Connecting 2 PC's to one printer

msaquib

Hi,

I currently have Dell PC with Vista Basic and Compaq laptop with XP. I use Orange livebox to connect to the internet. I have wireless connection on my laptop and desktop.

I have Cannon printer which is connected to my desktop. I've heard some where that I can also print from my laptop becuase it is connected to same router (network).

Can anyone let me know how can I do this?

Also I use Zone Alarms for my firewall - Do I have to make any changes to this?

Thanks
M

albertross_2

http://www.zonealarm.com/store/support/zasc/faqs.jsp

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=file+and+printer+sharing&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

superscaper

Depends, some firewalls can be bu**ers. But essentially just add a new printer to the laptop (in printers & faxes) and tell it to search for network printers when asked how it's connected. You may need to set up a DMZ "demilitarized zone" on your firewalls allowing free access within your network. Haven't used zonealarm in quite a while but there should be a section to add a trusted zone (do this on both laptop and pc) for the IP range xxx.xxx.xxx.0 to xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.255 where the xs depend on your router's default IP address (i.e. the one you use to log in to the router).

Bear in mind that when printing from your laptop the pc must be on and connected to the printer and the router.

free4440273

Given that both pc's can 'see' each other, you could just 'share' the printer: right-click the printer onto which the machine is physically attached to, invoke 'sharing' (give the laptop full permissions), browse the printer from the laptop. I think this should work.

loudcox

I think the livebox can have a printer plugged into it directly via USB as it has a basic print server in the firmware. Check the orange website and help forums.

I'm with BT, and I share my printer and a hard drive usng this method.
Very useful.

BritBrat

Yes you can do it, first of all forget about firewalls and turn them all off, but don't forget to turn them back on when its working one at a time and check it still works.

Make sure you have the printer to allow sharing on the XP machine.

Now doing this with VISTA is very hard but here is what I did two days ago.

I am assuming the printer is on the XP computer and working.

Go to Cannon web site and get the VISTA drivers for the printer, install them on the VISTA laptop (run the program).

You may have to make sure the laptop is on the same workgroup if not change it, write down the user/name of the XP computer (the name you gave it when setting it up).

Then do this:

To print using a shared printer

Follow these steps to connect to a shared printer over the network. You must know the name of the computer that has the printer attached to it. If you don't know this name, ask someone who uses that computer, or go to the other computer yourself and look it up. For information on how to find this name, see Find your computer name.

1. Click the Start button , and then, in the Search box, type \\ followed by the name of the computer with the shared printer you want to use (for example, [URL="file://\\mylaptop"]\\mylaptop[/URL]).

2. Press ENTER.

3. If Windows can find the computer on the network, a folder will open for the computer. Double-click Printers. If any shared printers are connected to this computer, they will appear here. If you don't see the shared printer you want to use, ask a person who uses that computer if the printer is connected, turned on, and shared with other users on the network.

4. Double-click the printer. Windows will automatically add the printer to your computer and install the printer driver. When the process is complete, click Next.

5.
The printer should appear in your Printers folder. You can select this printer when you want to print a document or other type of file.

Note: If Windows can't automatically find and install the printer driver that allows this shared printer to work with your computer, you need to install the driver before you will be able to print.