Wireless Internet - Printing?

Question

I have a laptop which is linked wirelessly to my home PC. Can i send items from my laptop to the printer which is plugged in to my home PC?

My Computer skills are minimal. Please if answering - step by step simple instructions please

Answer 1

Okay I'm going to edit this to make it clearer coz it took me a while due to a silly mistake :) Who knows it might even make this answer stick out, because the guy who said you can't is wrong, I use it daily.

First of all you need to set both computers to be on the same work group, so you go into control panel --> Network setup wizard, and fill out the little form.
Then you do the same on the laptop, make sure you put in the same work group name.

Make sure you also tell your firewall to allow communications amongst LAN computers (Local Area Network), make sure you set it to trust so that communication works. If all is well, both computer's should now be somewhat synchronished, they should each have a Shared folder and if you put stuff in it on one computer, the other computer can access it.

Extra info : Now you can right click any folder on any computer and if you select to share it, you can access that folder from the other computer. I use it because I store music, photos and videos on the desktop :)

Now on the desktop, go to Control Panel --> Printers and Faxes and right click the printer, in there on one of the tabs it has a box that you tick to share. Tick that box.

Now on the desktop, go to Control Panel --> Printers and Faxes. Click "Add a Printer" and make sure that in the wizard you select the printer in your work group. Once you finish the wizard it will install the necessary drivers and if all goes well the printer should appear in the printer window.

Bravo, you can now print from your laptop :)

Note: The desktop computer has to be on for this to work.



Set the two computers to be on the same work group (windows xp, control panel, its pretty straight forward under home network) and then right click the printer and click share this printer (on the desktop) and on the laptop go to the printer and fax menu, click and a printer, and select it in the network. Tadaa :)

Answer 2

No - not through your PC.

You need a Print server.

This plugs into the back of your printer, and then your printer doesn't need to connect to any computer in the house (pc or laptop).

They are fairly cheap, I would suggest going for the same make as your wireless card (if it's an external one) if not then Belkin are a good brand and have good tech support.

Very easy to set up with Belkin too - normally you just plug it in and it goes.

(Make sure your printer has a USB port though!)

Here's a link to one prices at £50.

Answer 3

I looked into doing this as well. I believe you need to purchase a reciever of sorts to allow your printer to recieve wireless information. I would just go to best buy or circuit city and ask them what the best option is.

In other words..this is very doable but you most likely need to buy more equipment to do it.

Answer 4

Sounds like you can. If your laptop can talk to your home PC it should be able to tell the home PC to print

Answer 5

You must share the printer to perform this task

Answer 6

gBobly is right. That is the way I would recommend going about it, and no extra hardware is required. As he noted, however, the desktop needs to be on. If you did want to have a standalone printer connected to your network, you would need to buy a print server, such as:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833124041
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833124031
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833124042

Answer 7

Yes, as long as you share the printer.