large office room, or in a special room designated for outputting documents. This is only possible with the use of a network printing setup.

A network printer is typically hosted on a print server where the computer is connected to a printer directly via USB. In some cases, it may also be connected straight to the router via an network cable. While there are many solutions available for hosting a printer server, the easiest way is through the built-in sharing function within Windows.

Before we set up our printer to share on the network, we need to make sure file and print sharing is enabled. We will be going to the Control Panel.

Look for “Network and Sharing Center”, click on it.

Be sure to take note of your network adapter and the network it has been associated with upon connection which is “Private network”. On the left side click on “Change advanced sharing settings”.

As you can see, you can configure sharing options for different network profiles(as explained in the firewall setup guide). Based on what network has been defined under your primary networking adapter, go ahead and click on “Private”.

If you haven’t configured it previously, both “Network discovery” and “File and printer sharing” are off by default. Turn both of them on and make sure “Turn on automatic setup of network connected devices” is checked. Once you’re finished, go ahead and click “Save changes”.

Note: You will need to do this for any computer that you will be printing from the network.

We are now going to head back to the Control Panel. This guide assumes you already have a printer installed on the computer that will act as your print server. It must be fully functional and printing without any issues, please make sure that is the case before proceeding.

Look for the setting “Devices and Printers” and click on it.

Under “Printers”, look for your printer. Your printer should be the very first one since it is an actual device. Any additional devices are most likely virtual from software such as Microsoft Office. Right-click, and go to “Printer properties”. If you have more than one device, you will be given a list to choose from. Click on your printer.

Your “Properties” window may vary depending on the make and model of your printer. Click on the “Sharing” tab.

Click the check box on “Share this printer” and give it a name, usually it is named by default. For “Render print jobs on client computers” should be selected, unless the computers on your network are running slow. After you’re done, click “OK”.

On another computer, make sure your sharing settings have been enabled. For security reasons, it is also imperative to have a Windows user account set up with a password to login later. Open up the Control Panel and go to “Devices and Printers”.

Click on “Add a printer”.

You will then need to click on “The printer that I want isn’t listed” since it won’t be able to find our printer on the network.

Click the radio button next to “Select a shared printer by name”, and click “Browse…”.

Look for your computer name(as shown under Control Panel->System on your printer server), and click on it. If you receive an error then you will need to open “File Explorer” by going to your Start Menu->File Explorer. On the left directory pane, you will need to search for “Networks”. Click on it and find your print server’s computer name.

You will be prompted to enter an existing username and password for your Windows account stored on the print server. This is the same account that you log on to your computer with. After, click “OK” and you now have access to that computer’s network, including the printer.

Go back to where you were previously and click on the print server’s computer. You will now be shown the connected printer.

Double-click on the printer to select it and click “Next”. Your computer will establish a connection to the printer. You will be given another prompt to install the drivers.

Enable the option “Don’t show this again” and click on “Install driver”. Let the drivers install and finish the printer setup. After, click “Next”.

Make sure “Set as the default printer” is checked. Test to make sure your printer is working through the network by clicking “Print a test page”. If everything goes according to plan, then it will have printed successfully and you now have network printing functionality. Repeat this process for any additional computers on the network.