Foo - Can I print from my wireless laptop to a remote printer?

At my home I have a desktop with a printer attached. I use my laptop from the other room to pick up the internet signal from the desktop unit. Can I print documents on that printer using my laptop? If so how do I do it? It is running Windows XP.

Share the printer. http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1596

wow, that sounds too simple

wow, that sounds too simple

Its not.

Start->Printers and Faxes
Right click on the printer, and select "sharing"
Click the "Share this printer" radio button and hit OK.
You should then be able to search for it from your laptop.

Its not.Yeah, each and every step of the way is fraught with danger and hidden traps. Sharing a printer is the same as sharing files and look at what Portis had to do yesterday, a complete re-install of Windows from scratch!!! :eek: ;)

Yeah, each and every stop of teh way is fraught with danger and hidden traps. Sharing a printer is the same as sharing files and look at what Portis had to do yesterday, a complete re-install of Windows from scratch!!! :eek: ;)

I was implying that it's about as simple as it looks...

Yeah, depending on the person's experience, it could be as simple as drinking water or as difficult as building the Eiffel Tower. ;)

It's a lot easier to do this via a router. The printer will have it own IP address and you can just add it as a printer in your printer list then you don't have to worry about having your desktop pc on.

we'll see what happens when I get home....

Hey, I did it!..very cool...thanks for the tips.

It's a lot easier to do this via a router. The printer will have it own IP address and you can just add it as a printer in your printer list then you don't have to worry about having your desktop pc on.

True, if you know what the heck you are doing. As most printers in people's homes aren't sitting on a router already and they don't even have network capabilities, AND that most people don't want to spend money on a printer server, sharing the printer and making sure the host PC is on is very simple indeed.

Great question. I'm in the same boat.....I'll try it when I get home tonight...

Thanks for the link

It's a lot easier to do this via a router. The printer will have it own IP address and you can just add it as a printer in your printer list then you don't have to worry about having your desktop pc on.

A printer isn't going to have an IP address unless it has a MAC address, AKA a network card.

Yeah, depending on the person's experience, it could be as simple as drinking water or as difficult as building the Eiffel Tower. ;)

Its right up there with drinking water...heck I walked my gf through it in about 10 minutes and she can barely work my pvr. And the printer was even a network printer, so I had to walk her through ip configs to get it working.

:D my answer - call your computer guy.
I was very impressed when he connected my linux computer to my windows
network and got it to print on a windows printer.

True, if you know what the heck you are doing. As most printers in people's homes aren't sitting on a router already and they don't even have network capabilities, AND that most people don't want to spend money on a printer server, sharing the printer and making sure the host PC is on is very simple indeed.

I got a really cheap USB/ethernet print server at Fry's about a year ago for $10-$15 to connect to my $60 laser printer. It connects to the router via the ethernet and then to the printer via the USB. I think it was a little tricky to set up if you aren't used to messing with network stuff, but if you are it's not a big deal. Setting up the mac to use it was easier than setting up the PC to use it.