Share Printers and Fax Machines in Windows 7

After you install a physically attached or network-attached

printer or fax machine, you can allow anyone else on your network to

connect to it by sharing it. Friends and coworkers on your network can

then connect to the shared printer or fax machine.
You can share a printer or fax machine by following these

steps:

1. Ensure that printer sharing is enabled on your computer. To do
   
   this, click Start→ Control Panel→Network and Internet→Network and
   
   Sharing Center. In the left pane, click Change Advanced Sharing
   
   Settings. Access the appropriate network profile, such as Home or
   
   Work. Under File and Printer, “Turn on file and printer sharing” should be selected.
   
   If this option isn’t selected, select it and then click Save
   
   Changes.
2. Click Start→Devices and Printers. In Devices and Printers,
   
   right-click the printer you want to configure and then select
   
   Printer Properties (not Properties).
3. 
   
   On the Sharing tab, you’ll see any current sharing options. If
   
   there are no current sharing options, all sharing options are
   
   dimmed, as shown in Figure 12.13.

Note

Some types of fax machines cannot be shared. If this is the case

with your fax machine, this will be stated on the Sharing tab.

4. To change the sharing options, select the “Share this printer”
   
   checkbox, Windows 7 fills in a share name for you. You can change
   
   the default name as necessary.
5. By default, print jobs are generated on the computer of the
   
   person printing a document. This is usually the desired setting. If
   
   you want to generate the print file on your computer, clear the
   
   “Render print jobs on client computers”
   
   checkbox.
6. 
   
   Click Additional Drivers. In the Additional Drivers dialog
   
   box, select the types of processors other people on the network are
   
   using to ensure that your computer provides the appropriate drivers
   
   during setup. If you are using an X86-based computer, you’ll likely
   
   need to enable printers for X64-based computers. Similarly, if you
   
   are using an X64-based computer, you’ll likely need to enable
   
   printers for X86-based computers (see Figure 12.14).
7. Click OK.

Figure 12.13. Viewing the sharing status

Figure 12.14. Enabling drivers for other processor architectures

Connecting to Shared Printers and Fax Machines

When you are sharing printers and fax machines, you need to keep

in mind that other people on your network might not be running Windows

7. Don’t worry, though: connecting to a shared printer with Windows 2000

or later is easy. Why? Because computers running Windows 2000 or later

can install the printer drivers automatically once a printer is shared.

The trick, of course, is to ensure that your computer provides the

necessary drivers when someone tries to connect to your printer or fax

machine. When you were sharing your printer or fax machine, you selected

drivers for other computers as part of the sharing configuration. If you

need to, you can add drivers for other types of computers by completing

the following steps:

1. Click Start→Devices and Printers. In Devices and Printers,
   
   right-click the printer you want to configure and then select
   
   Printer Properties (not Properties).
2. On the Sharing tab, click Additional Drivers.
3. In the Additional Drivers dialog box, select the types of
   
   processors other people on the network are using to ensure that your
   
   computer provides the appropriate drivers during setup.
4. Click OK.

Once you’ve shared the printer and ensured that the drivers are

available, anyone running Windows 2000 or Windows XP can connect to and

use the printer by following these steps:

1. In Windows Explorer, click the Folders button on the toolbar
   
   to display the Folders pane.
2. Expand My Computer, expand the Control Panel, and then select
   
   Printers and Faxes.
3. In the Folders pane, expand My Network Places and then
   
   navigate My Network Places to the computer sharing the
   
   printer.
4. 
   
   When you select the Printers and Faxes node on this computer,
   
   you’ll see the shared printers and fax machines (see Figure 12.15).
5. Click the printer or fax machine and drag it to My
   
   Computer→Control Panel→Printers and Faxes.

Figure 12.15. Selecting the printer to use

Anyone running Windows Vista or later can connect to and use the

printer by following these steps:

1. Click Start→Devices and Printers.
2. Open a second window by clicking Start and then clicking
   
   Network.
3. In the Network window, double-click the computer sharing the
   
   printer.
4. In the Network window, click the printer or fax machine and
   
   drag it to the Devices and Printers window.