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Installing the Printer on the Principal Station
To share printers over a Peer-to-Peer network, first you need a printer connected to one of the computers. The
computer that the printer is connected to will use the printer as if it is a local printer, and as far as were
concerned, it is :) To install the local printer follow the instructions below:
- 1.) Click on Start, Settings, Printers. In the open window, double-click on the Add Printer icon.
- 2.) Click Next on the first screen that appears and designate the printer as being a Local printer on the
following screen and again choose Next.
- 3.) On the next screen, select the Manufacturer from the left-hand side and the corresponding model on the
right-hand side. If your printer came with a vendor-provided driver disk, simply click the Have Disk button, insert
the disk in drive A: and click OK. Then choose the Make/Model from the list that appears. When the printer has been
selected, choose Next.
- 4.) Now choose the port that you wish to use with this printer. Most local printers will use LPT1. If you
actually have a 2nd physical port, then you can use LPT2. Once selected, again click Next.
- 5.) Here you can name the printer however you wish and decide if this printer is going to be your Default printer.
Once these decisions are made, click Next.
- 6.) On the last screen, choose Yes to print a Test Page. After all, if it doesn't print correctly to the printer
as a local printer, it won't as a network printer either. Click Finish. You will now most likely be prompted for the
Windows95 CD as it will need to copy files.
You should now have the local printer installed. If the test page did not print correctly, repeat the above steps and
try a different driver
Now with the printer installed, the printer must be shared in order for any other station to connect to
it. To share a printer, follow these easy steps:
- 1.) Right-click on the printer in the list windows. From the context menu that appears, choose Sharing. If you
do not see the Sharing option, you most likely do not have File and Printer Sharing
installed and must do so before the printer can be shared.
- 2.) A sharing screen should appear. Make sure that the Shared As radio button is checked. The Share Name should
then default based on the name you gave the printer when installed. You can either change the specified share name or
type in a new one. Here you can also specify a Password that must be typed when someone else wants to print to it.
- 3.)Click OK. The printer should now appear on the list with a blue hand holding it. This is the universal symbol
that Windows95 uses to designate the resource as being shared.
Now the printer is all set as far as the principal station is concerned. The other stations should now be ready to connect to it.
Connecting to the Shared Printer
Once the printer is installed and shared on the principal station, you are now ready to connect to it via the
network. Here you basically have two ways of going about it. You can go through the Add Printer wizard and install
it as a Network printer and browse to the proper Universal Naming Convention(UNC) or you can take the easy way and
follow these simple instructions:
- 1.) Double-click on the Network Neighborhood icon. If your network is properly configured, you should be able to
see each station on the network, provided they are turned on and you did not Cancel at the login screen.
- 2.) Double-click on the computer name which has the printer attached to it. You should see a printer icon
designated with the name which you gave when the printer was shared. Right-click on the printer and choose Install
from the context menu that appears. You should now join the Add Printer Wizard already in progress, UNC already selected.
- 3.) You are then asked whether you print from MS-DOS based applications or not. Regardless of whether you do or
not, say Yes or you will not be prompted to "capture" a printer port. Once selected, choose Next.
- 4.) On the next screen, you must click the Capture Printer Port button. You are then presented with a drop-down
box from which you can select a printer port. If you are using a local printer on this computer, you must reserve
LPT1 for it. Either choose LPT2 or LPT3. Once chosen, you will be returned to the prior screen from which you must
click Next.
- 5.) You are then presented a default name based on how the printer is named at the sharing station. You may
specify a new name or keep the default. You must also decide if this is to be the default printer for this station
or not. Once decided, choose next.
- 6.) You should then make sure that it prints OK by choosing to print a Test Page. Click Finish. The drivers
needed for this printer are then copied from the station on which the printer is installed as a local. The Windows95
CD may or may not be needed.
- 7.) After the drivers are installed and the test page completed, you are then returned to the printer list. But
wait, we're not finished yet. If you specified a port to be captured during the installation process, you must
right-click on the freshly installed printer and choose Properties from the context menu that appears. Then click the
Details tab. Here there is a drop-down box provided for Print to the Following Port:. Here you will see just the
UNC(i.e. \\server\printer). In order to take advantage of the captured printer port, you must click the down arrow and
choose the port you specified when capturing it. It should appear something like this: LPT2: [\\server\printer]. In
order for DOS programs to print to the network printer, you must set it to this format. The click Apply, followed by
OK.
You are now ready to print to your brand-new network printer. Repeat for all stations that will connect to the printer.
In this format, each station could share a local printer and allow every other station to print to it. This is one of
the primary advantages of a peer-to-peer network. I won't even begin to go through the pains of sharing printers on a
Novell network :)
See Also:
Sharing Files
Author: Yimmy -- ©1997
Last Updated On: May 13, 1997
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