Can printer be shared through wifi router?

[ell]

Hi! I am trying to help network 2 printers and 2 pc's (XP) through one wifi network. I arrived at the job and found my customer had run an Ethernet cable through two rooms from his big lazer printer directly into his wifi router. Is there a way to make this work? Doesn't it have to be connected to a pc first or through a print server?

[RevivedCS]

Originally Posted by ell

Hi! I am trying to help network 2 printers and 2 pc's (XP) through one wifi network. I arrived at the job and found my customer had run an Ethernet cable through two rooms from his big lazer printer directly into his wifi router. Is there a way to make this work? Doesn't it have to be connected to a pc first or through a print server?

Yes, it does have to be connected through a pc first. I networked one very similar to your scenario.

I installed the wifi router on a pc. Next, set up a network for home/office. Then I networked the laptop(Vista) in. Then just have the printer installed on the pc that has the wifi router set up on it and then share the printer. You will have to get a wireless NIC or usb dongle for the second computer but you do not have to have a print server. Lastly, have the 2nd pc to join the network you just set up and then you can print from anywhere in that house off the 2nd pc. I really hope this helps, if not, pm me or let me know somehow.

[ell]

Originally Posted by RevivedCS

Yes, it does have to be connected through a pc first. I networked one very similar to your scenario.

I installed the wifi router on a pc. Next, set up a network for home/office. Then I networked the laptop(Vista) in. Then just have the printer installed on the pc that has the wifi router set up on it and then share the printer. You will have to get a wireless NIC or usb dongle for the second computer but you do not have to have a print server. Lastly, have the 2nd pc to join the network you just set up and then you can print from anywhere in that house off the 2nd pc. I really hope this helps, if not, pm me or let me know somehow.

thats pretty much what I thought, I was hoping maybe I was missing something. geez I hope he didn't spend too much having the printer people run that ethernet cable! So then I went to network the sencond printer it has a firewire plug, and his new Dell doesn't have a firewire port!

[MHCG]

What? Am I missing something? If if you needed a PC to print, why would they have a network adapter on the printer? All you do is assign an IP to the printer and then set up the printer as a local device with a standard TCP/IP port. You can set the port as the printer name or IP.

[ell]

Originally Posted by MHCG

What? Am I missing something? If if you needed a PC to print, why would they have a network adapter on the printer? All you do is assign an IP to the printer and then set up the printer as a local device with a standard TCP/IP port. You can set the port as the printer name or IP.

I did start to do that but I wasn't sure what I was doing, it was still configured for lpt1 so I selected add new port and selected tcp/ip port for it, but thats about as far as I got before getting lost. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, Google time unless you can give me details!

[MHCG]

I may be missing a step, but it's real simple.

Local printer > add new port > standard TCP/IP port > type in IP or printer hostname > select drivers > profit

[ell]

Originally Posted by MHCG

I may be missing a step, but it's real simple.

Local printer > add new port > standard TCP/IP port > type in IP or printer hostname > select drivers > profit

great, I'm looking over a richoh setup guide now on a simllar model, options are auto obtain (DHCP) or specify ip?

[Bloogen]

Originally Posted by ell

great, I'm looking over a richoh setup guide now on a simllar model, options are auto obtain (DHCP) or specify ip?

You want the printer to be assigned a static/reserved IP. You can then use that address to access & install the printer.

[MHCG]

You can do DHCP, you just have to assign the port by hostname instead.

[Doctor Micro]

Static IP is best, otherwise you'll be tweaking the tcp/ip port configuration whenever the printer gets a new ip address.

Most network-capable printers have setup software that will walk you through the setup step-by-step. I just set up a Brother Laser printer and it was painless, up and working and available on the network inside of fifteen minutes.