possible to share printer through router?

[drewdogg808]

i recently got broadband internet (cable modem) and have 3 computers networked through the netgear rt314 router. i'm not familiar with using the router and wanted to know if it was possible to share a printer and files through the router. any suggestions? thanks.

 

[aUt0eXebat]

yep you can, file and print sharing,,, if it has a rj45 nic built in the printer you can plug it directly into the router

 

[konichiwa]

You won't be able to plug the printer directly into the router unless it's specifically a networking printer (I think that's how those things work, I'm not too familiar with them) but if you enable File/Printer sharing you *should* be able to share the printer.

*note: should

 

[drewdogg808]

i'm not sure about the jack...but i've enabled file and printer sharing, but i don't see the other computers. should i be able to?

 

[konichiwa]

Is your network setup correctly (protocols are installed, and, if TCP/IP is installed, the settings are configured correctly)? Can you send ICMP messages between computers? (ping 192.168.0.1, etc?)

 

[drewdogg808]

i wasn't aware that i had to set all the ip addresses...i thought i only needed to connect the computers to the router, and had windows assign the addresses. all the computers connect fine to the internet...i have the same workgroup for all...so should i assign ip addresses? will that affect the computers being able to get online?

 

[konichiwa]

Oh, oh, oh, you're using a router. The RT314 uses DCHP, so, no, you don't have to set IP addresses. My mistake.

 

[Journeyman]

If everything's configured correctly, and you can ping the other computer (from a DOS prompt, type "ping 192.168.0.x", where 'x' is the number of the router port you've got the other computer plugged into + 1 (the router is 192.168.0.1, so computers start at 192.168.0.2). If that works, try right clicking on your Network Neighborhood icon and using "Find Computer" to locate the other computer by name. Once you find it, it should show up in your Network Neighborhood. Sometimes they just don't show up automatically...

Once you've found the other computer, you can set up the shared printer to appear as just another printer on any of the machines.

 

[lambo881]

Assuming that you don't have a printer with a RJ45 jack, then you will need to either 1) buy a print server or 2) connect the printer to one of your PCs and share it through that PC. Going with #2 is cheaper. So to do that, you need to do the following:

1. Set up Sharing in the Printer properties on the PC connected to the printer. You do so by clicking Start, Settings, Printers. Your printer should show up on the list and then you can right click the printer and choose Sharing. Go to the sharing tab and then make sure the Shared As button is selected and that you have given the printer a name.

2. Next you need to set up a Point and Print Client on your other PCs. On those PCs, goto Network Neighborhood. Find your printer (you'll need to double click on the name of the other PC) and double click on the printer (should have name you assigned it in step (1) above. Next, windows should walk you through the installation and make the connection to that printer.

 

[drewdogg808]

thanks for all the tips, guys...i'll be messing around with the computers tomorrow and hopefully be successful.

d