If you choose to share the use of your printer, your computer acts as the host system or server to the other computers (also referred to as remote or client systems).
To use your printer, the client systems must have the printer driver software installed on them. The software can be installed on the client systems directly from your system. Based on which Windows operating system you are using, the following client systems can share your printer:
If your system (server) is: | Install on client system: |
Windows 98/Me | Windows 98/Me |
Windows 2000/XP | Windows 98/Me or Windows 2000/XP |
When a document is printed by the client system on a shared printer, any printing messages (status or error messages) display on the server system.
Setting Up Your Printer for Sharing
Before the client systems can be installed with the printer driver software, you must set up the printer for sharing on the server system.
To set up the printer for sharing:
1.On the server system, on the Windows desktop, click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers (in Windows XP, click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes).
2.In the Printers window (in Windows XP, the Printers and Faxes window), click the printer icon.
3.On the File menu, click Sharing.
If the Sharing command is not available, you need to set up printer sharing in Windows. For details, see your Windows user documentation.
4.In the Properties dialog box, on the Sharing tab, click Shared As (in Windows XP, Share this Printer).
Installing the Printer Driver
Chapter 2 | Installing the Printer Driver |