How can I connect to a printer over the internet?

Question

I would like to connect to a printer over the internet, both pc-s use windows xp sp2 and both are connected to the internet. How can I do it?

I mean over the INTERNET not LAN. The computers are not on the same network. but they bot have internet. So the internet is the only way to connect them.

Answer 1

U mean to say is that you want to connect a Printer in a network. I believe by using extra ethernet card on both PC and connecting both the PC together to make a LAN by using hub , switch or router and then connnecting your printer to one PC and keeping it shared mode will help and much cheaper too.

But even if you want to print through internet then you should firstly meet the following requirements

1. Sharing of Printer

2. A computer running Win 2000_server & microsoft IIS.A computer running win2000pro and microsoft peer web services or win xp.

3. Internet Explorer 4 and higher.

Since you are using win xp you will meet these criteria.

To connect to a printer by using a web browser

Open the web browser then type http://server_name/printers
The server name will be the name of your computer in network

Then click the link for the printer that you want to connect to
or you can connect to an internet printer by using the add printer wizard..Click start--->settings---->printers....then double click add printer------>next--click network printer---->click connect to a printer on the internet or on your intranet in the adress type http://server_name/printers/share_name/.printer

You can take more help from the microsoft website too.

Answer 2

That depends upon how the printer is connected at the remote network.

If the printer you want to print to is connected to a Windows box via a parallel or USB cable you can't do this safely. You would have to open the Windows service ports to the internet and this is a major security risk. Most ISPs block those ports so it isn't even possible in most cases.

If the target printer is connected to a print server you might be able to do it. You would need to forward the port used for printing to the internal IP address of the printer. This needs to be done on the router that connects the printer's network to the internet. If you're using an HP Jet Direct print server, the port you want to use is 9100.

The best option would be to set up a VPN tunnel between the two networks. This isn't a job for a neophyte, however. You need a VPN appliance at both ends such as a Cisco PIX 501 firewall or a copy of IPCop, an open source firewall solution. You also need to ensure that both networks use different IP addressing as well. If both networks are using 192.168.1.0/24 as most SOHO firewalls are configured for it won't work.

Answer 3

through a lan or have an ip address set up for your printer depending on how good your printer is.