Add A Print Server To Your Network

You can easily add a print server to your home network, enabling access to your printer from any room in the house. Most newer printers, whether they are laser or ink jet, will have a built in print server. If you do not have one of these, you still have a few options. The first is getting a router with a built in print server. This often isn’t a good choice because users already have a router and having the printer close enough to the router to plug in is usually not convenient. You can also “share” the printer through another PC. But whenever you do this can often pose reliability problems.  The best way to add this functionality is to buy a stand-alone print server.

Connecting Your Printer To The Network

There are numerous print servers available depending on the output of your printer. But most printers will have a USB connection. So the only question is whether you need wifi or just an Ethernet print server. If you already have a wireless router, you can just get the one with the Ethernet port. If you do not have wireless capabilities in the router, you will probably want to future-proof the print server by getting one that has wifi built-in so people with laptops and other wireless devices can print to it.

The general instructions for installing a print server will be the following:

1. Download the printer’s drivers to each PC you want to access the printer from.
2. Get the IP address of the print server. Your specific model will include instruction on how to assign an IP address.
3. Go to Start>Settings>Printers and Faxes. Then click Add printer.
4. Click Local Printer Attached To This Printer and UNCHECK the “Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer” option.
5. On the next screen click the “Create a new port” option and select Standard TCP/IP.
6. Click through the next screen until you are asked to type in the name or IP address. Type in the IP address of the print server.
7. You will then be asked what kind of printer you want to install. If you already have the drivers for the printer on the computer, you can select the “browse” option. If you need to insert a disk with the drivers, select “have disk.”

Installing a print server on an existing printer can help increase the productivity of the printer and save money by allowing everyone to use a single machine. A good example of a wifi print server is a Linksys WPS54G Wireless-G 802.11g Print Server.