Share your printer with everyone in the house (Win XP)

Do you have a printer, a broadband Internet connection, and more than one computer in your house? If so, you can easily use Windows XP printer sharing to print to that printer from any computer in your house. There are just three easy steps to taking advantage of Windows Printer Sharing:

• Share your printer.
• Install that printer on all other computers.
• Print!

Share your printer

Sit down at the computer that your printer is physically connected to, press the Start button, and go to the Control Panel.

1. Double-click on the Printers and Faxes icon, and new window showing an icon for each of your printers will appear.
2. Right-click on the desired printer and click Sharing.
3. The Sharing window will open; click the radio button next to Share This Printer, and then type a name that you’ll remember into the Share Name box.
4. Click OK to close the window.

Install the printer on all other computers

You’ll need to install the shared printer on each computer that you wish to print from. To install the shared printer, click the Start button and go to the Control Panel.

1. Double-click on Printers and Faxes.
2. On the left-hand side of the window, click on Add A Printer.
3. Click the radio button next to A network printer… and hit the Next button.
4. Click on the Browse button.
5. Locate the name of the computer that your printer is physically connected to, click on it, and then highlight the name of your shared printer. Click Next and OK. Your shared printer will now be installed.

Print!

That’s all there is to it! Using any other computer in your house, print a document and use the drop-down box in the print dialog window to select your shared printer.

Your shared printer will be available to any other computer on your home network, so long as the computer it’s physically connected to stays online.

If you’re looking to use a printer on a large or business network, or desire a more stable printer sharing that’s not dependent on a certain computer staying online, then you need to set up a network printer, which is a process beyond the scope of this article.