This guide has been written for Microsoft Windows XP and assumes that your computer is already connected to a LAN (Local Area Network). Sharing your printer and hard drive on a LAN enables network users to print via, and access data from, other computers. Sharing allows the network users to read, create or modify shared files and folders. On a home LAN, that means that you can store photos on one PC, but share that folder so that another PC can access them. You can also have just one printer that is shared by all.

Sharing a Printer

Sharing a printer between multiple computers is easy. To share a printer you need to: 

• Share the printer on the network
• Connect to the printer

Sharing a Printer on the Network

You need to configure the printer to be a shared printer from the computer that is directly connected to it. This enables the other computers on the LAN to detect the printer. To configure and share your printer on a LAN:

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel to display the Windows system Control Panel.
2. Double-click Printers and Faxes.
3. Select the printer that you want to share and click Share this Printer, from the task pane (left) or right-click the printer and select Sharing from the shortcut menu.

   

   Choose Share this Printer option and enter a name for the printer in the Share name box. This will be the name of the printer as it is displayed to the other computers on the LAN.

   4.    If the printer is being shared with computers running different versions of Windows click Additional drivers. Select the environment and operating system for the other computer, and then click OK to install the additional drivers.

   5.    Click OK to update the changes.

 Connecting to the Printer

Windows will often detect a shared printer and will install the printer’s driver automatically. If that doesn’t happen, you need to configure the computers on the LAN network so that they can detect the existence of the printer. 

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel. 
2. Double-click Printers and Faxes. 
3. Under Printer Tasks, click Add a Printer.
   
4. In the Add Printer Wizard, click Next to continue. 
5. Under Local or network printer, select the option as A network printer, and then click Next. 
6. Under Specify a Printer, choose one of the following methods based on your requirement:
   
   • Browse for a printer – Use this option to search for a printer on the network.
   • Connect to this printer – If you select this option, you need to type the printer’s name using the format \\printserver_name\share_name and browse for it in the network.
   • Connect to a printer on the internet or on a home or office network – If you select this option, you need to type the URL of the printer using the format http://printserver_name/Printers/share_name/.printer and browse for it on the network. 
   
   The easiest option is to browse for a printer. 
7. Click Next. 
8. Follow the instructions displayed on the screen and then click Finish to update the changes.