The Zen Geek

At my job it seems that nearly daily I am configuring a workstation to print to a network printer. I realized many people might need a hand getting started on such a task so I decided to write an article on the subject. Keep in mind that this only applies to Windows. And here it is.

Placing a network capable printer on your network accomplishes a few important things. It allows two or more (could go into the thousands) computers to print to one single printer. It allows you to save the cost of buying multiple printers and different types of inks and cartridges. It allows high volume printing to be done in a central location on a high speed printer by multiple people. Here are the steps.

Find a place to install the network printer. There are a few key things to keep in mind. You want your printer to be as close to the middle of those who are printing as you can make it. You want a good amount of walking room around where the printer is located. You’d be surprised how quickly two people can be at each other’s throats in an office like environment when they are put close together. Be sure that there is an ethernet jack close by. The last thing you want to do is install a slick printer and not be able to do anything with it.

Get your printer’s IP address. Most of the time plugging in the printer and connecting an ethernet cable is enough to be ready begin as most computers will automatically obtain an IP address from the network’s DHCP server. If you need to set your own static IP address, consult your printer’s user manual. If your DHCP server issues out an ip address, in most cases you can hold down the power button for a print out of the configuration settings. Again, this will be in the user manual.

Obtain your printer drivers. This is an easy one. You can use the CD that came with the printer, but life is much easier if you put the drivers on a network share on a server. Alternatively, you can just download the drivers from the manufacturer’s website.

Install the printer and drivers on a workstation. Now that we have our IP address and printer drivers we are ready to install. Open up the add printer wizard on a workstation. You can do this by clicking start and then Printers and Faxes, or by opening Printers and Faxes in the control panel. Click “add printer” and then next. Now DO NOT CLICK “A network printer”. You want to click “Local printer attached to this computer”. I know, I know.. this makes no sense. But what in windows does? Now select “Create a new port:”. As for the type of port, you want to select “Standard TCP/IP Port”. Now, for “Printer Name or IP Address” enter the IP Address that we obtained earlier. Easy enough! Now it will ask you where your printer drivers are located. Enter the path to the drivers on the CD, your hard drive, or a network share if you configured one. When asked if you want to share the printer, select no. When asked if you want to print a test page, select yes. Now walk to the printer (see why it’s good for it to be in the middle of things?) and see if the printer printed a Windows XP test page. If so, you’re done!

Coming soon: How to share a printer in Windows.