How to Share a Printer over a Network

Users who have multiple computers in their home or work environment don't  need multiple printers just because you have more than one PC. Here's our easy guide to sharing your printer from one computer to other computers to save cost and for convenience.

Steps For Sharing a Printer

Step 1. Go to the control panel from Start Menu then select Printers from Hardware and Sound option.

Control Panel Items

   

 Step 2. Right-click on the printer you want to share and select Sharing from the context menu.

Printers window on Control Panel 

   

Step 3. Now in Printer Properties, select the Sharing tab, mark the box next to Share this printer, and give the printer a name. Make sure the name is something simple then click OK.

Sharing tab on Printer properties

Now the Printer is shared and you can access it from other computers on your network, following steps shows how to add this shared printer to other computers.

Step 1: Open the Start Menu and click on Devices and Printers

 

Step 2: Next click on Add a printer.

Devices and Printers window 

Step 3: Next click on Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer.

Add a Network Printer window

Step 4: Windows 7 will search for the printer on your network and once its been found click Next.

Window showing the shared Printers on the Network

Step 5: Click next after successfully adding the Printer

Printer added window 

Step 6: Now you can set it as the default printer and send a test page to verify everything works.

  

When you go back to Devices and Printers, you can see the added shared Printer in the Devices and Printers window.

Devices and Printers Window