My room has two computers. I am connecting the first computer to a printer using a USB cable. I like it better than a wireless connection. I need help on connecting the second PC from my printer so both PCs will use one printer. Do I need any special software or hardware to make this work? Thanks.
Hello John,
Connecting our computers to an I/O (input, output) device like our printer is very important to us. It give us the convenience which computer we would like to print our files.
The first thing that you should do is to know the model of your printer and check if you have its drivers for its easy use. Driver for printers are usually included upon buying the printer. If its not included, you can simply download it over the internet. Its function is to ensure the maximum use of functions of the printer device through its compatibility with your computer.
The second thing is to know your computer properties. To do this, open "My computer" and go to "Control Panel" > "System and Security" > "System". The most important thing that you have to look for is the system type. It is either, 32-bit Operating System or 64-bit Operating System.
Once you know this two things about your computer and printer, you may now install the Drivers of your printer to your computer. If your computer has 32-bit Operating System, install the Drivers which has 32-bit compatible to your computer as what this case may applied to 64-bit.
After all the driver installation, do a print test to your computer to ensure the effective functions of your device.
Before you can share one printer with two computers, both computers must be on the same network and the printer is shared to both computers. If you have a Wi-Fi network at home, the easiest way to share the printer is to connect both computers to the Wi-Fi network.
Before sharing the printer, make sure the printer is installed properly on the computer where it is directly connected to and you can use it without any problems. You can download the latest driver from the manufacturer’s website. Before you can use a device like a printer or scanner across the network, the device must be shared properly.
To share your scanner or printer properly across the network, on the computer where the printer or scanner is directly connected to, click “Start”, “Control Panel”, “Printers and Other Hardware” then “Printers and Faxes”. Here, right-click your printer or scanner then select “Sharing”.
In the printer or scanner’s “Properties” window, in “Sharing” tab, make sure “Share this printer” is selected then enter your device’s shared name in the “Share name” text field. For example, without quotes “Shared Printer” then click “OK”. After this, you need to add the shared printer or scanner to the rest of the computers on the network.
To do this, on every computer, click “Start”, “Control Panel”, “Printers and Other Hardware” then “Printers and Faxes”. Next, click “Add a printer” then click “Next”. In “Add Printer Wizard” dialog, select “A network printer, or a printer attached to another computer” then click “Next”. Windows will then search the network for possible shared devices and display the results on the screen.
Select the shared device you created earlier called “Shared Printer” then click “Next”. And that’s it. The shared printer or scanner should now appear on the computer. This should now allow you to use the network printer to print documents from any computer connected to the network.
