Q&A: Can I share my printer?

Q I’m running Windows XP on my desktop computer with an Epson RX585 printer connected to it using Sky’s broadband service with a Sky router. I also have a notebook computer running Windows Vista, which uses the same broadband connection over a wireless link to the router.

The printer is compatible with XP and Vista, but do you know if there is a way in which both computers can use the printer without disconnecting either machine from it?
J Piper

A You can share the printer between both computers, but it’s a bit complicated. Some printers come with a network socket on the rear, which allows them to be plugged directly into your broadband router.

Some even come with wireless networking facilities, allowing them to connect directly to your wireless network. Sadly, the Epson RX585 isn’t one of them, offering only the standard USB connection to the computer.

With that in mind, the best way to connect the printer to the network is to use the File and Printer Sharing tools included with Windows. This will allow you to leave the printer connected to one PC while allowing the other to print through it.

To do this, it’s first necessary to enable file and printer sharing. Right-click on any folder and select ‘Sharing and security’ from the menu that appears.

Now click the ‘network setup wizard’ link, and work through the pages that follow, being sure to assign the PC a short and memorable name, enter WORKGROUP as the workgroup name, and then choose to enable file and printer sharing on the sixth page.

With this wizard completed, the printer should be shared: to check its name right-click the printer and choose sharing. This will open a new tab that allows you to change the printer’s shared name and to enable or disable sharing.

Finally, to connect to the printer from the Vista computer, choose to add a printer then select “Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer”. The shared printer should appear, ready to be selected.