How to share a printer? A comprehensive printer sharing guide

Few easy steps:

1. Download and install USB Network Gate. Install it on other computers as well.
2. Once you install it, the printer to be shared will be displayed in the Devices window. If you need to change the port, add encryption into the connection or encipher data transfer – press the gearwheel icon next to Share. Once the setup is complete, click Share. Now the printer can be seen on all machines with USB Network Gate.

How to share a USB printer over the network in Windows 10

Windows 10 has a feature that allows you to share a USB printer over the network. With its help, a printer plugged into one of your networked machines can be accessed from any other PC in your LAN or Wi-Fi. The set-up is somewhat similar to the one we’ve talked about in the article on how to share a printer in Windows 7, yet, in Windows 10, there are a few small differences. Please, keep on reading to find out more about the details.

Here is a quick guide on how to share a printer:

1. Before proceeding to share a USB printer on the network, make sure said printer is hooked up to a computer, connected to a power supply, and turned on.
   
   
2. Open the Devices and Printers tab. To do that, click on the Start icon, and go to Settings→Devices→Devices and Printers.
   
   
3. In the invoked tab, find the printer you want to share, right-click on its name, and pick Printer properties from the pop-up menu.
4. Go to the Sharing tab and tick the box Share this printer.

Note: If you plan to share a USB printer with both Windows 32-bit and Windows 64-bit machines, be sure to tick the box Render print jobs on client computers to avoid problems with installing the printer on a client-side.

How to access a shared USB printer over the network in Windows 10

Now that you know how to share a USB printer between two computers (or more, as required), it’s time to learn how to access the said printer from a remote machine. There are two different ways to do that and you're the one who has to decide which one you like more.

Method 1:

1. Open the Devices and Printer tab, then click Add Printer.
   
   
2. In the invoked window, click the lint that says The printer that I want isn’t listed.
   
   
3. You’ll see the next tab with the list called Find a printer by other options. On this list, you need to choose the Select a shared printer by name option.
   
   
4. Click the Browse button and find the printer you want to access.
5. On the invoked dialog window, click the Install driver button. Then click Next.

Once the installation is completed, you'll be able to see the shared printer on the remote machine’s Devices and Printers tab.

Method 2:

1. Launch the File Explorer.
   
   
2. Go to the Network folder.
   
   
3. Right-click on the computer you’ve shared the printer from, and pick Connect from the drop-down menu.

The best part about having your printer shared through Windows 10 network is providing access to the printer for all machines in your network at a time. This means, you can avoid emailing your files to a PC connected to the printer directly.
Also, it’s worth noting that there are specifically developed software applications for those who need to share a printer over the Internet.

Wireless Printer

One of the most useful capabilities you may find in a modern printer is the built in networking. More and more current-day printers come with support for Wi-Fi, Ethernet or both. This is very convenient, as you don’t need to have your PC turned on to be able to access the printer. Now, you can connect to the printer directly over the network.

There’s no a general instruction on how to configure the networking option on your printer, as the set up depends on the type of the printer you have. But if you are sure that your device supports this feature just check the manual that came with your printer or the manufacturer’s website for information.