How To Share Printers
It’s quite common for several workstations to print preparation tickets to the same printer. Sharing a printer is achieved by first installing the printer on one computer (the host computer) and then sharing the installed printer to other stations in the same network.
Printer Sharing on the Host Computer:
Once a printer is installed on the “host” computer, navigate to the Control Panel>Devices and Printers (or just “Printers”). A window will open displaying all installed printers. Locate the printer to be shared. Right-click on the printer’s icon and choose “Printer Properties“. A printer properties box will open with several tabs. Under the Sharing tab, choose “Share This Printer“. Enter an appropriate name in the box labeled “Share Name“. HINT: It’s best to keep the share name short and have no spaces, such as Kitchen1, Receipt1, etc. A very descriptive name will also make it easier to identify on the network.
Sharing the Printer to a Workstation:
Move to the computer that will receive the shared printer and view a list of the networked computers. (Hint: File explorer has a choice in the left-hand navigation bar labeled Network. When selected, all computers in the network will appear.) Double click/tap on the icon representing the host computer to see all shared items. Among all shared items you will see the shared printer. Double click/tap on the shared printer to begin the install process. A dialogue box will appear asking if you trust this printer? Answer in the affirmative to install the printer. A printer queue box will appear once the printer has been installed.
Alternate method:
Once the printer has been installed on the host computer, move to the computer that will receive the shared printer and navigate to Control Panel>Devices and Printers (or just “Printers”). Choose the “Add a Printer” link. The “Add a Printer Wizard” will open and a dialogue box will appear. Choose “Add A Network Printer“. Wait for the desired printer to appear, choose it from the list and follow through to completion of the wizard ”
Additional Information:
Please check the advanced settings in the Control Panel>Network and Sharing Center to insure that: Network Discovery is on, File and Printer Sharing is on and Password Protected Sharing is off. Otherwise, you may see the host computer in the network but may be prohibited by Windows from seeing and accessing the printer.
