21
Adding a printer to your network
Instead of plugging a printer into each of your
computers, you can add a printer to your network. To
add a printer to the network, do one of the following:
•Connect your printer to your networked
computer, then share the printer. For
information about sharing printers, see “Sharing
drives and printers” on page21.
•Connect your printer to your router or access
point if the router or access point includes a USB
or parallel port. For more information, see the
instructions that came with your router or access
point.
•Use a printer that has built-in networking.
•Use a print server.
Sharing resources
With a network, you can share your Internet
connection, drives, and printers.

Sharing drives and printers

With a network, you can
share
drives (for example
hard drives and DVD drives) and printers among the
computers connected to the network.
After the drives and printers on each network
computer are shared, you can access them as though
they were attached directly to your computer. Then
you can:
•View a network drive
•Open and copy files stored on other network
computers
•Print documents on network printers
Sharing drives or folders
To share drives or folders:
1 Click (Start), then click Computer.
Important
To share a printer among the network computers, each
computer must have the shared printer’s drivers installed. Follow the
instructions included with your printer to install the printer drivers
on each computer.