Install a printer on a home network

The most common way to install a printer on a home network is to install it as a stand-alone device on the network, and then add a connection to the printer on each computer that is on the network.

If you're not sure what type of network printer to install, decide if you want to:

• Use a wireless printer. These printers use a built-in wireless card and plug into a power source, not your network or computer. After you turn on the printer, you need to refer to the information that came with the printer to set up a wireless connection to each computer on a home network. Security options for wireless printing are determined by each printer manufacturer.
• Connect a printer directly to the network. To do this, you need to plug in the printer to your network hub or router. How to install these printers depends on whether the printer and your network device use an Ethernet, universal serial bus (USB), or another type of connection. You also need to refer to any installation information or tools provided by the printer manufacturer.
• Connect more than one printer directly to the network. To do this, your hub or router must be able to support more than one printer connection.

 

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To install a network printer

• To find out how to install a network printer, check the information that came with the printer.

To connect to a network printer

After you have installed a network printer, you need to add a connection to the printer for each computer on the network.

1. Open Printers by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Hardware and Sound, and then clicking Printers.
2. On the toolbar, click Add a printer.
3. In the Add Printer Wizard, select Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer, and then follow the steps in the wizard.

 

 

If you’re planning on buying a printer soon, you should consider buying a network printer. Prices have come down in recent years and now that most people have wireless networks, you can setup your network so that you can print from anywhere in the house! It’s also great for guests because they can connect to your wireless network and print easily, so you’ll get lots of kudos as a host!
Here’s what you’ll need to do in order to setup the printer on your network:
1. First, connect the printer to your network by connecting one end of a Cat 5 cable (which should have come with your printer) to your router:

And the other end into the network port of your printer. Turn your printer on and wait for it to become ready.
2. Next you’ll need to get the IP address of your printer. The IP address is what will tell your computer where to find your printer on the network. All network printers allow you to print a configuration sheet which will list basic information about the printer along with the current network configuration.
For most printers, this involves pressing the Menu button on the printer, going to the Information option and choosing Print Configuration. You will be looking for the TCP/IP section:

The IP Address is what you’ll need for the next steps.
3. The last step is to add the printer to your computer. Click on Start, then Printers and Faxes.

If you don’t see this in your Start Menu, you can go to Start, Control Panel and then click on Printers and Faxes there. Click Add Printer from the task pane on the left.

The Add Printer wizard will begin, so click Next to get started. On the next screen you’ll be asked whether your printer is a local printer or a network printer. These options are confusing because a network printer is actually referring either a printer connected to another computer or a printer on a print server. Our printer is a stand-alone printer and so you must select Local printer attached to this computer and make sure that you uncheck the box for automatically detecting the printer.

Click Next and you’ll be asked to select the printer port. Since our printer is a network printer with a IP address, we need to select the Create a new port option and choose Standard TCP/IP Port.

Click Next and you’ll get another wizard to add a TCP/IP printer port. On the main wizard screen click Next. In the first text box, Printer Name or IP Address, enter the IP address from the printer configuration sheet you printer earlier.

Click Next and depending on the printer you have, you may get one more dialog before the end of the wizard. If the network card for the printer cannot be identified, the wizard will ask you to choose the card type. You can leave the default of “Generic Network Card” and click Next.

Click Next and click Finish. You will then continue on with the Add Printer wizard and you’ll need to either choose the printer from the list of manufacturers or click Have Disk and insert your printer driver cd in the computer.

Click Next and enter a name for your printer and click the Yes radio button if you would like the printer to be your default printer.

Click Next and you’ll be asked whether you want to share the printer or not. Click No because anyone else who wants to connect will be able to do so following the same steps.

Click Next and click Yes to print a test page and make sure that the computer and printer can communicate!

Click Next and then click Finish! The new printer will appear in your Printers and Faxes screen and you’re ready to print!

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