How to Set Up Your Laptop to Print Without Wires

As more and more printers support network connectivity, wireless printing is easier than ever. If you connect the printer directly to the network, you can print from both Windows and Mac laptops. If you do not have a printer connected to the network, you can install it on your computer and share it with your laptop easily.

Table of Contents

Steps

Before start

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Check the printer. If you want to print wirelessly on your computer, you have two basic options when it comes to setting up the printer: You can set up a network printer to connect directly to your home network, or share a connected printer with the machine. another computer over the network. Your choice is dictated by the type of connection the printer supports and how you set up your home network.

Most newer printers can connect to the home network. Some network printers can only connect via an Ethernet cable. Older models or low-cost printers need to connect to the computer via USB and then share the network.

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Test network and needs. Printers that connect directly to the network can access both Windows and Mac laptops. The printer connects to the computer and shares it with computers running the same operating system (Windows to Windows or Mac to Mac) will be easier, but different operating systems is a bit more complicated. Since it requires some other steps, refer to the articles online for how to share printers between computers with different operating systems.

Installing the printer directly to the network is always the best option. This not only makes it easier to connect, but the printer is always ready to go. If you share a printer that is connected to another computer, you need to open the other computer to access the printer.

Print to a network printer

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Connect the printer to your home network. The connection process is completely dependent on the manufacturer.

If you are connecting using an Ethernet cable, plug one end of the cable into the Ethernet port on the printer, and the other end into the router or switch. This is all you need to do with an Ethernet network printer.
If it’s a wireless printer, you’ll need to use its display to connect to the wireless network. You need to select the network name and enter the password (if applicable). The steps performed on different models will be slightly different, you should read the accompanying manual.

Connect to a network printer (Windows). After the printer is installed on the network, you can connect it to your laptop. The following instructions apply on all versions of Windows.

Open the Control Panel. You can access it from the Start menu. Windows 8 users can press the ⊞ Win key and enter “contrp panel”.
Select “Devices and Printers” or “View devices and printers”.
Click Add a printer .
Select “Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer”. Windows 8 users do not need to choose.
Select the network printer from the list of available printers. Follow the directions to install the driver automatically. If Windows can’t find a compatible driver, you need to go to the manufacturer’s support site to download it.

Connect to a network printer (Mac). After installing the printer to the network, you can connect it to your laptop. The following instructions apply to all versions of OS X. Note that the network printer must support AirPrint or Bonjour (most modern network printers do).

Click the Apple menu and select “System Preferences”.
Select “Print & Scan” in the System Preferences menu.
Click and hold the “+” button at the bottom of the list of installed printers.
Select the network printer in the list of recent printers. If your printer does not appear in the list, you need to download the software from the manufacturer’s support site.
Click the Download & Install button if available. While OS X often comes pre-installed with software to use the printer, sometimes your model requires additional software from Apple to be installed. If necessary, you will be asked to download the software after adding the printer.

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Print with the installed printer. After adding the network printer to the operating system, you can print anything you want just like when the printer is connected directly to the laptop. Open the “Print” dialog box on any program and select the network printer in the list to print.

Share a printer between Windows computers

Install the printer on the computer used for sharing. Since this computer must always be on every time you need to print a document, you should set the printer to any personal computer that is turned on frequently.

Most printers are installed by plugging in a USB port. You can refer to the manual if you are having trouble setting up the printer.

Create a HomeGroup (Windows 7 and later). If all the computers on the network are running Windows 7 or later, you can use the HomeGroup function to share printers quickly and easily. If using Windows Vista or XP, skip to Step 5 of this section.

Create a HomeGroup on the computer used to share the printer. You can access the HomeGroup menu from the Contrp Panel. Click the Create a homegroup button to set up a new HomeGroup.
Follow the instructions to set up the HomeGroup. When asked what you want to share, you set “Printers & Devices” to “Shared” mode.
Copy password appears.

Connect HomeGroup with laptop. You have activated the HomeGroup, you can connect it to the laptop.

Open the HomeGroup menu in the Contrp Panel on your laptop.
Click the Join now button and enter the password.
Follow the instructions to complete the HomeGroup connection setup. You can choose what you want to share, but this step is not necessary if the printer connection is shared.

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Print with a shared printer. Now that you have connected your laptop to the HomeGroup, you can choose a shared printer similar to the one connected directly to the laptop. Make sure that the other computer sharing the printer is open.

Open the Print dialog box in any program and select the shared printer from the list of available printers.
If you use HomeGroups, just do that. The next steps only apply to people who do not use the HomeGroup function.

Enable File and Printer Sharing and share the printer manually if HomeGroups cannot be used. If the computer or laptop used to share the printer runs Vista or earlier, you must share the printer manually.

Open the Contrp Panel and select “Network and Sharing Center” or “Network and Internet” on the computer sharing the printer.
Click the “Change advanced sharing settings” link and expand the “Private” network settings.
Select “Turn on file and printer sharing” > Save changes .
Go back to Contrp Panel and select “Devices and Printers” or “View devices and printers”.
Right click on the printer you are sharing and select “Printer properties”.
Click the Sharing tab and check the “Share this printer” dialog box.

Install the shared printer on the laptop. Now that the printer has been shared, you need to install it on your laptop before it will appear in the list of available printers.

Open the Contrp Panel and select “Devices and Printers” or “View devices and printers”.
Click on Add a printer .
Select “Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer”. Windows 8 users don’t need to choose.
Select the printer from the list of available printers. Follow the instructions to install the driver automatically. If Windows cannot find a compatible driver, you must go to the manufacturer’s support site to download it.

Share a printer between Mac computers

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Install the printer on the computer used for sharing. Since this machine must always be turned on to access the printer, install it on the machine that is used most often.

When you install a printer on your Mac, simply plug it in via USB and OS X will install everything automatically.

Enable printer sharing on the Mac that has just installed the printer. After installing the printer, you need to enable printer sharing so that other machines can connect to it.

Click on the Apple menu and select “System Preferences”.
Click on the “Sharing” option.
Select “Printer Sharing” to enable printer sharing.

Printer sharing. After successful activation, you want to share the printer in the same window. Check the box next to the printer you just installed to share.

Connect to a shared printer on your Mac laptop. Now that the printer is shared, you can connect your Mac laptop to the printer.

Click on the Apple menu and select “System Preferences”.
Click on the “Print & Scan” option.
Click and hold the “+” button, then select the newly installed printer.
Click the Download & Install button if it appears. While OS X comes pre-installed with software that is compatible with most printers, there’s still a chance that your machine requires a different software from Apple. If necessary, you will be asked to download the software after adding the printer.

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Print to a shared printer. After installing the shared printer on your laptop, you can print any document you want just like you would when connecting the machine directly to the laptop. Don’t forget to turn on the computer used to share the printer.

Open the Print dialog box in any program and select the shared printer from the list of available machines.

Steps

Before start

Print to a network printer

Share a printer between Windows computers

Share a printer between Mac computers

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