How can i netowork 3 computers adn 1 laptop on the same network and network the printer to all the pc's? need

Question

i want to netowrk 1 windoews xp desktop and 2 windows 2000 and one windows xp laptop adn ahp printer whih is onnected toone of the windows 2000? need steps adn tips on this please.... iw ant to use one printer to share instead of running around with my laptop trying to print things up adn down the stairs basement to 2nd floor it gets annoying.... i want to also do this soi cna share files like music and pictures.....need help!!!!!!!!!
answers andhelp appreciate very much!
thank you

i do haev a router wirless router na all the pc's have router ecept for 1 of the iwndows 2000 but i might put internet on it if i get a chance but i plan on doing that ....

linksys wirless router....

Answer 1

try to get a print server from computer shop it is worth 18$ from smc it also comes in dlink and planet you can share upto 5 printers depends on the device to the whole network


but get your network up rest everything will

Answer 2

Buy a router. (I prefer Linksys products.)
Connect the ethernet cable from the back your modem to the WAN port of the router.
Connect the rest of the computers to the back of the router.

If your printer has a built in network card then you can just plug the printer into that.

If not you could buy a print server and plug your printer into the print server and the print server into your router. At that point I would set the printer to have a Static IP Address (print server will explain how to do that.)

Or if you don't want to spend the money on a print server then you could just share the printer.

To do that, on the computer that the printer is installed on open of the printers folder in the control panel.
Right-Click the printer and select properties.
Select the share tab.
Select a name for the printer and tell it taht you want to share the printer.
Click on.

On the rest of the computers all you have to do is open up:
My Network Places
Click on Entire Network
Click on Microsoft Windows Network
And You should be able to see the computer with the printer on it.
Open that computer up and you should see the printer.
Click the printer and that should install it on that machine.
The only catch to this is that that machine must be ON for printing to work.

Answer 3

If your printer has a network interface, then a router is more than you need; a simple ethernet switch is cheaper. Each PC can send jobs to the printer and you could add a wireless access point to a switch input to enable printer from other places.

Use 'add printer' on each PC, and select 'network printer'. If you don't have aPC handing out IP addesses, you will have to use static addressing. - like 192.168.254.10 , and the PCs are x.x.x.y where y= 1 through 9
ALWAY use some security [WEP or WPA]

Answer 4

Well you can connect all computers via a router and use "File and Printer Sharing", you can connect the printer up to one machine and send print jobs to the printer connected to that 1 machine via any other computer on the network. Or you can purchase a specialized printer device router that enables wireless access to just the printer via any wireless device, etc...

Answer 5

Get a Router. Connect all computer to the router. Make sure that File and print sharing protocol installed on all computers. Make sure that all computers has the same work group name.

Answer 6

You can use one printer for all networked computers. Just go to the Control Panel. on each computer Click on PRINTERS & FAXES, then click on ADD PRINTER.

*IF* the computer cannot see the printer, you may have to install drivers for that computer's particular OS.

"Catch" is the computer with the printer plugged into it HAS to be on. You Do not have to log in but the computer has to be on.

Answer 7

You need to get a router or let us know if all PCs are connected to the Internet all at once