Can I "daisy chain" USB devices off a KVM switch?

Question

I just bought a small KVM switch for my home office that lets me use one USB keyboard, USB mouse, and SVGA monitor between my personal desktop PC and my company's laptop. It works great. The KVM switch specifies which USB port to put the mouse into and which one to put the keyboard into. Which surprises me. I wouldn't have thought it made a difference, but the switch does provide feedback to the computers so they don't go bananas when suddenly all their peripherals disappear. So maybe it does, somehow, make a difference.

My ultimate question is this - if I plugged a USB hub into, say, the mouse's USB port on the KVM switch, and then plugged both the mouse AND my USB printer into the hub... would it work? Would it share the printer between the two?

Answer 1

I doubt it (as you say, the KVM switch is expecting a KB: & Mouse, not a Printer :-) )

But you can install the printer on one PC and enable 'Printer Sharing' (start - settings - printers & faxes - right click the printer & select 'sharing') on that PC.

Then on the other computers, launch 'Add Printer' wizard & check the 'install a network printer or a printer attached to another computer ...'

Answer 2

Unplug your pc from the power supply. This does not mean just turning off your computer because modern computers don’t really turn off when you press the power button as the motherboard still gets power. To explain, the motherboard is where all of hardware of the computer is connected to, including the USB ports. Sometimes the motherboard needs to be “rebooted” also because something can go wrong, i.e. all your USB ports suddenly stop working. The small microprocessor on the motherboard will reload the drivers and your USB ports should be back to recognizing all devices! So first turn off your computer using Shut Down or pressing the power button and then UNPLUG it from the wall outlet. Let it sit for about a minute and then plug it back in.