[MovingTarget]

Ummmmm.....I think this goes in this forum.....

So my friend wants me to setup their household printer so that both of their PC's can print on it.

stuff to work with:
#1 PC - Win XP home SP2.
#2 PC - Win XP Pro w/SP2.
#3 - average inkjet printer.
#4 - they use a Netgear wireless router.

Their modem is upstairs next to puter #1 and there is a router next to said modem THEN there is a relay router (?) that is downstairs and has one part powered by the wall and the other part is connected to the #2 computer by a USB device.

So my question is does the printer have to be connected to the router for them all to see it or can I set up a home network that all the puters see and just mark the printer as "shared" and print that way?....

[Daveyiv2k1]

you can mark it as shared on whichever computer it is attached to

[MovingTarget]

then as long as the PC's see each other then they can all print off it right?

[Mr. Ali]

yes, and also you have to remember that the computer that has the printer attached to it needs to be on for people to print to the printer.

[MovingTarget]

Ohhh - thats good to know....to get around that could I hook the printer directly to the router?

[Jamsan]

Originally Posted by MovingTarget

Ohhh - thats good to know....to get around that could I hook the printer directly to the router?

you would need a print server for that, (netgear has them in both usb and parallel flavors) unless the printer itself has networking built in (which I doubt).. So it would be like this:

printer ---> print server (usb or parallel port) ----> router

Easiest way after that is to add the printer with a standard tcp/ip port and point it to the right drivers.

[MovingTarget]

Great! Thanks for the info!

[Undertaker989]

I would suggest what Jamsan said, only b/c it doesn't have a network interface on the printer if its a regular old inkjet.

[MovingTarget]

I set them up under the same workgroup and set their desired folders to shared and I even set the printer up to be shared but the downstairs PC (XP Pro) won't see the upstairs PC (XP Home) but it sees itself....

The upstairs PC (XP Home) won't see the downstairs PC (XP Pro) AND it won't see itself on the network either.......

I ran the setup for the network just the same as downstairs but it doesn't seem to be working....any suggestions?

[MSP]

By any chance is the printer an "all-in-one" with scanning and all that? Those require a special type of printer server, which I've heard have gotten mixed reviews.

Anyway, at my place I have the printer hooked directly to my PC and share it out. My PC is on all of the time anyway...

[MovingTarget]

Its an all in one type printer but its hooked directly to the upstairs pc..... The only problem that I am having thus far is getting the PC's to see each other on the network.....

[Jamsan]

I never have luck going through my network places, or using the add a printer to find a network printer... go to start ---> run and type in \\ip of computer (ie \\192.168.1.2) and it should pop up with anything thats shared out for that pc.

[MSP]

Are all of the PCs in the same workgroup?

[MovingTarget]

Yeah - they are all in the same workgroup.....I'll try the IP addy thing....