kind of a general question here as i'm looking for a concensus. i have 3 computers (all win xp) and 2 usb printers in an office. all are networked via a wired router. printer 1 is connected to comp 1, printer 2 to comp 2 and comp 3 has no printer. when all machines are on, one can choose from any printer via the network. sometimes all machines/people are not present, so you might not be able to access a printer. what would be the best way for ALL machines to access any printer, anytime regardless of who is connected. thanks in advance for any help.
In article <12AEEFF3-1E01-41FD-A186-3ACA3128E997@microsoft.com>,
phar77 <phar77@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>kind of a general question here as i'm looking for a concensus. i have 3 computers (all win xp) and 2 usb printers in an office. all are networked via a wired router. printer 1 is connected to comp 1, printer 2 to comp 2 and comp 3 has no printer. when all machines are on, one can choose from any printer via the network. sometimes all machines/people are not present, so you might not be able to access a printer. what would be the best way for ALL machines to access any printer, anytime regardless of who is connected. thanks in advance for any help.
Disconnect the printers from the computers, and connect them to print
servers. A print server is a box with a network connection and a
printer connection.
If your printers only have USB inputs (no parallel inputs), be sure to
get a print server that has a USB connection, too.
Check the print server documentation to see if it will work with your
printer. Some "Windows only" printers rely on a computer for part of
their print processing and won't work on a printer server.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)
Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.
Get a print server device for each box & print via a standard TCP/IP port.
If the "server" isn't there, or isn't on, you can't access any share on it.
phar77 wrote:
> kind of a general question here as i'm looking for a concensus. i
> have 3 computers (all win xp) and 2 usb printers in an office. all
> are networked via a wired router. printer 1 is connected to comp 1,
> printer 2 to comp 2 and comp 3 has no printer. when all machines are
> on, one can choose from any printer via the network. sometimes all
> machines/people are not present, so you might not be able to access a
> printer. what would be the best way for ALL machines to access any
> printer, anytime regardless of who is connected. thanks in advance
> for any help.
print sharing with 3 computers and 2 printers 
Linear Mode
